Show Me That You Care

This article from MarketingProfs is mostly a bit of fluff about corporate philanthropy. It's interesting more for the questions it avoids than those it tries to answer.

Among the conclusions:

• Consumers will choose brands they associate with support of good causes over those without said association... if price and quality are equal.


• Corporate giving can enhance brand image and customer loyalty.


• Executives say that corporate philanthropy improves the bottom line.

Well, take this all with a grain of salt. The article's primary question ("Do they really care or is it just business?") is simply and irrelevant. Of course it's business, and honestly, it should be; that's what businesses are for. Here are the interesting questions that aren't discussed:

• Does corporate branding of charity events tend to supplant the role of the actual event organizers?


• Are good works used to distract consumers from corporate misdeeds?


• Is this really the way we want to address social problems?

There's a casual reference to a co-branded event in the article. This is actually unusual, in that the corporation (a Canadian bank) didn't totally walk over the charitable organization that sponsored the event. I wonder, as a whole new generation of media-savvy and highly cynical consumers comes of age, what people really think now - and what they'll be thinking in a few years - about the prominence of corporate sponsorships.

One of the companies mentioned is Nike. This is a corporation whose overall record on corporate ethics is fairly bad. Nike has been responsible for some of the most appalling conditions for workers in the third world ever seen: workers in dangerous factories earning less than they need to buy food, working fourteen and eighteen hour days, prevented from organizing for enforcement of local labor laws by the threat of violence. Nike has made some strides in this area, but it's not been much. Obviously, sponsoring something like the Lance Armstrong bracelet at home helps counteract the damage that has been done to their brand by activists calling attention to their outsourced manufacturing process and the abuses it has created.

In a related area, cause related marketing not associated with charities has also taken off. Absolut, for example, has sponsored gay and lesbian film festivals - prompting organizers to consider whether this is appropriate for a community where the rates of alcoholism seem to be above the societal norm.

We've all seen a corporate spokesperson bringing up these kinds of philanthropic activities to respond to charges about unrelated misdeeds. "We're a good company - we help people with cancer!"

Before you think about undertaking cause related marketing, there are a few things to keep in mind.

• "First, do no harm." If you've got a PR mess because of some other issue, you'd better clean that up. Otherwise, high profile cause related marketing is likely to encourage someone to start pointing out your other problems. Oh, and as a side benefit, it's the right thing to do.


• Don't replace community organizations. People know when corporations are invading public space, and charitable organizations are most certainly part of the fabric of society. I'm reminded of an article about the bankruptcy of PSI.net and the discussion of what would happen to PSI.net Stadium in Baltimore - passers-by were eager to tell reporters how much they hated PSI.net, how they couldn't wait to see the sign come down, and how glad they were that the company was in ruins. They didn't even know much about PSI.net - just that they were forcing their brand into the public sphere, and that they didn't like it. If you take over a charity event - even just in appearances through overzealous branding - expect someone to start kicking your brand around.


• Tread lightly. Keep the focus on the charitable work being done.


• Don't support charity events on the one hand, and lobby against sensible laws and government programs that would shoulder some of the burden of dealing with health and social issues on the other. People will notice. If you are supporting an organization that helps people with terminal issues, while your lobbyists are helping to kill health care reform, you're just begging to be taken down a few notches.