No area in business today is more sensitive to the changing tastes and mood of the public as marketing. In each of its various aspects—packaging, positioning, pricing, promotion, distribution, and sales—marketing must achieve a defined business objective and at the same time reflect and respond to what the public says it needs and wants. Accordingly, the marketing process continues to become ever more specialized. A glance at the titles of my previous books will support the claim, as the words image, brand, shock, crisis, reputation, and even future have been applied to describe various approaches to marketing.
Cause-related marketing has emerged as a powerful method of generating awareness, distinction, affinity—potentially lasting relationships—with members of specific target audiences who have shown a willingness to identify themselves with particular subjects, often emotionally charged.
The anthropologist Margaret Mead said: "Never doubt that a group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it’s the only thing that ever does."
Over five decades, cause marketing has become a highly visible, often cost-effective, and frequently controversial means of increasing recognition. It has created, enhanced, or changed public perceptions, images, or reputations, and has strongly differentiated individuals, brands, and companies in crowded, competitive fields.
From broad-based global sponsorships and associations, such as United Way, UNICEF, or the U.S. Olympic team, to the support of localized efforts to advance literacy, scholarship, research, health care, environmental issues, or the arts—business, media, and the general public have come to understand the benefits of leading or participating in a cause marketing effort.
This book is first a marketing book for marketing professionalsand senior-level managers who need to understand the potential benefits and advantages of cause marketing as well as its potential problems. It is not a commentary on corporate social responsibility, though no doubt some may have crept into this book. In that regard, observations, comments, and conclusions herein reflect the views of the author, based on some three decades in thestudy and practice of marketing, and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of any of the organizations that contributed information for this book.
More than many other specialized efforts, cause marketing involves virtually every level of an organization from occupants of the executive suite to cafeteria workers, research analysts, and grounds crews. By necessity, someattention must be given to the tested principles of successful marketing on which a cause marketing effort would be developed. These include information analysis, research, and planning.
The cause marketing casebook makes up a significant portion of this work. It includes a varied selection of case studies, some highly detailed and others briefly noted, in an effort to explore how the process has worked—or not worked—for organizations of different sizes, and for differing industries, all with dramatically different budgets.
Within the United States and around the world, there is a maturing interest in environmental, ethical, philanthropic, preservationist, conservationist and social issues. Although virtually every issue may be subject to interpretation by the political right, left, or any number of special interest groups, these issues present both opportunities and challenges for marketers and the enterprises they represent.
Cause marketing goes beyond advertising and public relations to focus on essential elements needed to support a socially responsible component of a well-crafted overall marketing plan. The result should build value and add another dimension to a company’s or brand’s image and reputation by, as experts describe it, doing well by doing good.
