Cause Marketing

It’s prime auto show season right now across the country. The two biggest shows, the Detroit auto show is going on right now, while the Chicago show is coming up in early February. My home state’s much more modest show took place last weekend. (At left is a Subaru, which offers its own cause marketing effort called Share the Love .) All of which begs the question, how might auto shows utilize cause marketing in their promotional mix? Here’s a few ideas: Imagine a Rosy the Riveter kind of look with messaging that says, in effect, "Let's put the State/Region back to work." Then in partnership with local micro-lenders when someone gets approved for a micro-loan during the promotional period, they are also entered into a drawing for a truck/car for their business from the car show’s sponsoring dealer’s association. The drawing, of course, would take place during the car show in front of a lot of cameras. If you really wanted to doll it up, you could present it as a version of...