Cause Marketing= more sales

I read an article the other day from, The Center for Media Research from Mediapost, about a consumer study of brands that align with causes vs. those that don’t.

Interestingly enough consumers were more likely to purchase brands that associated themselves with a charitable cause.  I included the entire article below- May be useful for your organization to include in a presentation to a corporate sponsor.

Stay tuned to GoodBlog I found a great video that illustrates a large brand, Haagen Daas, getting behind a cause. The video is also a great example of a cause video that went viral.

Cause Related Marketing Influences Sales

The 2008 Cone/Duke University Behavioral Cause Study, released recently by Cone and Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business, confirms that cause-related marketing can exponentially increase sales, in one case as much as 74%, resulting in millions of dollars in potential revenue for brands.

182 participants evaluated a new regional magazine and were exposed to either a cause-related or generic corporate advertisement for one of four focus brands. Afterward, they entered a mock convenience store with nearly 150 SKUs and were given real money to purchase a product in each of the four categories.

Results revealed:

74% increase in actual purchase for a shampoo brand when associated with a cause (47% of participants who saw the cause-related message chose the brand while only 27% of those who saw the generic corporate advertisement chose the brand)
28% increase in actual purchase for a toothpaste brand when associated with a cause (64% of participants who saw the cause message chose the target brand vs. 50% who viewed the generic corporate advertisement)
Modest increases in the other two product categories tested (chips and light bulbs) – Qualitative consumer responses showed that the issue, the nonprofit and the inherent nature of products were key factors in making cause-related purchasing decisions, and helped explain why movement in these categories was not significant.

In the second phase of the research, Cone and Duke validated the sales increases for shampoo and toothpaste by replicating the study online among a nationally projectable sample of more than 1,000 adults. The participants spent nearly twice as long reviewing cause-related ads versus the general corporate advertisements.

This resulted in a 19% sales increase (similar to the lab study for the target toothpaste brand.) Although the shampoo brand increased only by a modest 5 percent, sales among its target audience of women increased by nearly 14 percent.

Gavan Fitzsimons, Duke marketing professor and lead researcher on the study, observes tha “… consumers are paying more attention to cause messages, and… are more likely to purchase… “

Additionally, Cone conducted the 2008 Cause Evolution Study, to better identify what drove substantial product sales for only two of the four brands. The following factors appeared to be important when deciding to support a company’s cause efforts:

84% want to select their own cause
83% say personal relevance is key
80% believe the specific nonprofit associated with the campaign matters
77% say practical incentives for involvement, such as saving money or time, are important
65% find emotional incentives for involvement, such as it making them feel good or alleviating shopping guilt, important

Alison DaSilva, Cone executive vice president, Knowledge Leadership and Insights, said “The findings… show (that)… consumers want to feel a connection to the issue and the nonprofit while fulfilling their personal needs… “

According to the study, the leading issues that Americans want companies to address in their cause programs are consistent with growing domestic and global needs. The issues include:

Education – 80%
Economic development (i.e.: job creation, income generation, wealth accumulation) – 80%
Health and disease – 79%
Access to clean water – 79%
Environment – 77%
Disaster relief – 77%
Hunger – 77%

If you are interested in more media and marketing research check out the research blog at Media Post http://www.mediapost.com/blogs/research_brief/.

Volunteer Trips

Spring break is a popular ritual for college students around the country. Students flock to places like Mexico, Florida and Lake Havasu to get away from books, homework and professors. Spring break is often associated with parties, drinking and crazy college antics. However, more and more college students are opting for a very different kind of spring break.

Alternative Spring Break Trips are vacations for students who want to do service work. The trips are set up by non profit organizations, colleges, universities, charities and religious organizations. Students either work in large or small groups do anything from tutor children, build schools or help the homeless.

Choice Humanitarian is a non profit organization that sets up trips for students and families all over the world. Check out a video about Choice Humanitarian’s work in an African village on GoodTube. The volunteers dig ditches, build schools and play with African school children. All in all the trip is a win win situation for all involved.

Ascend is another organization that connects volunteers with humanitarian vacations. Ascend’s primary focus is helping impoverished people ascend from poverty. Volunteers travel to the poorest regions in the world to help people learn skills to be self sufficient.

The following are tips from of an article from Suit 101.com entitled “Alternative Spring Break Tips” by Naomi Rockler-Gladen. It is helpful for students or parents who are interested in finding out more about Alternative Spring Breaks.

” Where do I find out about Alternative Spring Break Trips? Many colleges and universities now organize Alternative Spring Breaks for their students. Contact your school’s Office of Community Service (or similarly named office). You may also look into Alternative Spring Break programs at nearby colleges. Many colleges and universities organize trips with the help of Break Away, an organization that has been very active in the Alternative Spring Break movement since 1991. Check out their website to see if your school is affiliated with Break Away, and to see if there’s a link on their site to your school’s Alternative Spring Break Program.

What kinds of activities do students participate in? All kinds of things. Some of the volunteer work involves manual labor, such as building houses and schools and clearing away debris from storm-torn areas. Habitat for Humanity, an organization that builds homes for families, offers a Collegiate Challenge for groups of five or more students to get involved. Other work involves tutoring children, working with the elderly and hospital patients, teaching English to immigrants, or registering voters in rural areas. Do some research to find an activity that you find meaningful and feel comfortable with.

Do these trips cost money? Most of these trips do come with fees, which vary greatly. Does it sound odd that you’re expected to pay to help people? Maybe. But charitable organizations don’t have the money to pay for the expenses of thousands of volunteers, so the fees are necessary. If money’s tight, do some research for inexpensive volunteer opportunities, and some organizations may be willing to waive your fee if necessary. Suffice to say, none of these volunteer efforts will cost as much as it would to spend a week in Cancun.

Can anyone participate? Many Alternative Spring Break trips require students to apply for participation. In some cases the application process is simple and almost everyone who applies can participate, but some opportunities are more competitive. Again, do some research to find trips that suit you best.

How far in advance do I need to plan an Alternative Spring Break trip? As far as possible. This trips are complicated to organize, and many have deadlines to apply for participation.

Is there still a need for students to volunteer to help Katrina victims in New Orleans and the Gulf Region? Absolutely. In 2006 and 2007, thousands of students spent their Spring Break rebuilding homes, parks, and schools throughout the Gulf Region, and help is very much still needed. Campus Crusade for Christ, an organization responsible for organizing the participation of thousands of students in Katrina relief efforts last year, is organizing four-day long relief trips to the Gulf Region for students. Many local affiliates of Hillel, the largest campus Jewish organization, also are organizing trips. In conjunction with thinkMTV, The United Way also is organizing an Alternative Spring Break effort in the Gulf Region.

Are there international Alternative Spring Breaks? Absolutely. These trips are considerably more expensive than domestic trips, but your experiences will be unforgettable. If you’re interested in international volunteer work trips, you may want to wait until summer or winter break and take a longer trip. One organization to contact is United Planet, which organizes volunteers to help people in need worldwide. i-to-i, a similar organization that focuses largely on environmental volunteerism, is organizing Spring Break trips to Costa Rica, Ecuador, Guatemala, and Honduras.

These trips aren’t just for students, many organizations set up trips for anyone who is interested. National Geographic lists volunteer trips for people interested in doing research. Here are a couple of examples from an online exclusive from nationalgeographic.com.

1. Carry Chimps in Uganda
Supported by the Jane Goodall Institute, the Ngamba Island Chimpanzee Sanctuary (www.ngambaisland.org) in Uganda is at the front line of primate research. You’ll hike through the forest, recording observations in a diary as juvenile chimps swing from tree to tree alongside you. “Some of them want to be carried,” says Liz Roodt, a staff member. Bring an extra camera battery. Year-round, one-week stays start at $1,500.

2. Explore Jurassic Park, USA
Roughly 140 million years ago, a 6,000-foot-high (1,829-meter-high) plateau in Red Lodge, Montana, was a stegosaurus watering hole. During a dig with the Cincinnati Museum Center (www.cincymuseum.org) you can lay trowel to the site, now chock-full of fossils. The week-long trip in July 2006 costs $1,200. The Wyoming Dinosaur Center (www.wyodino.org) in Thermopolis, Wyoming, offers a similar, day-long program for $125. Both sites are two hours from Yellowstone National Park.