Cone’s Latest Survey on Cause Marketing

Must…control…the…urge…to…be…sarcastic.

In its recently-released Cause Evolution Study, (registration required) Cone, Inc. found that people are only slightly more favorably inclined towards companies employing transactional cause marketing (53%) than to lump sum charitable donations (47%).

Transactional cause marketing is when the donation is tied to a purchase.

I’m still processing that part of Cone’s findings and I’m not sure if I believe or not. Maybe I just don't see how that finding really benefits sponsors. Assuming it's accurate, we can probably expect more efforts like the FSI (Free Standing Insert) above.

In late September, in time for National Breast Cancer Awareness Month, Purina dropped this FSI supporting Susan G. Komen for the Cure. Purina, which started making animal feed in 1894, will write a check for $300,000 to Komen in support of its mission to cure breast cancer… in humans.

Back in May 2010, Purina ran a themed FSI for National Pet Month, in which during a three-week period whenever a coupon from the FSI was redeemed Purina would donate $0.10 up to $50,000 to AdoptaPet.com and benefiting local animal shelters.

It looks like Purina is hooking its cause marketing dollars to promotional months.

So if you represent National Periodontal Disease Month or Fighting Innumeracy in the Workplace Month, by all means contact Purina. It seems like they’re open to a lot of outside-of-the-bag... er... can. I mean, Purina appears to be open to outside-the-box sponsorships.

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