We present to you the Third Edition of IIM Rohtak's Marketing Club's Newsletter- Canvas

1. MARQUE! 20 NOVEMBER 2011
CANVAS
Cause Marketing
The art of Giving...and Winning...
A cold in the head causes less suffering than an idea.
- Jules Renard
Sneak Peak
• Where Philanthropy Ends... - Bharadwaj Battaram
• Cause Marketing: What it is and what it will be - Team
Megarth
• Just do it for the cause! - Harsh Gupta
• Is it the Answer? - Kushal Lokhande
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2. MARQUE! 20 NOVEMBER 2011
WHERE PHILANTHROPY ENDS...
Consumers’ growing expectations of companies make corporate philanthropy more important than
ever. Corporate philanthropy can be an effective tool for companies that are trying to meet consumers’
rising expectations of the role businesses should play in society, say respondents to a McKinsey global
survey.
Corporate philanthropy or corporate giving is the act of corporations donating some of their profits,
or their resources, to nonprofit organizations. But it should not be mistaken for Cause related Marketing.
They are distinct in that the corporate dollars involved in Cause Marketing are not outright gifts to a
nonprofit organization, so they are not treated as tax-deductible charitable contributions. Nonprofits
potentially benefit from increased fundraising and exposure. Likewise, corporations that are socially
involved potentially benefit from increased brand loyalty and employee morale.
According to cause marketing consultant Jocelyn Daw, cause related marketing is a mutually beneficial
collaboration between a corporation and a nonprofit in which their respective assets are combined to:
• create shareholder and social value
• connect with a range of constituents (be they consumers, employees, or suppliers)
• communicate the shared values of both organizations
In this new era of social responsibility, what a corporation doesn't do can cost it. "Cause marketing" is
now the norm, and customers who visit the website and see the advertising want to know that the
company shares their desire to make the world a better place by supporting an important cause.
Kim T Gordon lists five important steps necessary in the mastery of this marketing challenge:
1. Give from the heart
Cause marketing works best when the company and the employees feel great about the help
they are providing to a nonprofit group. What matters most to the company, the team and the
customers? Everyone works hard to make a difference when they give from the heart.
2. Choose a related cause
A solid cause-marketing campaign often starts with the right affiliation. So while going through
the nonprofit selection process, look for a cause that relates to the company or its products.
3. Contribute more than dollars
For many types of businesses, cause marketing involves donating products or services and not
simply writing a check. This can help form even stronger consumer associations between what is
offered and the good work done.
4. Formalize your affiliation
To make the affiliation a win-win for everyone, the company must work with the nonprofit to
define how it will help the business increase its visibility, brand or company awareness.
5. Mount a marketing campaign
Success in cause marketing often means motivating an audience to take action, such as making
a donation or participating in an event.. Using a dedicated marketing campaign, one can reach and
persuade the target group while also raising awareness for the business and its commitment to
social responsibility.
Like Wade Boggs once said, we live in a world where a positive attitude causes a chain reaction of
positive thoughts, events and results. It is a catalyst and sparks extraordinary results.
- Bharadwaj Battaram
Canvas - Editor
IIM Rohtak
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3. MARQUE! 20 NOVEMBER 2011
CAUSE MARKETING - WHAT IT IS AND WHAT IT WILL BE
People, not customers or consumers but people bottom-line and community impacts, paving the
are what Marketing is all about. What they like way for businesses to create blended value.
doing, what they don’t and more importantly why Though it is a well established concept in the
they choose what they choose? What is it that developed world, it still has to find a decent footing
people base their choices on? in the developing world. For many years in India,
Be it Apple’s, “Think Different” campaign or community development goals were philanthropic
Audi’s, “Never Follow” ad series, the power behind activities that were seen as separate from business
some of the world’s most recognized brands has objectives, not fundamental to them. Times are
been the bond that businesses establish with changing fast.
people – bond not of a promise or a product but of
active participation, of collective purpose.
Purpose is what drives people, engages them
and ultimately transforms their lives. People seek
meaning. People recognize businesses that resonate
with their values, start responding in little ways and
soon these little ways turn into big ways –
meanings become movements, businesses become
brands.
Tata Tea experienced a phenomenal growth in
its market share from 19.1% to 23.5% after the
Jaago Re campaign. The campaign touched people
and mobilized them to cast their votes, Recently, Pfizer and Times of India launched an
establishing Tata Tea as a brand working towards initiative on the World Diabetes Day in 60
the cause of democracy – a people’s purpose. different cities across India. Walkathons, street
plays, nutrition camps and several other events
were organized with experts advising people to
maintain an active lifestyle to avoid diabetes and
other diseases. Around 50 top monuments and
buildings across the country were lit up blue under
the Abbott Diabetes Blue Footprint – 2011
Initiative.
Internationally, marketers see cause marketing
as the concept that builds brands by promoting
their affiliation to social causes people care about.
Increasing social awareness and the urge to be a
part of social change motivates people to identify
themselves with businesses that advocate social
causes. Cause Marketing has established that
community development and support could be
positioned at the intersection of business
objectives and societal needs with significant
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4. MARQUE! 20 NOVEMBER 2011
The Standard Chartered Marathon held At Megarth, we create opportunities for
annually in Mumbai helps nonprofits to not only businesses and nonprofits, we create opportunities
create awareness about their particular cause but for people to seek meaning, to define a purpose in
also raise money through the effort. life and to invite more people into active
Aircel recently launched the Save Our Tigers participation. We create action zones aimed at
campaign, which is aimed to encourage people to serving the needs of people. We call this People’s
blog about the decreasing tiger population and stay Marketing.
up-to-date with tiger facts. People can also donate There is no turning back now. As Cause
money to nonprofits working for the cause. Marketing continues to evolve, “why do you exist –
Businesses have started realizing that it is no your purpose in life?” will become one of the most
longer about being loosely associated with a cause commonly asked questions by people across the
or partnering with nonprofits – it is now about world leading to a global phenomenon – People’s
integrating the concern and commitment for a Marketing.
cause into business strategy. This shift can be seen
as a step towards creating value based businesses
that lay emphasis on investing in initiatives
directed towards pressing social issues.
Founded in August 2010, Megarth stands at the
doorsteps of change with a belief in people,
purpose, creating actions and transforming lives.
Our beliefs represent everything that Megarth is.
- Team Megarth
http://www.megarth.com/
http://www.disha.ktj.in/
http://www.facebook.com/Megarthdotcom
To avail avenues for Community Investment and Cause Marketing contact -
Pushkina Nautiyal
pushkina.nautiyal@megarth.com
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5. MARQUE! 20 NOVEMBER 2011
JUST DO IT FOR THE CAUSE!
Cause related marketing basically revolves 100 percent of the proceeds from Nike's entire
around the good we can do for the society and get Livestrong collection go to the Lance Armstrong
some good back. It makes it possible for a brand to Foundation and this association is growing
emotionally connect with the people because we all stronger year by year!
want to do good in our own way and if someone Social cause marketing helps a company create
else is doing that we want to be part of that and a differentiated brand positioning, develop a
cause marketing makes that happen. stronger customer bond, goodwill, drive sales,
It’s possible to run a one-off cause marketing increase market value and enhance brand image in
campaign, but companies need to be clear with the market. What else does a brand need? So, Just
what their goal is: To make a difference in the Do It!!
world? To sell more product? To improve their
brand image? Businesses love cause marketing, and
the belief is that supporting a good cause translates
into stronger sales. Social-Cause Marketing is, no
doubt a very powerful communication tool for the
brands to stand out in the clutter. The partnerships
between brands and charities can increase
customer loyalty and help the brands stay in
consumer’s minds. It is a way of communicating
company’s Corporate Social Responsibility through
marketing communications.
One crucial point to note is that in any cause
marketing campaign, it’s not enough to say that
your actions have triggered a donation “to help a
hungry child”. Which hungry child? Where?
How will this donation help, specifically? This
typically comes down to providing compelling
stories. Coincidentally, these stories are the ones
that take hold and can spark the coveted sharing
aspect. And Nike is probably one of the few
companies in the international arena which have
carried this style of marketing in a nearly flawless
way. They have been able to create a ‘larger than
life’ image of their brand ‘LIVESTRONG’.
Nike's LIVESTRONG is association
between Nike and Lance Armstrong Foundation,
‘LiveStrong’. This collection is to increase the
partnership’s innovative efforts to raise awareness
for the cancer fight globally and expand sales
internationally. It started with the iconic yellow
rubber bracelets, which since 2004 have generated
more than $80 million for the Lance Armstrong
Foundation. An example being set by Nike is that
- Harsh Gupta
IIM Rohtak
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6. MARQUE! 20 NOVEMBER 2011
CAUSE MARKETING - IS IT THE ANSWER?
We all are aware of the criticism that the environment, Cause Marketing is something which
Capitalists of the world are being subjected to, is cutting through it and reaching its target
after the 2008-09 screw-up of the world audience.
economies. Critics argue that the corporate have But have we been successful in establishing
changed paths and now are exercising profiteering. another channel of resource flow in the form of
One can find out the difference between ‘Cause Marketing’ to develop our society? I see
profiteering and profit making. In a capitalist another problem here that arises from the fact that
world, profit-making is a factor of utmost the term ‘development of society’ is itself a term
importance if the society is to be developed. encompassing a lot of things. There is a range of
However, it needs to be understood that the things to be done in this society for its betterment
concept of ‘Society’ is of aggregate nature here. or holistic development. Here again we face a
The profit-making society will develop for sure but problem of scarcity; scarcity of funding from the
the benefits generally get allocated profit-makers. Scarcity welcomes economic
disproportionately. When we delve deeper into this principles with open hands and again establishes
whole system of profit generation and the society laws of so called ‘best utility providing allocations’
benefitting from it, we find that the traditional which heavily depend on the resource master and
channel of benefit transfer to the constituents of his/her perception of derived utility from that
the society touches the few who may be termed as particular expenditure of resource. So if there are
‘best to get the benefits’. This system has a defect three causes which a company is considering to get
that it goes on allocating the benefits to the ‘best’ involved with as a part of its CSR activity, which
and gives little chance to other ‘not-so-best’ one would it choose? What will be the basis of
constituents of the society and the society is weighing these causes? Will it seek the overall
developed at a rate less than optimal and in a way society’s benefit or will it again get carried away by
which cannot be termed to be holistic. the notion of getting most for itself out of this
Cause marketing has turned out to be a activity? The answer is pretty straight considering
channel connecting the profit-generator’s benefits the premise on which the capitalist world works.
and the ‘not-so-best’ constituents of the society, An example of a non-deserving cause getting
giving them a chance. The effectiveness of this funded at the expense of other important but less
channel or link is still under question as there has interesting causes is the 1980’s money raising
not been a major organized initiative in this sector. exercise of the Muscular Dystrophy Association. It
From the business’ point of view, merely raised tens of millions of dollars despite it having
donating funds to a cause through an NGO does lesser developmental chances as the muscular
not ensure that they will register themselves with dystrophy is a genetic disorder. In such a situation
their target customers. People are wise enough to again, the neediest charities don’t get the funds
see through a ‘hey look at me’ campaign. Most of they deserve. Again a problem of channel touch.
the campaigns, if you would see today, are subtle in The Solution? Introducing another
their approach. But be too subtle and you will lose intermediary in the chain? Government
money. This is how corporate views cause regulations? Government watchdog? Nobody in
marketing. the capitalist world will work for anything else but
It makes business sense for the corporate to get generating profits in whatever form they value:
involved in Cause Marketing. Whirlpool and tangible or intangible. So does that mean no
Habitat for Humanity’s initiative deserves a intermediary can tackle this problem? Has
mention here. Whirlpool provided a refrigerator government intervention in certain sectors been
for each Habitat home built in the US. It used this successful in bringing about desired results?
as a major driver of brand loyalty with the Reba
McEntire campaign. Corporate needs something to
make people talk about its brands to increase
something called as TOMA (top of mind
awareness). In today’s cluttered communication
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7. MARQUE! 20 NOVEMBER 2011
Resources abound, the issue boils down to population, a practice followed by every business,
allocation, allocation which is done by valuing the common knowledge range is again drastically
utility. Whether we can come up with a better reduced. The corporate again use the marketing
allocation strategy will, in my opinion, decide the principles of getting involved with the causes that
effectiveness of this new channel of benefit an average person in their target population is
transfer, as in the existing channel of benefit aware of so that they can establish a better brand-
distribution also, the so called ‘best’ is allocated the connect with their customers while spending as
most. less as possible because educating the target
Another major problem that I perceive with customer about a certain thing she doesn’t know
the whole win-win concept of supporting the requires money and time.
causes is of the person driving all these efforts. Cause Marketing, they say, is benefitting our
Let’s take a look at the driver of these cause society in many ways. They say it is a channel of
funding activities: the target customer. Is she aware resource flow to the real, meaningful societal
of the cause she is supporting by buying an development. They say that people are happy that
associated brand? How does a person find out by buying a particular brand associated with a
which cause to support and which not to? An cause, they are doing their bit to develop their
average human being does not even think while society. They say it is a win-win for the society and
buying some brand supporting a cause X whether its major constituent, the corporate. I ask all such
that cause deserves funding or not. He is limited by people, Is it so?
his ken and when you form segments out of a
- Kushal Lokhande
IIM Rohtak
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8. MARQUE! 6 NOVEMBER 2011
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