It seems you can’t turn around without bumping into a new cause-related campaign. On Facebook and Twitter…we’re asked to vote in online contests that leverage the power of social media to direct corporate giving (most notably the Pepsi Refresh campaign). At local retail establishments, aisle end caps lure us to pick “fair trade” items or vote with our dollars to purchase pink-clad boxes to support breast cancer research or soap bottles adorned with baby seals to aid in wildlife recovery efforts.
Where Do We Go From Here?
But where do we go from here in the realm of cause marketing? How does this influx of cause-participation alternatives evolve toward a sustainable and meaningful interaction with the causes about which we care the most? How do we avoid “Causewashing” or the Death of Cause Marketing via cause overload? And what’s missing from current cause-related campaigns? What will Cause Marketing 2.0 look like?
These were questions I found myself asking repeatedly at the Cause Marketing Forum’s Annual Conference last week in Chicago.
Digging Deeper
After speaking with some incredibly smart folks like Chris Noble from Cause Media Group (see his video below) and listening intently to presentations from the leaders in the realm of cause marketing, here’s my take: we need to dig deeper. It’s one thing to create a glitzy, fun cause-related campaign for a brand that involves a cause. It’s quite another to think along the edges of the box to creatively rethink how a brand can leverage their consumer relationships to support a cause through greater awareness, sustainable funding and quality volunteerism.
Consumer Engagement is Key
We all know that social media and cause marketing are a natural fit because social media provides an organic way to reach consumers. Mike Swenson of Barkley bases his very differentiation between philanthropy and cause marketing on consumer engagement. Involve consumers? You’re eligible to enter the world of cause marketing. Don’t involve consumers? You’re in philanthropic territory (no, that’s not a bad thing, just a different ball game).
A Long-Tail Approach to Fundraising and Cause Marketing
As we dig deeper, there will come a point where social media and consumer involvement evolve into a long-tail approach to fundraising and cause marketing. At this point, savvy companies will begin to ask consumers not only to vote for their favorite non-profit organization but to up the ante and donate or volunteer themselves. It’s an evolution, to be sure, but in my humble opinion, a direction in which we should all point our cause marketing efforts.
Imagine a time where we, as consumers, will not be asked to vote by clicking a button on Facebook but rather by voting with our donation dollars to secure corporate matching funds. How much more time will we spend actually looking into the organizations to which we’re donating? And what will that do to our individual level of education and awareness around a particular cause?
AmEx Provides A Cause Marketing 2.0 Model
American Express has partnered with Take Part to offer a Cause Marketing 2.0 model with their Members Project initiative. Any consumer (not just AmEx customers) may participate in voting, donating (with dollars or AmEx Rewards Points) or Volunteering around certain cause areas. Participants who volunteer are eligible to earn Reward Points that may then be turned around and used as a donation toward a specific charity or kept for personal use. I’ll go ahead and venture a guess that consumers involved with the AmEx Members Project will be more engaged, more loyal and more committed to both the brand and the causes with which they’re involved. Why? Because they’re being asked to dig deeper. Do more. Take action.
Chris Noble on the Evolution of Cause Marketing
Chris Noble from Cause Media Group was kind enough to chat with me about how he sees the evolution of cause marketing, complete with a great example from Electrolux. Give it a watch and come back and share your thoughts.
What’s your take? Where does cause marketing need to go from here? What will prevent us from cause marketing overload? What’s the next evolution from where you sit? As always, I welcome your comments!
Let me wax semantic here for a bit. Cause marketing is where you describe it to be (causewashing, cause overload, death of) because it’s been used as a mere instrument. If concern for the People bottom line would be incorporated in companies’ business models, we actually wouldn’t need cause marketing. Just as all marketing should be sustainable, all marketing should be cause. These adjective-enriched variations of marketing seem like evolutionary dead ends. I argue for the shift in the definition of marketing so we wouldn’t need the adjective crutches.
I think this is exactly where we’re seeing the cause marketing trend heading, Peter, as evidenced by Chris’s Electrolux example as well as AmEx’s Members Project (as an aside, AmEx has joined their CSR office with the AmEx Foundation, which I think is a fantastic model).
So, yes, my partner in idealism, I agree with you wholeheartedly and welcome the time when we don’t make a differentiation between marketing and cause but I don’t think we’re there yet. What we can do, however, is continue to applaud and support efforts that take us in that direction.
Thanks for your comment!
As you know from the post I just wrote, Megan, I think the big areas of focus need to be authenticity, legitimacy and transparency. Mike Swenson, Ed Chansky and Mike Lawrence really drove this home to me at Cause Marketing Forum. Without programs that sincere, legit and clear what do we really have as a field?