Cause Marketing

AVEX water bottles have a handy water spout that keeps out the grit and dirt and can be activated with one hand. In this second video interview from the 2013 Winter Outdoor Retailer trade show in Salt Lake City, I talk with AVEX’s Brand Ambassador Neil Bradshaw about how this product feature figured into their decision about which charity to support when it came time to do some cause marketing. As with yesterday’s interview with Bearpaw marketing VP Randy McKinley, AVEX found its cause marketing partner close at hand. But proximity just made the meetings easier. Watch now as Bradshaw explains how the cause’s mission and appeal sealed the deal for AVEX.

The Outdoor Retailer Show increasingly features a lot of cause marketing. You can always find a lot of very visible ‘big cause marketing’ at the trade show, which took place in January 2013 in Salt Lake City. But in my fifth time at the biannual trade show I went looking for small efforts; cause marketing that’s just being tried out. And I asked them how they found their cause partners and what they hoped to accomplish. Today, a conversation with Randy McKinley, VP of marketing at Bearpaw, a boot company, that turned over the canvas of its shoes to young art students. Watch and listen as Randy describes how the promotion developed and what Bearpaw’s expectations are going forward.

Trade shows are a natural for cause marketing because there are so many like-minded people under one roof. For instance, at the Outdoor retailer show that took place last week in my small State of Utah, the show was right around the 30th largest city in the State! I almost always suggest to clients that if they’re going to do cause marketing at a trade show that they consider doing it on behalf of cause in the city where the show is being held. In so doing they have the chance to leave legacy that can long outlast the show. OluKai , a footwear company, has real bon fides when it comes to cause marketing, corporate philanthropy and corporate social responsibility. Every year the company sends employees and others to Hawaii to help the nonprofit Maui Cultural Lands reforest the island and stabilize archeological sites. But during the run of the show, OluKai held a pro sales event every day at 5pm and sent the proceeds to the Utah Museum of Fine Arts . Pro sales means that it targets the ...

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...

Paul Fidrych left a promising career at Nike to start a business with his wife that takes old bike inner tubes and upcycles them into useful things like dog collars, chew toys and water dishes. All while benefiting the Humane Society chapter in Portland. The company is cleverly named Cycle Dog . To me that business model sounded like the much-heralded company TerraCycle, which upcycles juice pouches, for instance, into brightly-colored messenger bags. When I suggested that analogy, Paul politely told me that Cycle Dog positions itself as the leading US recycled pet supply company. Cycle Dog is laser-focused on the pet market. Listen now to this interview with Paul at the 2012 Outdoor Retailer Show in Salt Lake City as he talks about Cycle Dog's products, how they keep inner tubes out of the landfill, how they benefit the Humane Society, and how to crack open a cold one with man’s best friend.

Teva, the footwear company, started out making sandals for Colorado River Guides. And at its founding in 1984, Teva supported the nonprofit Save the Colorado, as it still does today. But as the company grew the footprint of its corporate philanthropy got ever-wider and more diffuse. No one likes to say to worthy causes with compelling stories, after all. But in this exclusive interview on the topic with the cause marketing blog, Jaime Eschette, the company’s long-time public relations manager told me that with the company’s current cause marketing effort… called A Pair for a Foot… the company returns to its watery heritage. With every pair of Teva’s purchased in 2011 and 2012, the company and its partners will protect a linear foot of river, lake and ocean waterways, with a goal of protecting 4.3 million linear feet of water. It's a Buy One, Give One (BOGO) with a twist. The effort includes employees, retailers, and volunteers as well as cash donations to the partner causes. The ke...

Over the last few years I’ve profiled about a dozen or so variations on a theme of ‘Buy One Give One’ (BOGO). But at the Outdoor Retailer Show that wrapped up Saturday, August 6, 2011 I found a new favorite. Footwear company Oboz , which is a contraction of the words Outside-Bozeman specializes in shoes and boots true to its Montana roots. Their BOGO cause marketing is a straightforward and appealing; buy a pair of Oboz and the company will plant a tree. What’s unusual is the benefiting cause, called Trees for the Future. Headquartered in Silver Spring, Maryland, Trees for the Future thinks of trees much the same way that Heifer International thinks about domesticated animals; that is, as a provider of wealth for people in the developing world. Trees for the Future plants trees that can become a source of wealth to local families. Think about it, in addition to the environmental benefits of trees they also provide fruits and nuts, fuel, sap, windbreaks, shade, fertilizer, f...

The Summer 2011 Outdoor Retailer Show attracts something close to 25,000 people… about the population of a small city… and puts them in a space about the size of 2 city blocks square. Several cause marketers realized it was also a good time to do a little cause marketing to a densely populated and captive audience. Gerber, the knife maker repeated a promotion in ran in January 2011 at the SHOT (Shooting Hunting Outdoor Trade) Show in Las Vegas by selling a knife branded to TV adventurer Bear Grylls and benefiting the Boy Scouts of America. Buy the pocket knife for $10 and proceeds benefit the BSA. Columbia Sports Wear held six fashion shows during the 2011 show featuring willowy models and its tech-savvy outdoor wear. When you Tweeted a picture from one of the shows and included the hashtag #ORshowCA, they made a $5 donation to the Conservation Alliance . Almost any trade show could do similar cause marketing promotions. Here’s my good friend Scott Welch from Columbia exp...

Camelbak did a cause marketing campaign with Water.org last year wherein the hydration company created a specially-branded version of its water bottles that the charity sold as a fundraiser. You may have seen Matt Damon, Water.org’s cofounder, telling David Letterman about the bottle during an appearance in December 2010. Thanks in no small part to Damon’s celebrity and the pitch-perfect strategic fit between Camelbak and Water.org, new bottles are forthcoming. Later this month Camelbak will expand the relationship with a Facebook effort. In an exclusive interview with causemarketing.biz at the Summer 2011 Outdoor Retailer Show in Salt Lake City, here’s Shannon Stearns, senior marketing manager at Camelbak, to explain it.

World Vision, the very able humanitarian organization, has an ambitious goal to End Malaria by 2015 and they’re at the mammoth Outdoor Retailer Summer Market trade show in Salt Lake City to drum up corporate support among outdoor retailers and brands. I spoke with Angela Appleton, director of cause marketing at World Vision, and the cause is just. In the developing world malaria kills 2,000 kids a day or approximately 750,000 children a year (!), with Africa bearing the brunt of the scourge disease. World Vision's End Malaria website says that translates to $12 billion in lost economic productivity every year and serves to perpetuate poverty in the developing world. World Vision wants to put an insecticide-treated mosquito net over every bed in the 62 malaria-endemic countries where World Vision has operations. Insecticides based on DDT eradicated malaria in the United States 60 years ago. But DDT is not an option now. Insecticide-treated mosquito nets aren’t perfect, but they are...

Yesterday at the Outdoor Retailer Summer Market was the Open Air demo. Today the indoor portion of the twice-annual show starts. So when I walked through the Salt Palace Convention Center on Wednesday the aisles were filled not with throngs of people but with the detritus of a giant trade show. (Reminds me a little of the time when at a charity softball tourney I saw Larry King take his shirt off! :o ) Nonetheless, just walking around the trade show floor I already saw signs (literally) of cause marketing. Today I’ll pay visits to Sierra Designs, Bamboo Bottle Company, and dozens of more, plus nonprofits like WorldVision. And I’ll visit with friends at Eton, Columbia, and a handful more. I’ll ask them about their cause marketing efforts, what they’re having success with and where cause marketing fits in terms of their overall marketing strategy. Stay tuned. If you have questions for me to ask, Tweet them with the hashtag #ORcausemarketing or message me @paulrjones.

Starting today in my fair city is the Outdoor Retailer Summer Market, the trade show of the $10.85 billion Outdoor Industry Association. About 25,000 vendors, exhibitors, attendees and the media are expected. But only one person will be at the show covering cause marketing and corporate social responsibility campaigns and efforts by manufactures and retailers, and that’s yours truly. I’ll snag interviews, get comments and talk to leaders about how they’re using cause marketing to give them strategic advantage in the growing outdoor industry. Then I’ll post them on the blog and at Twitter for you to read and watch. Follow me here on the blog. My Twitter handle is @paulrjones. My hashtag for the event is #ORcausemarketing. Finally, if there's question you have for anyone in the industry about cause marketing or corporate social responsibility, send them to on Twitter and I'll try and track them down.

Maybe it’s the old school Barry White I’m listening to as I write this, but size matters in cause marketing. (And don’t go there all you with dirty minds. I mean only that Barry was a sizable man and thereby able to attain certain vocal dynamics in the bass range that men of lesser stature could not). I was reminded of this when I saw this ad for Outdoor Research in Outdoor USA Magazine , a trade publication that I picked up at the Winter 2011 Outdoor Retailers trade show. Outdoor USA Magazine is tabloid sized and printed on matte paper. This ad for Outdoor Research , a 27-year-old outdoor gear company, is roughly 10.25” x 15.85. Down there in the bottom third of ad, beneath the fold, past the body copy Outdoor Research declares its solidarity for its nonprofit partner, Leave No Trace Center for Outdoor Ethics, whose logo is reproduced approximately .57” x .48”. To put it another way, Outdoor Research’s ad is about 162 square inches. Of that space, Outdoor Research trumpets Leave No ...

I spent a few hours at the Outdoor Retailers annual winter trade show on Friday, January 21, 2011 going from booth to booth and looking for notable cause marketing efforts. Among them was a show-only effort from Columbia Sportswear, meant to promote a line of outerwear and boots called Omni-Heat Electric , along with other offerings from Columbia. Three times a day on Thursday, Jan 20 and Friday, Jan 21, Columbia held a fashion show featuring Omni-Heat Electric and other offerings. When you Tweet out pictures from the fashion show with the hash tag orshowCA#, Columbia will make a $5 donation to the nonprofit Conservation Alliance . The minimum donation will be $4,000 and the maximum will be $7,000. I spoke to Jinn Brunk, a member of Columbia’s corporate responsibility team, and she said that they may follow up with all Tweeters with a message like, “we thought you’d like to know that we made a donation of (say) $6,755 to Conservation Alliance. Thanks for your help!” The least communic...