Leading up to its Feb. 11, 2012 Romp to Stomp tour event in Utah, Tubbs Snowshoes bought local advertising. The day after the event, it garnered some earned media, in this case a story in one of the Salt Lake City dailies. Both earned and bought media represent ways for a sponsor to activate or promote their cause marketing relationships. A third category, called owned media, is what General Mills has with its millions of box tops. Or what you have with your Facebook page and Twitter feed. So how do they differ? And which is best for cause marketing? As I’ve noted before, basically all cause marketing has a PR component whether or not there’s also any bought or owned media. And even in a digital age where newspapers in North America are basically ‘old media,’ getting a story in the paper nonetheless brings with it a measure of credibility that owned and bought media don’t have. That’s because when someone publishes or broadcasts a story about your cause marketing they are giving a kind...
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