Cause Marketing

Choreographing a Digital Spark One of the cardinal principles of adult education theory is that the most meaningful learning frequently takes place between students, and the teacher’s role is to moderate more often than lecture. It’s true in cause-related marketing. Organizations like Children’s Miracle Network, the Muscular Dystrophy Association and St Jude Children’s Research Hospitals all hold periodic conventions for the people in the field that raise money. The conventions serve to unite disparate groups, provide a forum for unveiling new campaign elements, build camaraderie, spark ideas, etc. Any of that can happen in meeting rooms, but often as not it takes place in the hallways, over meals or drinks. David Hessekiel’s Cause Marketing Forum serves a similar purpose. Likewise, IEG’s annual Sponsorship Conference and the Business in the Community Annual Conference in the UK. But what if your need is more immediate? What if you’re from a distant part of the globe? What if you d...

Twenty Questions (Give or Take) Suppose when you get into the office tomorrow, the boss comes in and says, “I think we need to look seriously at cause-related marketing. Look into it will you?” Getting the right answers depends on asking the right questions. So where would you start? Let’s just stipulate that you’ll search the Internet. Maybe check the entries at Wikipedia.com or About.com . You’ll almost certainly come across the Cause Marketing Forum , run by my friend David Hessekiel. If you go a little deeper you may find Cone , or other agencies that specialize in the practice. You may find IEG , which has a long history with cause-related marketing, but considers it to be a subset of sponsorship. Maybe you’ll go to Amazon.com and check the available titles. You’ll almost certainly find Business in the Community in England, which takes a very holistic approach to cause marketing. Scratch the surface a little more and you’ll certainly find criticisms of the practice; usually var...