Cause Marketing

In This Post I ‘Bury the Lead’ So Read the Headline Again. I don’t know about you, but I’ve reached the point where I don’t need any more stuff. In fact, this Christmas I’d rather someone give me experiences or the chance to learn (or a massage!) than something I gotta find a place for. [Diversionary but pertinent point: Can someone explain to me how in an age when the average square footage of homes has never been bigger, why there are so many self storage places in the United States? It’s perverse! Like the wag once said: “Sometimes you own your stuff and sometimes your stuff owns you.”] Oh, there’s a few higher ticket items on my Christmas wish list: I’d like one of those new HD flip cameras . And I wouldn’t mind if Santa slid a new stereo digital voice recorder under the tree, either. But I won’t get either of those things. And that’s OK. I minored in economics in college and so I remember that in economic theory wants are considered to be unlimited, just as resources are limited....

I Detect Hints of Hickory with Subtle Notes of Rosin and Glove Leather Late in May three star players from the Atlanta Braves baseball team debuted their latest charitable endeavors, table wines from Chile and Spain with the bottles featuring their images and with proceeds from the sales benefiting the charities of their choice. The players … Chipper Jones, Brian McCann and Tom Glavine… unveiled Chipper Chardonnay, McCann Merlot, and ( wait for it ) Cabernet Glavignon. They sell for around for $14 at retail outlets like Kroger and Wal-Mart and proceeds benefit the Miracle League, the Rally Foundation for Childhood Cancer Research and CURE Childhood Cancer respectively. The Atlanta trio join professional baseball players from the New York Yankees, Boston Red Sox and Cincinnati Reds and several legends of the game with their own labels . There are two former NFL players...Dan Marino and Bobby Herbert... with labels, and two players from the National Hockey League. Two special labels for ...

On May 16 Oliver’s Artisan Breads in Los Angeles announced that it will donate 10 percent of net profits from their store line of breads to the Bread for the World Institute , the first case of a CRM campaign benefiting an advocacy and public policy charity I can think of. Oliver’s Artisan Breads sells a line of organic bread in stores like Whole Foods and Wild Oats ( which have merged ) in Arizona, California, Hawaii, Oregon, southwestern Nevada and Washington state. The term of the agreement is for one year with an option to renew. Oliver’s has guaranteed an undisclosed minimum donation. The money will go to support the Bread for the World Institute, a 501(c)(3) public charity division of Bread for the World. Bread for the World is an advocacy group, a “nationwide Christian movement that seeks justice for the world’s hungry people by the lobbying our nation’s decision-makers.” The Bread for the World Institute has more of public policy bent, engaging “in research and education on ...