Skip to main content

'Where's the Beef?' Cause Marketing

If you’re a NASCAR fan imagine racing against other skilled fans in full pro-race conditions at Daytona. Or imagine a little 11 on 11 action against other amateurs playing “the beautiful game” in between periods at the finals of the World Cup.

Nature Valley Granola Bars sponsors something very like that for amateur golfers in the United States called the Nature Valley Amateur. Meet the requirements, sign up, pay your fee (it’s never more than a couple hundred dollars) and you get to play against other amateur golfers on TPC courses across the country. The ad at the left is from Golf Digest in 2009, but the series is planned again for 2011.

At the end of the Nature Valley Amateur series, a championship is held at the famed TPC Sawgrass in Florida, headquarters of the PGA! TPC means Tournament Players Club, a chain of golf clubs operated by the PGA and optimized for professional tournaments.

Pretty cool, right? If you’re a competitive amateur golfer what a thrill it would be “step inside the ropes” as the press materials put it and test yourself against other fine amateurs on the very same courses the pros use.

So far we’re just talking about a corporate sponsorship campaign, not cause marketing per se. Except that Nature Valley Golf specifically identifies The First Tee as a partner in the ad and on the website. The First Tee is a nonprofit charity that works to introduce kids to the game of golf and teach them all its gentlemanly/gentlewomanly devoirs.

The First Tee has nine core values it endeavors to teach kids: Sportmanship; Respect; Confidence; Responsibility; Perseverance; Courtesy; Judgment; Honesty; Integrity.

The mission is equally high minded:
“To impact the lives of young people by providing educational programs that build character, instill life-enhancing values and promote healthy choices through the game of golf.”
(I can’t resist saying that I’ve been impacted by the game of golf once of twice when the foursome behind me neglected to call out ‘fore!’ I apologize in advance to anyone offended by that dumb quip. But any organization that’s still using the word ‘impact’ in a mission statement deserves what they get).

I looked all over the Nature Valley Golf and The First Tee websites, but I couldn’t see how The First Tee is tangibly benefited by its association with the Nature Valley Amateur, although I certainly could have missed something.

But you don’t have to think too hard about how The First Tee could be tangibly benefited by its association with the Nature Valley Amateur. Golf may be the most generous game in all of sport when it comes to charitable fundraising. Every nonprofit in North America knows how to raise money with golf tournaments, just as every golf course in America has hosted at least some nonprofit fundraising.

So where’s the beef for The First Tee?
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

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 ...
4 comments
Read more

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 ...
Post a Comment
Read more

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...
11 comments
Read more