Cause Related Marketing

Sue Adkins

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2007
• Print ISBN: 9781138136427
• eBook ISBN: 9781136422430
• Topic: Business
• Subtopic: Business General
• Index: Business

Cause Related Marketing's time has come. Consumers are demanding greater accountability and responsibility from corporations. In an environment where price and quality are increasingly equal; where reputation and standing for something beyond the functional benefits of a product or service is all, brands are constantly competing for customer loyalty and consumer attention. 'Cause Related Marketing' is one of the most exciting areas in marketing today which benefits both business and society. 'Cause Related Marketing': * positions Cause Related Marketing in the context of marketing, corporate social responsibility and corporate community investment. * explores who cares and why, providing research analysis into corporate and consumer attitudes both in the UK and internationally. * uses The Business in the Community Cause Related Marketing Guidelines, written by Sue Adkins and introduced by HRH The Prince of Wales, providing an in depth exploration of the key principles and processes that go towards creating excellence in Cause Related Marketing. * includes vignettes and in depth case studies to provide illustrations of Cause Related Marketing through a spectrum of examples both national and international. Sue Adkins, Director of the Business in the Community's Cause Related Marketing Campaign is acknowledged as an international expert. She is recognised as having put Cause Related Marketing on the map in the UK and leading the drive to establish Cause Related Marketing as an increasingly legitimate part of the marketing mix in the UK.

Cause Related Marketing in Context

DOI: 10.4324/9780080490625-1

Introduction

DOI: 10.4324/9780080490625-2

The 21st century company will be different. Many of Britain’s best known companies are already redefining traditional perceptions of the role of the corporation. They are recognising that every customer is part of a community, and that social responsibility is not an optional extra.

The Rt Hon. Tony Blair MP, Prime Minister, 24 February 1998

What do TESCO PLC, Cadbury Schweppes plc, Barclays Plc, BT, Centrica plc, DIAGEO, Lever Brothers Ltd and others all have in common? Answer: they have understood the benefits and have been involved in leading Cause Related Marketing programmes that have reaped benefits for themselves whilst making a significant positive impact on the wider community. They have demonstrated and benefited from the essential win:win:win of Cause Related Marketing.

The proposition I intend to explore is this: if the role of the business is to provide shareholder value added and society value added – in other words stakeholder value added – then as part of this it must have a good corporate reputation. A good corporate reputation influences the price and purchase of stock, and the sale of products and/or services, which therefore enable the business to thrive.

Like building a brand, the building of the corporate reputation is based on the consistent delivery of quality and service over time, but where ‘quality’ extends to include the values and core ideology of a business.

Reputation is built on the fundamental benefits of a business, product or service and the affinity and perceptions stakeholders hold towards them. Equally importantly corporate reputation is also founded on stakeholder appreciation of the values and vision on which the business is based. Part of building and reflecting those values and vision will be based on the corporate behaviour or responsibility of the organization in all the markets in which they operate.

In building understanding of and communicating this social responsibility, Cause Related Marketing has a clear and vital role to play. Cause Related Marketing is a highly effective way to build the brand, to reinforce, demonstrate and bring life to corporate values and to make corporate social responsibility and corporate community investment visible. But who cares?

Through the course of the text I will build the case for how Cause Related Marketing contributes to the overall development and enhancement of corporate reputation and illustrate who cares and why. Through guidelines and case studies I illustrate how Cause Related Marketing has or can be adopted as part of the corporate, marketing, community affairs, indeed overall business strategy. I will illustrate how Cause Related Marketing has enabled organizations to win.

In June 1995 when the Cause Related Marketing Campaign at Business in the Community was founded under Sir Dominic Cadbury with me as director, I had a fabulous brief. It was to define Cause Related Marketing, build the business case and to put it on the map in the UK. This interest was based on the idea that Cause Related Marketing could potentially help address the social and economic regeneration of communities whilst at the same time building the business. At the time examples of businesses linking with charities and causes included programmes like the TESCO Computer for Schools programme. In this case, consumers were encouraged to purchase products from TESCO PLC and for every £25 spent customers would receive a voucher which could be collected by participating schools and redeemed for computers and related equipment. This achieved great results for TESCO PLC in terms of sales, customer traffic, brand enhancement and customer loyalty whilst at the same time providing much needed valuable resources for the schools.

Cadbury Strollerthon, one of the events linked to Cadbury Ltd’s long-term relationship with Save the Children, was another example of the use of the power of partnerships between business and brands, and a cause. In this case the programme each year motivated on average between 18,000 and 20,000 consumers to action on one day to participate in a sponsored stroll around London to raise funds for Save the Children. Not only were the values of Cadbury Ltd and Cadbury Schweppes plc reinforced, not only was significant PR and excitement generated, not only were tens of thousands of products sampled but in addition an average of over £400,000 was raised for Save the Children and One Small Step each year the event took place.

The question was to understand what was going on, why, what the benefits were to the parties concerned, whether it really did have potential to benefit businesses and charities or causes. If yes, then the challenge and opportunity was to define and scope it, create a focus and to generate awareness and understanding of it, to create a centre of knowledge, advice and information and to promote a greater quality and extent of programmes. Indeed the challenge was to establish Cause Related Marketing as a legitimate marketing, corporate, community investment and fundraising strategy in the UK. This quest fits well into Business in the Community’s overall mission which is to ‘inspire business to increase the quality and extent of their contribution to social and economic regeneration by making corporate social responsibility an essential part of business excellence’. Clearly one of the many ways in which business can make a contribution to social and economic regeneration is by leveraging all parts of its business, including marketing in support not only of the business but also of the community in which it operates.

Four years on having formed the Cause Related Marketing Campaign at Business in the Community, led by a vital leadership team, Business in the Community has provided the research on the subject in the UK with the pro bono support of Research International (UK) Ltd. We have concentrated on building the business case and on encouraging other businesses to consider Cause Related Marketing as a strategic part of their marketing mix. Clearly with Cause Related Marketing being worth 8 per cent of the estimated $7.6 billion sponsorship market in the USA¹, the potential for growth and benefit both for business and the wider community in the UK is significant. But it is essential that Cause Related Marketing is clearly understood, appreciated and developed with the integrity, transparency, sincerity, mutual respect, partnership and mutual benefit it requires.

To protect the integrity of the concept and at the same time to provide guidance on the way towards developing effective Cause Related Marketing, under the auspices of the Business in the Community Cause Related Marketing Campaign, I wrote the first ever Cause Related Marketing Guidelines. These were developed following an intense period of discussion and consultation with consumers, charity and business practitioners, agencies and representative bodies. These Business in the Community Cause Related Marketing Guidelines, together with the Business in the Community original research, contribute much to the framework of this book.

Cause Related Marketing knows no boundaries in terms of industry, market or cause sector, in terms of continent or cultures; Cause Related Marketing has proven itself to have a valid and important part to play in the development of business and in the contribution towards the wider community in addressing key social issues, be it through specific charities or causes.

Before going into the detail of what Cause Related Marketing is, how it works, why it works, what the opportunities and threats are and what the future might hold, it is important to set Cause Related Marketing in context.

Cause Related Marketing is not the panacea for all ills, nor is it a fig leaf to hide the inadequacies of a product, brand, service or organization; it is not the cure all. Neither do I believe that Cause Related Marketing is the threat to traditional forms of philanthropy that some consider it might be. Cause Related Marketing is a concept whose time has come. Cause Related Marketing provides an additional tool for marketing, corporate and community affairs and fundraisers alike, in partnership, to achieve their mutual objectives for the benefit of all.

In the last few years the interest in the concept of corporate social responsibility has grown and received increasing attention, with leading companies developing sophisticated approaches. At the same time marketing techniques have been refined and new concepts developed whilst corporate community investment and Cause Related Marketing have also developed. Cause Related Marketing demonstrates and indeed enhances corporate values and reputation and much more besides, and this is increasingly being appreciated by the chief executive, corporate affairs, marketing and fundraising departments.

In the marketing and fundraising world there has been a quest for new and more effective ways of engaging the various target audiences or stakeholders. Consumers are increasingly sophisticated and cynical and have growing expectations of business. They expect compliance, honesty and ethical trading standards.

People in the UK trust a baked bean manufacturer more than the police, have greater faith in the makers of corn flakes than in the Church, and more confidence in a high street retailer than in Parliament².

Consumers also expect more individualized messages from the organizations with which they do business, from whom they purchase goods and services and to whom they donate their time, money and effort. This has precipitated the growth and focus on relationship marketing, on building loyalty and sustainable relationships with stakeholders. Price of media and reliability of audiences has further fuelled the trend towards one to one marketing where connecting with the whole person and not just the ‘consumer’ part is key; hence lifestyle marketing and the importance of understanding individuals' many and varied interests.

In line with these trends and expectations and with the creation and development of new and increasingly targeted marketing and fundraising techniques, interest and incidence of Cause Related Marketing programmes both in the UK, USA and elsewhere has developed.

The social, political and economic changes evident around the world with the universal drawing back of the state in its ability to fund welfare for all, demands increasing responsibility, flexibility, speed, and innovation from business. This is led by growing consumer expectations of business generally. It is also fuelled by consumers' expectations of more personalized messages and understanding of their needs; and indeed with what could be termed increased consumer compassion.

Through the course of this text, I hope to illustrate why I believe the time has come for Cause Related Marketing; how it fits into our current world of the global village, downsizing and re-engineering. A world in which the customer is king and is looking beyond the issues of price and quality. Price, parity and quality are increasingly taken for granted, and therefore there is an ever growing tendency for consumers to expect more and to want to understand the values behind the corporate brand or product .

In today’s environment where the vast majority of consumers have access to information at the touch of a button, to take action against a company or organization which the consumer feels is behaving in an unacceptable way, is increasingly acceptable and seen as appropriate for people of all ages; not just the 18–35 year olds but the 60 plus too. I hope to illust...

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Half Title Page
• Dedication
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Table of Contents
• Foreword by Sir Dominic Cadbury
• Foreword by Tim Mason
• Endorsements
• About Business in the Community
• A definition of Cause Related Marketing
• Acknowledgements
• Part One: Cause Related Marketing in Context
• Part Two: Who Cares, Why Care?
• Part Three: Application of Cause Related Marketing
• Part Four: Towards Excellence – The Principles and the Processes
• Part Five: The Way Forward
• Index