Janet Jackson Cause Marketing Her Weight Loss

Janet Jackson, ‘Miss Jackson if you’re nasty,’ has sold more than 100 million records. Now the youngest of the famed musical clan is using cause marketing to help sell Nutrisystem plans and foods.

During 2012, every pound Americans lose on the Nutrisystem plan will be matched by $1 of Nutrisystem food that go will hunger relief agencies up to $10 million in food. Jackson and Nutrisystem cofounded the cause Nutribank.org.

As of this date, Nutribank.org online presence is no more than a single holding page and details are sparse. But a recent issue of Prevention magazine reports that between the cause and Jackson’s wide appeal, “within two months of signing on as a spokeswoman, first-time orders were up by their highest percentage in four years.”

Jackson certainly has enduring appeal. At age 46, she’s been in the public eye since an appearance on ‘The Jacksons’ variety show in 1976 and, later, on the TV shows ‘Good Times,’ and ‘Fame.’

In those 37 years her life and career has had both ups and downs. Her terrific album ‘Rhythm Nation’ produced seven top-5 hits, a record.

But she lost her beloved brother Michael in 2009, and her career survived a notorious wardrobe malfunction on live TV during the 2004 Super Bowl halftime show.

What’s Nutribank.org about? Here’s what the website says:

“The idea is simple: NutriBank is a repository for two things - nutritious food and monetary resources. It's also a platform we'll use to drive awareness not just about hunger, but about how to engage in a solution… Please check back in as we add more information about the projects NutriBank is supporting and as we provide progress reports on our food and financial donations.”

It’s a noble sentiment. But Jackson signed with Nutrisystem in Dec 2011, 8 months ago.

The site is signed by Jackson and Joe Redling, the CEO of Nutrisystem. Both are listed as co-founders.

It’s time for Jackson and Redling to start delivering on the promises of Nutribank, whatever they are.

Comments

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

Why Even Absurd Cause-Related Marketing Has its Place

Buy a Bikini, Help Cure Cancer New York City (small-d) fashion designer Shoshonna Lonstein Gruss may have one of the more absurd cause-related marketing campaigns I’ve come across lately. When you buy the bikini or girls one-piece swimsuit at Bergdorf-Goodman in New York shown at the left all sales “proceeds” benefit Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center . Look past the weak ‘ proceeds ’ language, which I always decry, and think for a moment about the incongruities of the sales of swimsuits benefiting the legendary Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center. Cancer has nothing to do swimming or swimsuits or summering in The Hamptons for that matter. And it’s not clear from her website why Shoshanna, the comely lass who once adorned the arm of comedian Jerry Seinfeld, has chosen the esteemed cancer center to bestow her gifts, although a web search shows that she’s supported its events for years. Lesser critics would say that the ridiculousness of it all is a sign that cause-related marketing is

A Clever Cause Marketing Campaign from Snickers and Feeding America

Back in August I bought this cause-marketed Snickers bar during my fourth trip of the day to Home Depot. (Is it even possible to do home repairs and take care of all your needs with just one trip to Home Depot / Lowes ?) Here’s how it works: Snickers is donating the cost of 2.5 million meals to Feeding America, the nation’s leading hunger-relief charity. On the inside of the wrapper is a code. Text that code to 45495… or enter it at snickers.com… and Snickers will donate the cost of one meal to Feeding America, up to one million additional meals. The Feeding America website says that each dollar you donate provides seven meals. So Snickers donation might be something like $500,000. But I like that Snickers quantified its donations in terms of meals made available, rather than dollars. That’s much more concrete. It doesn’t hurt that 3.5 million is a much bigger number than $500,000. I also like the way they structured the donation. By guaranteeing 2.5 million meals, the risk of a poor

Cause Marketing

Search This Blog