Cause Marketing 101

What is Cause Marketing?

A number of marvelous books and websites offer very useful background and strategic guidance on cause marketing. You’ll find links to them throughout www.causemarketingforum.com

Before you dive in, take a look at our introduction to the basic concepts behind cause marketing. (It’s the perfect place to start if you’ve been given a few days to become an “instant expert.”)

Cause Marketing 101

• 2004 Cone Corporate Citizenship Study Results  
• 2005 Cone Holiday Trend Tracker  
• 2006 Cone Holiday Trend Tracker  
• 2006 GolinHarris Corporate Citizenship Index  
• 2009 CMF/For Momentum Industry Snap Poll Results  
• 72% of Americans Want to Work for Companies that Support Charitable Causes  
• Academic Research News You Can Use
  from Michal Ann Strahilevitz,
  Associate Professor of Marketing, Golden Gate University  
• Academic News You Can Use: Local Angle Strengthens Programs  
• Academic Research News You Can Use #2
  from Michal Ann Strahilevitz, Associate Professor of Marketing, Golden Gate University  
• Amazon.com Nonprofit Innovation Award  
• American Consumer Attitudes Toward Cause Marketing  
• Americans' Corporate Citizenship Expectations Continue to Rise
  Highlights of the 2004 GolinHarris Change Study  
• Being Ethical Pays: Canadian Researchers Document Important Consumer Behavior  Consumers are willing to pay a small premium for ethically produced goods. But they'll punish an unethically made product even more harshly, by buying it only at a steep discount. Those are the findings of a study by Canadian researchers published in the MIT Sloan Management Review. The study provides important confirmation of what years of opinion polls and anecodatal evidence have indicated.
• Ben & Jerry's American Pie Campaign  
• Biomat Detergent: Israeli Cause Marketing  
• Building Blocks: Whirlpool & Habitat for Humanity  
• Business In The Community   
• Catalyst Nonprofit Valuation Survey Results  
• Cause Marketing Quote Collection  
• Cause Marketing: Altruism or Greed?  Companies that join with social causes to sell products not only enhance their image but also improve their bottom line, say University of Michigan researchers.
• Cause Marketing's Power Shown in MediaLab Study  
• Cause Results
  Manufacturer and Retailer Cause Marketing Attitudes and Practices  
• CAUSE-MARKETING FORECAST IS BRIGHT:
  NONPROFITS PREDICT 17 PERCENT INCREASE FOR COMING YEAR   
• Cause-Related PR Generates Greatest Coverage  
• Cause-Related PR Generates Greatest Coverage  
• Coca-Cola and WWF Team Up to Conserve Water  
• College Students Tuned Into Socially Responsible Brands: Alloy 2006 Study  
• Cone 2006 Millennial Cause Study  
• Cone 2007 Cause Evolution Study  
• Consumers React Positively To Cause Alliances:
  Arthritis Foundation Study Shows  Nonprofits concerned about the impact third-party alliances have on their consumer image will take comfort in the findings of a research study conducted by the Arthritis Foundation.
• Corporate Foundation Giving Up 6% in 2006  
• Corporate Giving Crosses Departmental Lines  This September 2007 article explores how increasingly, companies are looking for ways to align their philanthropic and community efforts with their business objectives, an approach that can benefit society as well as corporations. It uses the experience of Hewlett Packard to illustrate.
• Corporate Philanthropy Faces Challenges
  Bradley Googins, Executive Director, Boston College Center for Corporate Citizenship  In this Philanthropy Journal essay, Googins argues that in this age of easy internet access to all sorts of corporate information "companies have little control over the public debate and ultimately how the public will respond." In light of that "(t)hey need to be more effective in using what they do control -- setting their business strategy and requiring rigor in integrating philanthropy across the company."
• Defending Cause Marketing: Selfish Giving Responds to "The Hidden Costs of Cause Marketing"  CM expert Joe Waters and readers of his Selfish Giving blog respond to "The Hidden Costs of Cause Marketing," an article in The Stanford Social Innovation Review.
• Definitions  
• Doing Well by Doing Good 2005 Study Results  
• Eco-Living Consumer Preferences: DDB BIG Survey  
• GEICO First "Proud Partner" of AZA  
• Global Warming Campaigns: Dell and Clif Bar  
• Glossary of Terms  
• Go Red for Women 2005  
• Golin/Harris Corporate Citizenship Audit
  Launch Announcement  
• Grantmaking Down in 2002  
• Great American Cleanup Sets Records in 2005  
• IPG Media Lab Sees Strength in Cause + Social Media  In an increasingly personalized media landscape, the surest way for brands to engage consumers is through cause marketing, according to new analysis from IPG Emerging Media Lab's team of digital experts
• Is Community Service The Next Green?: BrandWeek  
• Key Facts on Corporate Foundations: 2006  
• Luxury Institute Nonprofit Study  
• Measuring Results of the Great American Cleanup  
• NGOs Most Trusted: Edelman Trust Barometer  
• No Charity, No Glory: Teams, Leagues Embrace New Social Consciousness
  by Kurt Aschermann
  President, Charity Partners, LLC  
• Nonprofits Failing to Maximize Impact of Corporate Volunteers  
• Partnering or Going Direct  
• Post 9/11 Consumer Attitudes  The latest research from Cone Inc. on consumer attitudes towards corporations and cause marketing after 9/11.
• Private, Growing Business Giving But Not Planning  An October 2005 PricewatershouseCooper study of fast growing, privately-held companies indicates these companies give back to their communities, but only 15% work off a well-thought out plan.
• Proving that Cause Marketing is a Win-Win  A compilation of statistics on the impact cause marketing campaigns have had on fundraising and sales for nonprofits and businesses from the editors of OnPhilanthropy.com
• Radio Embraces Cause Marketing  
• Rain Bird Promotes Intelligent Use of Water in Schools  
• Reputation Institute 2005 Corporate Rankings  
• Research:
  Who Benefits Most from Cause Marketing  Companies perceived as “ethically neutral” stand to garner the most image improvement from cause-related marketing, according to a study recently published in the Journal of Nonprofit and Public Sector Marketing.
• Specialty Retailers Most Common Cause Sponsors in 2005: IEG  
• The Growth of Cause Marketing  
• The Hidden Costs of Cause Marketing: Stanford Social Innovation Review  In this 2009 Stanford Social Innovation Review, Professor Angela Eikenberry of the University of Nebraska at Omaha offers a critique of cause marketing. Its "hidden costs" include "include individualizing solutions to collective problems; replacing virtuous action with mindless buying; and hiding how markets create many social problems in the first place."
• The Home Depot Responds to Katrina  
• The Home Depot/American Red Cross Ready Gear Program  
• Thinking More Globally, Giving Less Locally: Washington Post on AOL  AOL is scaling back its philanthropic contributions in the Washington region as it reinvents itself as a global Internet advertising firm.
• Three Tactical Approaches  
• Water Use It Wisely: Lessons on Corporate Social Marketing  
• Why Are Companies Turning to Cause Marketing?  
• Why Are Nonprofits Turning to Cause Marketing?  
• Yankelovich Monitor on Consumers and Causes