Cause Marketing

At left is a thermometer that displays the ambient room temperature on its maker’s computer screen. It was built by a friend using an Arduino circuit board. Arduino is an open source hardware control unit. He could plug in a humidity sensor and do a little more programming and his display would show the humidity in the room. He could add an altimeter, or a GPS sensor to display latitude and longitude. He could set up a website to put on view the temperature of the room where he works. He could add an accelerometer to signal earthquake activity (or theft of the device). He could have the unit send him text if the temperature in the room rose above 80 degrees. Etc., etc. By now business people, even those outside of IT, are sort of inured to the idea of ‘open source’ anything. But open source cause marketers still offers cause marketers countless opportunities. Two examples of open source cause marketing leap to mind. General Mills’ Box Tops for Education campaign is an open source cau...

The military, like your cause, has a sense of mission. Sometimes their mission is very narrowly defined and time-limited. When a squad goes out on patrol at night their mission may be reconnoiter, or intercept. Sometimes the military's mission is very broad and open-ended, like ending another country’s ability to wage asymmetrical warfare. Given that similarity, causes and sponsors might consider developing an approach to mission that the military uses called ‘commander’s intent.’ According to Wikipedia , it means: “An intent describing military focused operations and it is a publicly stated description of the end-state as it relates to forces (entities, people) and terrain, the purpose of the operation, and key tasks to accomplish. It is developed by a small group, e.g. staff, and a commander.” It’s not just the purpose and the aim of the action, it’s their implications. Perhaps most importantly, the commander’s intent gives subordinates the basis for their own initiative. As suc...