Jo-Ann, Fiskars and the American Heart Association

Woman 18-34, Enjoys Scrapbooking, Seeks Marketers Who Can Make Her Care

Scrapbooking is now the biggest chunk of the craft and hobby industry in North America, according to the Craft and Hobby Association, with estimated annual sales of $2.44 billion in 2006, a growth rate of 2.4 percent over 2005. The total craft and hobby market size is estimated to be $30 billion.

I only just found these figures, but they don’t surprise me. I live with a scrapbooker/ cardmaker. One of my wife’s sisters works for a company that has a substantial (more than 200 SKUs) scrapbook line. My wife and her sister have been to at least a half-dozen scrapbook shows together from Texas on west.

The research I saw from the Craft and Hobby Association, doesn’t break out the female-male gender ratio in scrapbooking, but I think it’s fair to say that more women than men scrapbook. The research does show that the age group most likely to scrapbook is 18-34, an attractive demo to nonprofits and to companies alike.

The research, conducted by IPSOS, found “7 dimensions of crafting:”

Relaxation & Accomplishment
Recommendation
Spend Time With
Others
Children
Economy & Value
Memory Keeping
Health

While my wife makes cards alone, she prefers to scrapbook in the company of friends and family. Drive past any scrapbook store in the country at 10:30 or 11 pm on a weekend and chances are it will be open. Scrapbook stores commonly host crops that go late into the night on weekends. The ‘croppers,’ frequently in groups, get access to large work areas and the store’s tools and inventory, and the stores get to sell to a captive audience long after the closest Wal-Mart is closed. So while IPSOS may have the order right for crafters as a whole, I suspect that the social aspect is one of the most important aspects of the hobby for scapbookers.

Where do they get their ideas? 54 percent said magazines, 49 percent said family/friends, 40 percent said books, 38 percent said catalogs, etc. Only 13 percent of crafters reported getting their ideas from the Internet. Of the finished product, 68 percent give it as gifts and 64 percent keep it for personal use. Just 14 percent are sold. Of those that are sold, 64 percent are sold to family or friends. IPSOS also did a craft participation cross-analysis and found that scrapbookers are most likely to also participate in card making, rubber stamping, woodworking, wreathmaking and floral arranging.

One last number. Crafters spent, on average, $276 per household in 2006 on supplies. I don’t know of any study that cross tabulates scrapbookers against charity supporters, but I’ll bet there’s a strong correlation.

So my question is, why is there so little cause marketing targeted to scrapbookers and crafters? There’s this half-hearted effort (pardon the pun) from Jo-Ann and Fiskars scissors benefiting the American Heart Association. Close To My Heart a multi-level marketing scrapbooking outfit has a cause marketing relationship with Operation Kids. There are a few more.

But I suspect that right now scrapbookers and crafters are a missed opportunity for nonprofit and for-profit marketers alike.

Batting Your Eyelashes at Prescription Drug Cause Marketing

I’m a little chary about making sweeping pronouncements, but I believe I've just seen the first cause marketing promotion in the U.S. involving a prescription drug. The drug is from Allergan and it’s called Latisse , “the first and only FDA-approved prescription treatment for inadequate or not enough eyelashes.” The medical name for this condition is hypotrichosis. Latisse is lifestyle drug the way Viagra or Propecia are. That is, no one’s going to die (except, perhaps, of embarrassment) if their erectile dysfunction or male pattern baldness or thin eyelashes go untreated. Which means the positioning for a product like Latisse is a little tricky. Allergan could have gone with the sexy route as with Viagra or Cialis and showed lovely women batting their new longer, thicker, darker eyelashes. But I’ll bet that approach didn’t test well with women. (I’m reminded of a joke about the Cialis ads from a comedian whose name I can’t recall. He said, “Hey if my erection lasts longer than ...

Cause Marketing: The All Packaging Edition

One way to activate a cause marketing campaign when the sponsor sells a physical product is on the packaging. I started my career in cause marketing on the charity side and I can tell you that back in the day we were thrilled to get a logo on pack of a consumer packaged good (CPG) or even just a mention. Since then, there’s been a welcome evolution of what sponsors are willing and able to do with their packaging in order to activate their cause sponsorships. That said, even today some sponsors don’t seem to have gotten the memo that when it comes to explaining your cause campaign, more really is more, even on something as small as a can or bottle. The savviest sponsors realize that their only guaranteed means of reaching actual customers with a cause marketing message is by putting it on packaging. And the reach and frequency of the media on packaging for certain high-volume CPG items is almost certainly greater than radio, print or outdoor advertising, and, in many cases, TV. More to ...

Chili’s and St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital

I was in Chili’s today and I ordered their “Triple-Dipper,” a three appetizer combo. While I waited for the food, I noticed another kind of combo. Chili’s is doing a full-featured cause-related marketing campaign for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. There was a four-sided laminated table tent outlining the campaign on the table. When the waitress brought the drinks she slapped down Chili’s trademark square paper beverage coasters and on them was a call to action for an element of the campaign called ‘Create-A-Pepper,’ a kind of paper icon campaign. The wait staff was all attired in black shirts co-branded with Chili’s and St. Jude. The Create-A-Pepper paper icon could be found in a stack behind the hostess area. The Peppers are outlines of Chili’s iconic logo meant to be colored. I paid $1 for mine, but they would have taken $5, $10, or more. The crayons, too, were co-branded with the ‘Create-A-Pepper’ and St. Jude’s logos. There’s also creatapepper.com, a microsite, but again wi...

Cause Marketing

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