Cause Marketing Your Valentine

On Monday, Feb 2 Lisa Scherzer, a reporter from SmartMoney.com contacted me with the following email:

Hi Paul,

I’m a writer at SmartMoney.com. I’m working on an article about alternative Valentine’s Day gifts that are for a good cause. I’ve come across a bunch of nonprofits and other companies that have Valentine’s promotions that include, for example, giving proceeds from the purchase of an organic flower bouquet to charity.

Would you be able to speak with me about this kind of cause marketing – in particular for Valentine’s Day? And how should consumers approach these kinds of items when shopping for gifts for their beloveds? I came across your Alden Keene blog and I thought you might be able to help.

Best regards,

Lisa

I responded thusly:

Hi Lisa:

Great to hear from. Thanks for contacting me. Please let me know if this does not suit your needs, or if you’d like something else or something more.

“Retailers big and small, online and offline rely on shopping seasons. You know, Valentine’s, Mother’s Day, Father’s Day/Graduation, Back to School, Halloween, and Christmas. Since Valentine’s Day comes in the first quarter, traditionally the worst quarter for retail, it’s an important sales season. And for many chocolate, candy makers or florists, it’s almost make or break.
Valentine’s Day is a natural for cause marketing promotions. Research and experience show that cause marketing works best with consumer products. And when there’s a good match between the cause and sponsor, cause marketing can be very effective at bottom-line things like improving sales or customer loyalty. For retailers, especially in this lousy economy, cause marketing is a little like you or me taking a vitamin C tablet during cold and flu season.

Plus cause marketing also helps charities at a time when they’re especially hard hit. In that way cause marketing is like dark chocolate for retailers; it tastes good and its loaded with anti-oxidants, to boot.

But what’s a consumer supposed to do when the online florist or the storefront chocolatier is offering a donation to a cause?

If it’s a donation of $5 or more give it a quick smell test:

* Have you heard of the cause? Is it respectable? Can the clerk or the website tell you anything about the charity?

* Is there any supporting material? A brochure? PDF? A link? A phone number? If your’re really serious or just curious you can always check on charities at websites like CharityNavigator.org or Guidestar.org.

* Does the charity’s (apparent) mission resonate with you or with others you care about?

If any part of it smells funny or doesn’t appeal, walk away from the transaction. There’s plenty of businesses happy to take your money right now.
If the donation in question is a small amount, say a $1 or less, and the product is otherwise something you’d be likely to buy, my take is that you probably don’t have to spend any time or mental energy on it. Spend your time thinking about your Valentine, not the dime that may or may not be going to charity.”

Warm regards,

Paul Jones

Sad to say, when the story appeared, Ms. Scherzer chose not to quote me. But all is not lost.

At least I got a post out of the experience!

Part 2: How Chili's Used Cause-Related Marketing to Raise $8.2 million for St. Jude

[Bloggers Note: In this second half of this post I discuss the nuts and bolts of how Chili's motivates support from its employees and managers and how St. Jude 'activates' support from Chili's. Read the first half here.] How does St. Jude motivate support from Chili’s front line employees and management alike? They call it ‘activation’ and they do so by the following: They share stories of St. Jude patients who were sick and got better thanks to the services they received at the hospital. Two stories in particular are personal for Chili’s staff. A Chili’s bartender in El Dorado Hills, California named Jeff Eagles has a younger brother who was treated at St. Jude. In both 2005 and 2006 Eagles was the campaign’s biggest individual fundraiser. John Griffin, a manager at the Chili’s in Conway, Arkansas had an infant daughter who was treated for retinoblastoma at St. Jude. They drew on the support Doug Brooks… the president and CEO of Brinker International, Chili’s parent co...

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-Related Marketing with Customer Receipts

Walgreens and JDRF Right now at Walgreens…the giant pharmacy and retail store chain with more than 5,800 stores in the United States and Puerto Rico… they’re selling $1 paper icons for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF). This is an annual campaign and I bought one to gauge how it’s changed over the years. (Short list… they don’t do the shoe as a die cut anymore; the paper icon is now an 8¾ x 4¼ rectangle. Another interesting change; one side is now in Spanish). The icon has a bar code and Jacob, the clerk, scanned it and handed me a receipt as we finished the transaction. At the bottom was an 800-number keyed to a customer satisfaction survey. Dial the number, answer some questions and you’re entered into a drawing for $10,000 between now and the end of September 2007. I don’t know what their response rate is, but the $10,000 amount suggests that it’s pretty low. Taco Bell’s survey gives out $1,000 per week. At a regional seafood restaurant they give me a code that garner...

Cause Marketing

Search This Blog