My New Favorite Cause Marketing Fundraiser

One of the first rules of blogging is to never start a post with an apology. But rules were made to be broken, especially when it involves tattoos.

I apologize for not posting on Food Tattoos for Hunger, which took place at tattoo shops mainly in the United States but also elsewhere on Sunday, Nov. 18, 2012. Food Tattoos for Hunger was a collective of shops and parlors offering food Flash tattoos in order to raise money for various hunger charities and food banks. ‘Flash’ tattoos… that is tattoos designed originally using Adobe Flash…go on quicker than when using more traditional methods.

At left are some designs submitted for the event from artist Joe King.

The way it worked is that artists would volunteer their time and materials in a marathon tattoo day. Back in the day, hairdressers did something very similar with ‘cut-a-thons.’

The goal of Food Tattoos for Hunger was to attract 100 shops and generate an average of $1,500 for a total of $150,000. I called Food Tattoos for Hunger a collective, but even that seems too formal a handle. The organizers… Off the Map Tattoo in East Hampton, Mass… put out the word via social and traditional media and suggested the general parameters for how to run the promotion.

I suspect they picked a Sunday because there’s less tattoo business then, although I’m sure it isn’t true for every shop.

I couldn’t find any word on whether or not they achieved their goal, but I dig how grassroots this cause marketing fundraiser is. The principals at Off the Map saw a problem and figured out how they could address it using their own skills and passion. Then they called on their peers to join in and help.

Other personal service providers… nail salons, personal trainers, yoga studios, etc… could do something similar.

Comments

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...

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