Cause Marketing

Howard Brodwin, founder of SportsandSocialChange.org , and I are both sports fans and we both collectively lamented that in forfeiting his Tour de France victories Lance Armstrong effectively admitted to doping during his career. I wrote to Howard, “A lot of us like sports/athletics because even though we know the best athletes are still human, we admire them because of their super-human performances. When they dope, however, it kinda takes the air out of that idea. I'm disappointed and sad.” Howard, wisely, responded, this way: “I know what might cheer you up, and it starts next Wednesday. http://www.paralympic.org .” You kinda have to hunt down the TV coverage, but the Paralympics, which wraps up on Sept 9 in London, has been just splendid. And, as Howard points out, individual Paralympians have been a terrific source for cause marketing gold. Television spots from Coca-Cola, Citibank, and British Petroleum all feature inspiring Paralympians, and even Special Olympians....

In March Sporting Kansas City, a Major League Soccer (MLS) team announced that its new $200 million stadium, scheduled to open in June, would be named Livestrong Sporting Park, in honor of the Lance Armstrong Foundation. Moreover, it appears that Livestrong did not pay for the naming rights and is instead guaranteed a donation of no less that $7.5 million over the next six years. The money will come from a portion of ticket and concession sales to both MLS matches and other events held in the stadium, including concerts. This is the first time a nonprofit has received naming rights for a stadium in the United States. Normally, stadium naming rights go for millions of dollars, even for MLS stadiums. The MLS team in my modestly-sized market, Real Salt Lake, gets a reported $1.5 million to $2 million a year for naming rights from Rio Tinto, the global mining conglomerate headquarterd in London, but with a substantial presence in the Salt Lake Valley. Soccer is no stranger to causes. My f...

If you're anything like me then you've watched the growth and development of Lance Armstrong's LIVESTRONG brand with a mixture of awe and envy. It started with the iconic yellow rubber bracelets, which since 2004 have generated more than $70 million for the Lance Armstrong Foundation . Over the arc of the bracelet's popularity they have been imitated, parodied and worn by vast array of non-biking celebrities, as well as the hoi polloi. All guided by the legendary marketers at Nike and its long-time agency Weiden+Kennedy . So popular and well-known was the yellow bracelet that there was a long while when it seemed like every fundraising brainstorming session I had with a charity somebody suggested a bracelet campaign, as if lightning could be caught in a bottle a second time. (In that way it's reminiscent of all the meetings I've been in when people suggested that all they needed to really get their pet project off the ground was an appearance on Oprah !) From...

Inspiration Bracelet for the Parkinsons Unity Walk Thanks to Lance Armstrong and his Lance Armstrong Foundation , we all know how to do a bracelet campaign. You pick a supplier from the hundreds or even thousands out there. You try to find a color and a saying that seem emblematic of your cause, and you sell it for $1 at your charity’s events or online. [BTW: Today, Tuesday May 13, is LiveSTRONG Day] If by now plastic/silicone/rubber bracelets seem a little ‘me-to’ then consider this bracelet campaign from New York City artist-sculpture David Stevenson benefiting the Parkinsons Unity Walk. When you buy the sterling silver bracelet at the left called ‘Inspiration’ for $175, 40 percent (or $70) goes to Parkinson’s Disease research. The Unity Walk, which takes place each April in Central Park, was inspired by Marlene Kahan, executive director of American Society for Magazine Editors, who was diagnosed with Parkinson’s Disease in 2004. The Unity Walk people commissioned the bracelet from...