Comments on: Brutal Truths About Cause Marketing

By: Dancing with the Devil: Cause Marketing for Nonprofits « My Blog

Dancing with the Devil: Cause Marketing for Nonprofits « My Blog — Thu, 22 Apr 2010 15:08:42 +0000

[...] take ownership of their poor strategic management. I wrote a long post on the topic a year ago, Brutal Truths About Cause Marketing when “social media for social good” was the meme of the day. From that [...]

By: Dancing with the Devil: Cause Marketing for Nonprofits | Geoff Livingston's Blog

Thu, 22 Apr 2010 13:05:49 +0000

By: givingadvice: Cause-Related Marketing: Does the Shoe Fit?

givingadvice: Cause-Related Marketing: Does the Shoe Fit? — Fri, 29 May 2009 17:59:45 +0000

[...] should nonprofits look for when their cause is sought for a CRM partnership?In a recent blog post, Brutal Truths About Cause Marketing, by Geoff Livingston, he beautifully lays out the good, the bad, the ugly about CRM and the [...]

By: Brutal Truths About Cause Marketing » The Buzz Bin by Marketing

Brutal Truths About Cause Marketing » The Buzz Bin by Marketing — Wed, 06 May 2009 12:32:00 +0000

[...] I’ve watched and listened to the growing debate social media has reinvigorated about the term cause marketing. In particular, the … Recipe Pie ????? ??????? Gold Price today Recipe Soup Original article: Brutal Truths About Cause Marketing » The Buzz Bin [...]

By: Maggie F. Keenan, Ed.D.

Maggie F. Keenan, Ed.D. — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 15:42:44 +0000

It’s been unfortunate that the WIIFM (What’s in it for me)companies causes a blanket affect for businesses that are authentic in their cause related effort. I couldn’t agree more with Geoff’s article and the significant comments posted. Hence, as someome who works with businesses to create their ‘giving back’ programs here is what I’ve learned from my experience:

1. There are few enlightened companies that operate and make decisions based on their values;
2. Values-based planning is essential to any giving/cause related/community involvement program which most companies don’t do with respect to developing their giving;
3. Giving is NOT a priority for business and managed as an aside project or rather ‘good deed’ vs. an integral part of their business culture;
4. Most have no idea how to begin selecting a cause of choice and generally ‘the most popular’ is often picked even though it is not in alignment with their business values and goals;
5. Most don’t have a clue how to determine this alignment;
6. Most create their business’s message of doing good from the platform “Look at the $$ we gave,” Look at the # of volunteer hrs we gave,” “Look at all the good we are doing.” When in fact the message should be about the cause and their commitment to solving a social issue;
7. Nonprofits are not as informed as they could be when it comes to cause related partnerships.

Personally, I chose not to work with companies who are WIIFM-ers and you can spot them a mile away. Those projects ultimately fail, are short-lived, go sour and are opportunistic. The operative words in any partnership is alignment and commitment to a social issue.

By: Beth's Blog: How Nonprofits Can Use Social Media: Transmedia Storytelling and Co-Creation Networks

Wed, 15 Apr 2009 16:54:48 +0000

[...] to share your messaging points in their own words or activating the activists with social media or cause-related marketing. Lina points out the marketing benefits of this approach for nonprofits and activists – [...]

By: Beth Kanter

Beth Kanter — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 13:42:43 +0000

I was going to say almost the same thing as Nedra – who is brilliant, BTW … there’s ethics and responsibility – but there is also the concept of vetting partnerships and thinking strategically.

By: Mike Ashworth

Mike Ashworth — Mon, 13 Apr 2009 13:41:32 +0000

The majority of people in the world have the questions “whats in it for me” going through their mind, whether this is at a sub conscious level or more overt, that’s human nature.

I’m interested in understanding how a Company could “wear its heart on its sleeve” with regard to support for a cause, charity etc without being labelled as a hypocrite.

If everytime a Company does something for the betterment of society via a cause or charity they get shot down perhaps they’ll stop altogether and that wont benefit anyone.

I learnt a valuable thing a few years ago “you cant change other people you can only change yourself”. Our view of the world is informed via the frame through which we observe it, therefore it stands to reason that we have the power to alter worldviews, if we wish.

Something has to give first, Perhaps the change comes from us? Our perception of those Companies as hypocritical. Cut them some slack, allow them a shot at being the company we would love them to be.

If instead we label them as hypocrites or worse where is the motivation for them to continue?

Look forward to your thoughts on this question…….

By: Geoff Livingston

Geoff Livingston — Mon, 13 Apr 2009 11:38:34 +0000

@Nedra I think this can be true for businesses, too. We can all be so desperate the first (or any) time that someone throws money at us. But this is often a mistake.

I was taught pretty early on in my career to qualify partners for the right type of business. You have to know when to walk away from a deal because it can break your back. The times when I have accepted a deal because we needed it have caused me endless grief.

By: Nedra Weinreich

Nedra Weinreich — Mon, 13 Apr 2009 06:25:21 +0000

I’ve seen far too many nonprofits prostitute their own brands and reputations for cause marketing without realizing that they need to be strategic about choosing appropriate corporate partners. This goes beyond ethics and social responsibility issues to whether the company and nonprofit are a good fit in terms of goals, culture, the logic of the product and cause match-up, and other fundamental strategy-related issues. A nonprofit shouldn’t throw itself at the first company to propose a cause marketing relationship, but too often nonprofits are so desperate that the short-term prospect of money outweighs any long-term strategic considerations.