Cause Marketing

Orthotic insole maker Sole offers a cause marketing approach that addresses a different side of business than I’ve ever seen before. Although details are sketchy, when you return one of their insoles within 90 days of purchase (their standard return timeframe) a donation of some amount comes to the shoe charity Soles4Souls . In addition to insoles (the company prefers the word ‘footbeds’) Sole sells shoes, flip flops, and socks. Sole, which is based in Vancouver, British Columbia, supports other causes via more standard transactional cause marketing, including efforts for ReCork, Karno Kids, Big City Mountaineers, and SoleUK. Transactional cause marketing is when a donation to a cause is triggered by a purchase. But triggering a donation based on a product return is a really novel concept. Sole also encourages its patrons to send in their gently-used shoes directly to Soles4Souls. But with this product warranty approach to cause marketing Sole is making three bets; the first is you’ll...

Liberty Bottleworks, concluded a fun cause marketing contest at midnight last night that allows the winner a unique ‘canvas’ to express themselves on, as a well as donation to the cause of their choice. Here’s how the contest worked. People were invited to submit an original design for Liberty’s Earth Day bottle, it ended yesterday, President's Day in the United States. The contest took place on Liberty’s Facebook page . The winner will be determined based on who gets the most likes on Facebook. In addition, proceeds from the sale of the Earth Day bottle benefits the charity of the winner’s choosing. Liberty Botttleworks are the only metal water bottles currently made in the United States. All of Liberty’s bottles are made of recycled aluminum using American-made machinery. Moreover, Liberty has the ability to print on its bottles basically anything a designer can imagine. My Liberty bottle, whose sale benefits the charity called Big City Mountaineers, looks like urban graffiti. Th...

Liberty Bottleworks fabricates rugged water bottles in brand-new factory in Yakima, Washington of recycled aluminum and using America-made machinery. Liberty is the only company making metal water bottles in America today. While that sinks in a little consider that Liberty also has a strong cause marketing component with its partner Big City Mountaineers (BCM), a Denver nonprofit that gives urban kids a wilderness experience that often proves to be life-changing. The night before my interview with Alex Strickland of Liberty at the 2012 Outdoor Retailer trade show in Salt Lake City the company hosted a beer bash that raised $2000 for BCM. During the Summer Outdoor Retailer show in August 2011, Liberty released a bottle featuring BCM's logo which benefited the nonprofit. This year the BCM benefit bottle (at left) was designed by Yakima graffiti artist Bernardo Boeragor. Liberty pledges to do a new benefit bottle for BCM every year. The company also produces a series of bottles impr...