Cause Marketing

Breast cancer is heterogeneous, not homogeneous. There are subtypes that are more deadly and less receptive to current therapies, including a variety known as triple negative breast cancer. Most breast cancers are fueled by three hormonal ‘receptors;’ estrogen, progesterone, or human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2). Consequently, most successful treatments target these receptors. A triple negative breast cancer diagnosis means that the cancer was not triggered by hormonal receptors. Triple negative breast cancer represents about 15% to 25% of all breast cancer cases, so it’s not exactly an orphan disease, even if I’d never heard of it. Among younger women triple negative breast cancer disproportionately affects African Americans, and their prognosis is worse than for women from other ethnic groups. While triple negative breast cancer responds well to chemotherapy, in some cases early complete response does not correlate with survival rates. And so it’s especially challengin...

A recent trip to the grocery store turned into an opportunity to scope out some packaged goods cause marketing. I started near the bakery side of the store and then made my way to drinks aisle, looking for cause marketing wherever I could find it. Here are 14 that caught my eye.  505 Southwestern This is a simple transactional cause marketing effort that runs year-round. By transactional cause marketing I mean that when you buy the jar, it triggers a donation to an unnamed breast cancer cause (or causes). Normally, this would require the consent of the cause. But since 505 uses only the pink ribbon, which is not trademarked/copyrighted, no permission is required. Although 505 would be prudent to report on its website the amounts donated to which causes. Kitchen Basics Beef Stock This product carries a seal of approval from the American Heart Association. The most famous such seals are the Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval and the America...