Cause Marketing in the Economic Downturn

Get Your Chin off Your Chest

It’s probably just superstition, but I have steadfastly avoided posting anything about the recession.

After all, considering the amount of liquidity sloshing around after all the actions already taken by central bankers in Asia, Europe, and the United States, it’s plain that the real problem right now isn’t access to capital. The problem is one of confidence.

This is just one small little blog on the semi-obscure topic of cause marketing, but I see little reason to pile on.

So, assuming that the economy doesn’t turn into Oklahoma circa 1935 (Dustbowl deflation) or the Weimar Republic of 1923 (hyperinflation), this will be my first and last posting on the topic of the economy.

In the States, economists are struggling with exactly which recession to compare this one to. Is it like the downturns of 2000, 1980 and 1974? Is it a second Great Depression? (Short answer: No. For one thing, unemployment was 25 percent in the States in 1933.) Could it be an analog to Japan’s “Lost Decade” from 1991-2001?

But like all things economic, we won’t know for sure what it was until after the fact. What a gig the practitioners of the ‘dismal science’ enjoy.

Which reminds me of a joke:

A woman hears from her doctor that she has only half a year to live. The doctor advises her to marry an economist and to live in North Dakota. The woman asks:
“will this cure my illness?” The doctor replies: “No, but the half year will seem pretty long.”

Already, leading indicators suggest that cause marketing, social marketing, and corporate philanthropy are in decline.

A September study from Duke University finds chief marketing officers paying less attention to campaigns that “promote benefits to society.”
Small businesses are enthusiastic about corporate philanthropy, but nonetheless giving less.
Starting in 2007, all charitable giving in the United States, including corporate giving, did not keep pace with inflation, although it did increase in terms of actual dollars.

But, Giving USA also finds that since 1969, giving has risen every year in the United States except 1987, which featured an odd blip in the tax laws.

What are cause marketers to do in this confusing economic climate? After all, cause marketing… which was invented (more or less) in 1983… has never been through a recession or a sustained downturn. We have no history to guide us.

Absent any historical guidance, I humbly offer five thoughts:

I still find persuasive the all-but-real-life findings from the Duke/Cone behavioral study that demonstrate that cause marketing works to increase sales.
More than ever it’s clear that the matches between causes and companies have to be explicitly clear. In this economy, it’s unrealistic to expect customers to make any leaps of logic between a company, a campaign, and a cause.
Likewise, I think transparency about how donations are determined in a cause marketing campaign, and how the donated money is used, is more vital than ever.
To be cost-effective, cause marketing must rely more on PR, social media, and word-of-mouth/guerilla marketing.
Get your mopey chin off your chest. Many great fortunes are made in bad economic times.

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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