Cause Marketing Your Why

For about a year in 2009-2010 it seemed that at 60 percent of the business meetings I went to some mention was made of ‘finding your why,’ a reference to the book called Start with Why by Simon Sinek.

I found myself thinking of the adverb form of the word ‘why’ when I saw this free standing insert (FSI) from the German skincare company Beiersdorf, owner of the brands Nivea and Eucerin.

Mind you, few cause marketers are as unsentimental as I am. Across the nearly 1,000 posts in the Cause Marketing Blog, I’m almost always the one that supports cause marketing for the causes. More than once I’ve said, in effect, 'who cares if you have a sponsor’s heart and soul, you got their check and any attendant publicity.' (I defended Komen during the KFC debacle, for crying out loud!). So long as the deal is done legally, ethically, and transparently, not much about cause marketing gives me heartburn.

But nowadays companies have an astonishing choice of causes to partner with. And in cases like this where the sponsor’s line of business has little to do with the cause, it would help to know why Beiersdorf choose Big Brothers and Big Sisters of America.

It doesn’t need to be much. We don’t need to hear that the CEO was once a Little Brother or Sister who later got a scholarship to Yale in part due to their ‘Big.’ Or that worldwide Beiersdorf has supported youth mentorship since 1978. All we need to hear is that people in the company admire the mission Big Brothers and Big Sisters and have been touched by the vital work they do.

All I’m saying to Beiersdorf is tell us why you care so that we know why to care about your offer.

Comments

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...

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...

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