Cause Marketing

Back in October 2012 the office of New York State’s Attorney General Eric Schneiderman released five “best practices” for conducting cause marketing in the Empire State. They accord to a remarkable degree what I’ve been telling clients for more than 10 years now and have written in the Cause Marketing blog since my first posts almost six and half years ago. But a local cause marketing promotion reinforced for me the fact that every year a new generation of marketers arises that, as the story in the Bible puts it , “knew not Joseph.” That is, they haven’t gotten the message yet about the right ways to do cause marketing. Here’s the AG’s guidelines as published : Clearly Describe the Promotion. Allow Consumers to Easily Determine Donation Amount. Be Transparent About What Is Not Apparent. Ensure Transparency in Social Media. Tell the Public How Much Was Raised. Let’s be clear that the AG’s guidelines don’t currently have the force of law. But if they did, any cause marketing offe...

Shep may be loyal, true, affectionate and well behaved… the best thing that’s ever happened to you. Or he may be a neurotic canine basket case of the type featured on the TV program, The Dog Whisperer . But you love Shep and want the world to know it. Now you can with a sterling silver pendant that recreates old Shep’s paw print in three dimensions. Best of all, “30 percent of the proceeds” from the sales of the pendant benefit the Millan Foundation’s DEAR Fund. The price of the pendants range from $180 to $200. “Each dog has a unique paw shape,” says Tim Foster, the designer of the pendant and owner of the Los Angeles jeweler Pennyroyal Studio. “A pendant made from the exact outline of your dog’s paw is like wearing your best friend’s finger print on a necklace.” The Millan Foundation was started by Cesar Millan, the star The Dog Whisperer , which ran for seven seasons on National Geographic Wild. He is also the editorial director of the dog magazine Cesar’s Way . The Millan Foundat...

A recent flyer from a local grocer with about 10 stores in the chain features two cause marketing campaigns and is timed specifically for the holiday season, one for the local food bank and one for the Salvation Army’s Angel Tree program. For me this raises a question; regardless of how generous the intent of the grocer, how many cause campaigns can a retailer reasonably sustain at a time? Although these are both full-page images, I didn’t crop them so that you could get a clear sense of the amount of space the grocer, called Macys, devoted to both causes in the same flyer. The food bank effort is in some ways an analog to the Chamber of Commerce paper ico n campaign I profiled on Monday, November 15, although it is not the same effort. And it’s not a paper icon campaign. When you’re in the store, purchase a bag of food and pick your favorite team and the food goes to the associated food bank. The team whose fans donate the most food and money get bragging rights for the year. Of cour...

Anytime a movie plays a hospital scene for laughs, one of the most reliable sight gags is those damnable hospital gowns they give you to wear. They’re too small, too short, ridiculously-cut, and for years they had that slit up the back that seemed calculated to mock a patient’s dignity. But what if you have breast cancer and require periodic trips to the treatment center for chemo or radiation, breast exams, ultrasounds, MRIs, and the like. You can wear your street clothes in, but they aren’t at all functional for MRIs or radiation. And the functional hospital gowns, called ‘Johnnie robes,’ provided by hospitals and treatment facilities are almost dehumanizing. Enter Jillies.com , which offers a kind of tunic to wear both into and during breast cancer treatments called the 'Playful Garment.' All cotton, permanent press, washable, Jillies come with a drawstring carryall that you can use to carry personal belongings around during treatments. When your purchase Jillies, a portion ...

When I was in nonprofit management I heard a lot of pitches from retailers or suppliers wanting to sell something to my list of supporters. But there was always a sticking point. Oftentimes they wanted me to just turn over my donor list. That was a nonstarter. Later they wanted to put my logo on their merchandise or sales platform, usually without any upfront money. Those terms, too, were unacceptable. Now a West Coast coffee roaster called Newhall Coffee Roasting Company offers an approach and terms that I think a lot of nonprofit managers could swallow. Sell fresh-roasted coffee with your nonprofit branding on it and you get to keep a “significant percentage of the proceeds.” Called Newhall Coffee for a Cause , all sales take place on a customizable webpage and Newhall handles all fulfillment and returns. Marketing materials like fliers, brochures and postcards are also available to participants. Very few would-be partners get this part right. The biggest 500 nonprofit charities in U...

Look at the illustration on the left. Now read the copy. Now back to the illustration. Now read the copy. Sadly, the illustration doesn't really illustrate the copy, does it? I'm not a graphic designer or an art director. So I'm at a loss to explain the graphic design for a cause marketing campaign that was being promoted with table toppers at a Corner Bakery in Denver last week. Here's the campaign: When you buy a BBLT or a Chilled Berry Almond Swiss Oatmeal at Corner Bakery, they'll donate a "portion of the proceeds" to community gardens in the form of a grant. There's just such a garden about a block and half from where I saw this table topper, although I don't know if it's targeted to receive a Corner Bakery grant or not. I guess I sorta get the tomato plant changing hands. Although why you'd transplant it with a green tomato on I can't imagine. But where's the illustration of the BBLT and the Chilled Berry Almond Swiss Oatmeal...

It's classic economics. If you're a farmer and you sell a commodity like winter wheat or red delicious apples, you're stuck with the lowest prices, because there's little you can do as an individual farmer to make your product stand out from your competitors. But fruit growers can do something that wheat growers can't: they can join a cooperative that tries to brand the fruit as somehow superior. Are Sunkist oranges any better than regular oranges? Who knows? But they do command a premium price. Could cause marketing help commodity producers preserve some pricing power? This sticker on a watermelon purchased at a local grocery store made me wonder. The watermelon is called a 'Pink Ribbon Watermelon' from C.H. Robinson on Eden Prairie, Minnesota, and it promises to 'donate a portion of our sales to breast cancer organizations.' The sticker seems like a half-effort to me that might not actually help C.H. Robinson preserve pricing power. The 'portio...

In celebration of her fiftieth year in business, fashion designer Lilly Pulitzer... in conjunction with eight celebrity moms... is conducting a cause marketing campaign benefiting the Epidermolysis Bullosa Medical Research Foundation . EB is a rare and especially heartbreaking genetic skin disorder. The celebrity moms include Gwyneth Paltrow, Elisabeth Hasselbeck, Garcelle Beauvais-Nilon, Angie Harmon, Debra Messing, Marcia Cross, Bridget Moynahan, Catherine Bell, and Brooke Shields. When you buy outfits from Pulitzer’s ‘ Colorful Cause Jubilee Collection for Summer 2009 ’ proceeds benefit the EBMRF. The mom and me swimsuit collection illustrated to the left is from the Gwyneth Paltrow collection. I have my usual qualms about the ‘ proceeds ’ language. But more than that I think Lilly Pulitzer missed some tricks here, almost all related to a lack of integration. The pronouncement was made in mid-April, yet the Pulitzer blog has only two posts, including the announcement itself. There’s...

Over the last 15 years or so, I’ve seen my fair share of cause-related marketing, but I don’t remember ever seeing any featuring lighters. So, I was fascinated to come across this campaign from Zippo, candle designer Harry Slatkin, and retailer Bath & Body Works, benefiting Autism Speaks, the 3½ year old autism advocacy organization founded by Suzanne and Bob Wright. So I went to the websites of all the entities named in the ad, which appeared in the October 2008 Elle Decor to learn more. And what did I learn? I learned that nobody seems to want to own this campaign. Zippo.com has zip about it. Bathandbodyworks.com has a Slatkin lighter, but there’s zilch there about Autism Speaks. And there’s zero at AutismSpeaks.org , too. Could be there’s something in-store, but the closest Bath & Body Works to me is farther than I care to drive. (Update on October 20, 2008: My new friend John D., who lives in the Eastern U.S. reports that he visited a Bath & Body Works over the weeke...

Does it feel like cause-related marketing is too sincere, too earnest, too sober? Too many soft piano chords and not enough wailing guitar licks? In the last couple of weeks I’ve come across two cause-related marketing efforts… largely targeted to women… with a decidedly mischievous approach. The first is from an outfit called ta-tas Brand Clothing , which produces T-shirts, other wearables, bumper stickers, and special soap meant to enable early breast cancer detection called ‘boob lube.’ Their signature T-shirt reads: “save the ta-tas,” but they offer a number of other cheeky variations like “caught you looking at my ta-tas.” “A portion of every sale is given to breast cancer research,” through the company’s foundation, The Save the ta-tas Foundation. To date, the website reports, sales of ta-tas merchandise has generated more than $185,000 in donations. The second is more shocking still. The ‘Eff’ Cancer Cross stitch Kit from Subversive Cross Stitch, generates a donation to Susan G...

Luxury Goods from Monique Pean While there are notable exceptions… General Mills comes to mind… companies generally employ the techniques of cause-related marketing tactically. But the methods of cause related marketing can also be woven into corporate strategy, as in the case of luxury goods maker Monique Pean . Named for the eponymous designer and former investment banker, Monique Pean sells stunningly expensive jewelry in places like Bergdorf Goodman in New York City. The little bangle shown is made from 25,000 year old fossilized woolly mammoth ivory and recycled gold and goes for cool $14,000. Here’s a partial list of the cause-related marketing and corporate social responsibility elements built into Monique Pean’s business model: The ivory used is gathered by native Alaskans above the Artic Circle, much of which is newly visible courtesy of the retreating ice sheet. And since it's summer... the longest days of the year... the native Alaskans near the pole have plenty of day...

Buy a Bikini, Help Cure Cancer New York City (small-d) fashion designer Shoshonna Lonstein Gruss may have one of the more absurd cause-related marketing campaigns I’ve come across lately. When you buy the bikini or girls one-piece swimsuit at Bergdorf-Goodman in New York shown at the left all sales “proceeds” benefit Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center . Look past the weak ‘ proceeds ’ language, which I always decry, and think for a moment about the incongruities of the sales of swimsuits benefiting the legendary Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center. Cancer has nothing to do swimming or swimsuits or summering in The Hamptons for that matter. And it’s not clear from her website why Shoshanna, the comely lass who once adorned the arm of comedian Jerry Seinfeld, has chosen the esteemed cancer center to bestow her gifts, although a web search shows that she’s supported its events for years. Lesser critics would say that the ridiculousness of it all is a sign that cause-related marketing is ...