Cause-Related Marketing for Lovers

Cartier Love Bracelet

I adore Cartier’s Love Charity bracelet cause-related marketing promotion.

When you buy one of their Love Charity bracelets they will support one of 24 charities with a donation of either $100 or $200 depending on which bracelet you buy.

There’s a lot of moving parts here but in the main the promotion consists of the following:

The promotion supports the invented ‘Love Day’ 2008, which is today, June 19.
Overall Cartier supports the charitable efforts of Action Against Hunger, a children's hunger charity. Cartier's support will go to AAH's effirts to feeding children in the cyclone-raved Burmese state of North Rakhine. Cartier’s commitment to Action Against Hunger runs for the next three years.
In the United States, 24 celebrities (25 if you count country music husband and wife Tim McGraw and Faith Hill separately) from the world’s of music and film…along with Nobel Laureate Elie Wiesel thrown in for good measure… have a bracelet themed to their chosen charity.
The bracelets come in three versions: a single Cartier Love ring in pink or white 18K gold joined by a colored silk cord for $475, or two intertwined Cartier 18K gold love rings joined by a colored silk cord for $995. The color of the silk cord you choose determines which cause the donation goes to. The purple one shown above supports Academy Award-winning actress Julianne Moore’s chosen cause, the Tuberous Sclerosis Alliance.
The website has more than a dozen sexy short films from French film director Olivier Dahan on a theme of love (and dubbed into English and other languages). Each short features Cartier jewelry in some way.
Depending on which country you choose when you go to Cartier’s website, there is downloadable music playing from local artists. On Cartier’s U.S. website you can download tracks from Usher, Rihanna, Janet Jackson, Hilary Duff, Eve, Ashanti and others. All those artists are among the 24 with themed Love bracelets.
Naturally the website also prominently features Cartier’s larger Love collection of bracelets, rings, necklaces, and watches. (BTW, I just learned that Cartier invented the first wristwatch. Who knew?)
In the U.S. there are two exclusive parties to support Love Day, last night in California and tonight in New York City. My invitation apparently got lost in the mail, but if you’re on the invitee list take some pictures and I’ll post them.

I’m a sucker for these big campaigns because I think they have an agglomerative effect and because I admire what it takes execute them.

And what Cartier has done here is as spectacular as their jewelry.

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...

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