Citizen Brand

The Death of Cause Marketing

AdAge has asked me to provide an occasional point of view on cause marketing and this is my latest effort. I am the last person on the planet who wants cause marketing/branding to die because I do believe in it when it is done right. I will let my column take it from here:

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The Day Cause Marketing Died

How to Keep Consumers From Getting Fed Up With Corporate Efforts

Posted by Mike Swenson on 06.01.10 @ 12:16 PM

         

Mike Swenson

It was a cool and calm morning the day cause marketing died. Its demise went largely unnoticed by all the online news aggregators. The only remaining television news network, ACNBCNN, ran a feature reminding us that it had broken the news the previous year that cause marketing was doomed.

It seemed to happen so quickly. One day the marketplace was full of companies and nonprofits working together for the common good. And then it was over. The blame game is in full swing. Various theories are being debated as to what happened. But looking back, it seems clear why cause marketing died.

It wasn't a natural death. It was murder. The very people who created and nurtured cause marketing through the end of the 20th century and into this century lost control of it at some point. Cause marketing was turned over to the promotions departments of agencies and companies and morphed into something unrecognizable. Cause was no longer about unique engagements with consumers. It had become just another homogenized marketing program fighting to grab its share of the consumer dollar.

From the moment consumers awoke each day until they fell asleep at night, they were inundated with opportunities to give back every time they made a purchase. In between, regardless of what store they were in, point-of-purchase shelf talkers virtually screamed at consumers every 10 feet to buy this or that product and help this or that cause. Consumers were under siege at every checkout lane of every store they shopped to give a dollar for this or a dollar for that. With online shopping continuing to overtake old-fashioned retail, cause banner ad after cause banner ad intruded on that shopping experience as well.

How do we keep this scenario from happening? Those of us engaged in cause branding in 2010 can't conceive of its demise. But as true believers, we also must avoid being naive about practices that can erode its effectiveness as a brand builder and a vehicle for societal change. A recent unscientific poll conducted here on AdAge.com asked for our collective opinions about whether or not cause marketing was doomed because of overexposure to the consumer. A wide margin of those who responded said consumer fatigue was going to happen. Are they right, or were they just the usual vocal minority of people who find it easy to criticize without offering suggestions?

What I do believe consumers will grow tired of are product promotions that masquerade as cause marketing programs. Product promotions are designed to do one thing: Sell products. Simply adding a donation from the sales proceeds doesn't qualify as real cause branding anymore. Cause has to be about engaging the consumer beyond the sale of one product. Companies need to demonstrate that they care about the cause every day, not just the day of the transaction.

Likewise, nonprofits need to be mindful of the types of corporate partnerships they pursue. While the money from a purely transactional cause-marketing program may be tempting, nonprofits should make sure the partnership makes sense. Is there a natural tie between the corporation and the nonprofit, or is it forced? Will the consumer remember anything about the cause once the promotion ends? And what will the money being donated specifically fund?

When cause marketing is done well, no explanation is needed. The partnership instantly makes sense. The consumer is engaged repeatedly throughout the year. And everyone knows where the money is going and what it will accomplish. The true power and reach of cause marketing is missed if companies are simply slapping a nonprofit logo on a consumer product and thinking the consumer will remember them after the transaction is over.

The fictitious dispatch from the future at the beginning of this column should remain just that: fictitious. There are enough companies and nonprofits today that are doing it right. But with increased scrutiny from both corporate and nonprofit watchdogs, we have to make sure we are all doing it the right way all the time.

As always, the consumer will be the ultimate watchdog. The cause formula for success with consumers is very simple: Engage, don't just sell. Educate, don't just market. Find a nonprofit partner that makes sense. And if consumer donations are involved, be open and specific about what they are accomplishing.

In the end, you might just sell some more product, too.

A simple apology

Twice in less than a week, two public figures at the top of their respective professions, told us they made a mistake. How refreshing is that. It shouldn't be news, but unfortunately it is news. We have become so immune to public figures lying, cheating, stealing and blaming others that when someone actually takes responsibility, we notice.

First it was President Obama telling us "I screwed up" last week while taking full responsibility for the Tom Daschle debacle. Then today, Alex "A-Rod" Rodriguez goes in front of the public and says he's sorry that he made the mistake of taking steroids in 2003. Our CEO at Barkley emailed me immediately and said how he instantly thought more of A-Rod after his apology compared to how he felt about Roger "I never took steroids" Clemens. That is the reaction A-Rod deserves.

One of the first rules of crisis management is to take responsibility for the problem. Taking responsibility gives you instant credibility with everyone. It frees you up to move on and begin to fix the problem. It avoids the blame game that wastes time and energy. In short, taking responsibility is the only way that the crisis can begin to come to an end.

Let's hope the President and the ballplayer are only the first of a wave of authenticity and transparency that washes over a few others.

(A-Rod photo courtesy Sports Illustrated.com)

A model citizen

If I was looking for a poster child for Citizen Brand, one candidate would be Millard Fuller. I say was because unfortunately, Mr. Fuller died this week. If his name isn't familiar, I can assure you that his life's passion is very familiar. Millard Fuller was the founder of Habitat for Humanity.

Fuller was a multi-millionaire entrepreneur. In 1976, he gave up his business and wealth and with his wife started a charity designed to help people in need get decent housing they can afford.

“Millard Fuller was a force of nature who turned a simple idea into an international organization that has helped more than 300,000 families move from deplorable housing into simple, decent homes they helped build and can afford to buy and live in,” said Jonathan Reckford, chief executive of Habitat for Humanity International, in a statement. “The entire Habitat family mourns the loss of our founder, a true giant in the affordable housing movement.”

Fuller and his wife began Habitat in the small town of Americus, Georgia, also the home of former President Jimmy Carter. Carter became one of Habitat's greatest ambassadors. Carter said today, "Millard Fuller was one of the most extraordinary people I have ever known. He used his remarkable gifts as an entrepreneur for the benefit of millions of needy people around the world by providing them with decent housing."

As with most public figures, Fuller's life was not without some controversy.  He left Habitat four years ago after a dispute with the board. Since I don't know the details of what happened, we will leave that for others. Fuller didn't disappear from the affordable housing scene. Instead, he and his wife launched the Fuller Center for Housing. Through it, they raise money for Habitat affiliates.

His wife Linda said her late husband would not want people to mourn his passing. "He would be more interested in people grabbing a hammer and building a house for someone in need,"  she said. The couple was planning on celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary later this year with a global tour to build 100 homes. The tour is expected to go on.

Millard Fuller would want it that way for sure.

(Thanks to the Chronicle of Philanthropy, ABC.com & the AP.)

Ethical musings

 

We all want to act ethically. Well, at least most of us do. When an ethical collapse the size of the Bernie Madoff scandal occurs, we all hope that it will prevent another one in the future.  But a year or two or five from now, someone else will be doing the perp walk.  The transparency of the world today via the internet should help to keep a brighter light on business, government and the nonprofit arenas.  Here are some thoughts from Seth Godin.

Good guys finish...

I got a note yesterday that said, "I'll be curious to know if it's possible to succeed and to stay clean as I see a lot of dirty "crooks" out there. I am trying to work with good ethics, but I see a lot of successful people talking/teaching "black Hats" strategies that scare me."

Spiritual business is an interesting concept. Is what you do all day at work part of who you are? Is it possible to be a deceitful crook all week but a good person on the weekend?

Can you succeed financially by acting in an ethical way?

I think the Net has opened both ends of the curve. On one hand, black hat tactics, scams, deceit and misdirection are far easier than ever to imagine and to scale. There are certainly people quietly banking millions of dollars as they lie and cheat their way to traffic and clicks.

On the other hand, there's far bigger growth associated with transparency. When your Facebook profile shows years of real connections and outreach and help for your friends, it's a lot more likely you'll get that great job.

When your customer service policies delight rather than enrage, word of mouth more than pays your costs. When past investors blog about how successful and ethical you were, it's a lot easier to attract new investors.

The Net enlarges the public sphere and shrinks the private one. And black hats require the private sphere to exist and thrive. More light = more success for the ethical players.

In a competitive world, then, one with increasing light, the way to win is not to shave more corners or hide more behavior, because you're going against the grain, fighting the tide of increasing light. In fact, the opposite is true. Individuals and organizations that can compete on generosity and fairness repeatedly defeat those that only do it grudgingly.

Why Obama is President-elect

He had a single organizing thought - change.

He was disciplined in sticking to his message.

So was his staff.

He understood community organizing and applied it to the national level.

He gives a damn good speech.

He has a vision for the future and is able to make us all see it and feel it.

He energized a new generation of leaders for our future.

Obama understands America's place in the world and is ready to take us where we need to be.

He has already helped raise America's standing in the world by winning this election.

As proof of that, read this email from a good friend of mine in Ireland, Jim Walsh.

Congratulations on the ultimate example of democracy in action.

Whether Democrat or Republican the people of the United States of America
have shown the world how to behave when selecting a new leader.

The stunning acceptance speech from Barack Obama and the gracious acceptance
of defeat from John McCain has reverberated around the world.

Here in Ireland we quickly found a link with your president-elect. His
great, great, great, grandfather emigrated to the United States during the
Famine from a village called Moneygall in County Offaly. We look forward to
welcoming President Barack Obama to his ancestral home as we did John F.
Kennedy and Ronald Reagan.

Jim

Isn't it great how everyone in the world wants to lay claim to our incoming President.

Thanks Jim for giving us a great perspective on how the rest of the world is looking at the events of November 4.

Paul Newman

Let's take a break from the chaos that is our political scene this week and pay homage to an authentic American, Paul Newman.  Newman , one of the finest actors and humanitarians of any generation, died today at the age of 83.

If Paul Newman was in a movie, you knew it would be good.  And he kept it real for decade after decade performing a wide range of characters, each of them memorable in their own right.  He wasn't one of those actors who succeeded because he played the same character each movie.  He could play the good guy, the bad guy, the sentimental guy or the tough one.  Every one was believable.  And he made everyone else in the movie with him better.

If all he had accomplished in his life was his movie career, we would still be honoring him.  But he accomplished so much more.  He and his wife, Joanne Woodward, were married for 50 years plus.  Woodward is a fantastic actress in her own right.  He loved fast cars and was in racing for a time.  But I believe he would tell us his most important achievement was Newman's Own.  

The food company he started as "a lark" with a friend has turned into perhaps the greatest example of cause branding by a company ever.  100 percent of the proceeds from the more than 150 food items manufactured and sold by Newman's Own goes to charity.  100 percent.

Paul Newman may have died, but he left a legacy that will live forever through his movies and through his philanthropy.  Here's looking at you, kid.  Thanks.

Of Bobby and Barack

It took 40 years.  America has fought four wars, one of which is still raging.  The world is a remarkably different place in June of 2008 versus June of 1968, but there is one very strong connection.  Barack Obama is the true heir to the presidency that should have been.

My personal political hero is Bobby Kennedy.  It has taken me four decades to find a candidate that I believe will make the kinds of changes we need.  Bobby Kennedy would have been a much different president than even his brother was.  Barack Obama will be a much different president than any we have had in the four decades since that turbulent year of 1968.  A year that shaped a generation's thinking and actions, including yours truly.

And yet Obama will mean much more than even RFK could have hoped to mean.  His is a truly historic campaign as was that of his worthy competitor, Hillary Clinton.  But the Clinton campaign did not comport itself consistently as one that deserved the historic tag.  It was at times difficult to watch and listen to the Clinton campaign.  In 1992, the Clintons represented change.  It was a change that was never fully realized as scandal and impeachment politics sidetracked the promised progress.

And now there are two.  McCain and Obama.  An aging war hero versus the young gun.  Two United States Senators.  Two men once again when many expected the first woman to grace the presidential stage.  The questions begin.  Can Obama convince Hillary's female and white male base to stay in the Democratic fold? Will the hundreds of thousands of young Americans who have been energized by Obama stay tuned and vote in November?  Will John McCain figure out a way to distance himself from his promise to stay in Iraq for 100 years?  Will Obama pick Hillary for VP?  Would she take it or tell him to take a hike?

But those are the questions of practical politics.  Obama has raised our sights to look beyond the mundane day to day politics.  He is challenging us to step up, get engaged and embrace real change.  He is a reminder to this child of the 60's of a time when politicians could be respected and be believed.

It took 40 years.

Simple enjoyment

I can always count on Ernie to find us advertising that works and that we can simply enjoy.  This new spot from Guiness does both.

What happened to Lincoln and FDR?

Since we have already had most of this year to vet the candidates running to become the next President of the United States, maybe we should just go ahead and have the election now and be done with it.  Of course, that would require us to actually be ready to put one of the vast herd of senators, governors, former governors, former mayors and at least one actor and a former first lady into the White House.  And that is not something we seem ready to do yet.  Good thing we have another year.  I'm sure another year of canned sound bites and made for TV debates will clear everything up.

Think I'm sounding a bit cynical?  Guess I have to plead a little guilty.  But I wonder if we are all going to experience presidential election burnout because we do have almost a full year left before we cast votes.  Makes me wonder how far off base the story in Thursday's The Onion might be.......

"Americans Announce They're Dropping Out of the Presidential Race"

One news cycle

Back to the keyboard after a summer hiatus and it took just 45 minutes with Tuesday's New York Times  to make it happen.  Whatever page I turned to there was example after example of questionable, even unethical decisions by people and organizations.  One news cycle produced some of the worst examples of bad citizen brands I've ever seen.  Consider just a few of them:

In 2005, corporate America received huge tax breaks to bring home their offshore profits and create jobs in America.  Drug makers were the biggest winners bringing home $100 billion while paying only six percent taxes instead of the 35 percent they would have paid prior to the '05 legislation.  Any new jobs created?  Hardly.  Instead tens of thousands of people have been laid off by drug companies in the past two years.

Without even leaving the front page, we see that New York Governor Eliot Spitzer has himself in a bit of a sticky wicket.  The man who used to make Wall Street titans tremble finds himself on the defense after a couple of long time aides decided to use the New York State Police for a little political tomfoolery.  Seems the Governor's nemesis - State Senator Joe Bruno used some police helicopters for trips from Albany to New York City.  Turned out not to be a problem, but the Governor's helpers saw an opportunity and solicited the acting Superintendent of the State Police to help them make a case against Bruno.  By the way, the acting Superintendent is vying for a permanent appointment so he did what any good public servant should do - he helped try to make the case.  Anyway, given Spitzer came into office seven months ago pledging to clean up New York state government, it seems apparent he will need to start with his own staff.

Of course the sports pages these days read more like bad reality television shows.  From Michael Vick and fighting dogs to the critical question of whether or not baseball Commissioner Bud Selig will be in the stands for Barry Bonds' record home run it's amazing that sports writers still find time to report scores of games.

The perfect sports commissioner, David Stern of the National Basketball Association , has a small gambling problem.  He doesn't wager himself, but seems he has a referee who got in over his head with some betting debts and began to make some interesting calls that turned a game or two or ten.  A good betting scandal is needed every ten years or so just to purge the rookie gamblers out of the system.

And then there is poor Sergio Garcia .  I love golf and I truly love the Open Championship.  It looked like Sergio was finally going to win his first major.  He was 0 for 35 coming into the British Open.  He is now 0 for 36.  Unfortunately his major drought is apparently starting to eat away at him.  He was not the shining example of a gracious loser in the press room at Carnoustie on Sunday.  He blamed bad breaks and other golfers in front of him for losing a four stroke lead in the last 14 holes in the final round.  Golf is one sport where no one else has anything to do with the way you play the game.

A handful of news stories in one newspaper in one news cycle.  All examples of either a lack of common sense, common decency or ethical behavior.  And proof that it's time to crank up Citizen Brand again and look for some good examples.  I know they are out there.

Good to be back.