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July 25, 2007
Cause Marketing That's More Than Wallpaper
Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks | Filed under: Cause Marketing
Recently we covered the results from a Cone Inc. survey about corporate good. In a nutshell, people like companies that do good (and we argued that it's about being good, not just doing good).
Now Business Week is suggesting that most cause marketing is wallpaper. Ouch. But they have a point. Few people can connect which corporations support which causes. The writer, David Kiley, is arguing that what the Cone survey really shows it that all people want is a vague understanding that companies are helping causes--and that sets the cause marketing bar awfully low.
Which is a good way to mess it up. If the bar is that low and consumers can't connect corporations with causes, then what's the point? It may work as a mere chance to shine your corporate halo, but it's missing out on a much bigger opportunity.
Cause marketing is an opportunity to showcase who you are and what you're all about. If you're just throwing coins to a vague cause, you're missing out. No wonder nobody can remember. You have to make it memorable by making the right connections. A home improvement company and a home building nonprofit is the kind of specific partnership that forms synergy and people remember.
You don't do cause marketing so people have a vague idea that you do good. You do cause marketing to make a powerful statement that people remember and spread. That's when cause marketing really works. That's when it's more than wallpaper.
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