Better to Give and Receive?

1. Better to Give and Receive? Greetings! During the Holiday Season, our thoughts turn to giving. For marketers, Cause Related Marketing and the notion of "doing well by doing good" has been popular for decades. But does it impact the bottom line? In the marketing world "giving" often takes the form of Cause Related Marketing, a partnership between a business and an organization usually linked to a social cause or issue. Why do companies embrace Cause Related Marketing? Is it purely to generate goodwill - or is there a profit motive? How can the ROI be quantified? Tie-Breaker or Sales Generator? Elva Lewis, former associate director at Procter & Gamble, believes cause-related marketing has a direct link to consumers' purchasing decisions. "If faced with a purchase decision between two similar products, a majority of consumers tell us that they would break that tie by choosing the brand from a company that contributes to, and does good things with, a community cause they believe in," she explains. American Express is widely credited with staging the first Cause Related Marketing program in 1983 when it raised $1.7 million for the Statue of Liberty restoration project. In addition to refurbishing Lady Liberty's luster, the program produced a 28 percent increase in consumer credit card use during the campaign's run. The popularity of Cause Related Marketing has risen significantly during the last decade. Cause marketing spending is estimated to reach $1.57 billion this year, according to the IEG Sponsorship Report. Customer Relationship Marketing The return on investment for a Cause Related Marketing program can be measured in many ways if cause marketing is viewed in terms of customer relationship marketing, according to Arthur Anderson, principal in New York consultancy Morgan Anderson. "Increased contributions associated with an e-mail, banner ad, etc.; number of responses to volunteer to a particular call for help; awareness/consideration improvements relative to a specific cause; number of people reporting that they took action as a result of some e-mail or telemarketing request," are several of the ways he cites. For example, in 2004 Whirlpool's created a tie-in with Habitat for Humanity and country music artist/TV star Reba McEntire. The marketer sponsored a 30-city tour with McEntire singing for Habitat that featured tents emblazoned with the Habitat logo at the concerts, in national TV, radio, and print advertising, and in employee and public relations components. The program resulted in an across-the-board increase in loyalty among consumers who had been exposed to the campaign's advertising versus a baseline loyalty study, according to John Alexander, a Whirlpool North America vice president. Selling Product Nonetheless, many marketers are looking for a more direct bottom line impact says Scott Beaudoin, vice president at Cone, Omnicom's Boston-based cause-marketing unit, "... at the end of the day, the long-term life of the program will be very short unless you can show it helped sell product." Finding the right Cause Related Marketing company to help marketers generate the ROI they are looking for is where PromoAid can help. PromoAid can help identify and evaluate the marketing services company best suited to plan and execute your marketing initiatives.