Brand Spirit: How Cause Related Marketing Builds Brands

Cause Related Marketing, or CRM, is an increasingly popular corporate practice that seeks to tie a company or brand to a charitable effort. Think promotions promising a percentage of sales to specific nonprofits, or advertising touting particular philanthropic programs in addition to products or services, and you get the idea. At its best, CRM aids charities (raising awareness as well as cash), businesses (associating them with authentic social benefits), and consumers (providing ways to acquire products or services while simultaneously making charitable contributions). At its worst, the process rings hollow and may actually serve to hurt the companies involved. Hamish Pringle, former vice chairman of marketing for Saatchi & Saatchi, and Marjorie Thompson, current director of the company's Cause Connection, believe any firm that's sincere can use CRM.

In Brand Spirit, they explain the way a number of such campaigns--including the American Express Charge Against Hunger, Avon's Breast Cancer Awareness Crusade, and Reebok's Human Rights Now! Tour--were developed to assist relevant programs as well as enhance corporate image. Pringle and Thompson show through these and other detailed case studies how mutually beneficial programs are devised and deployed, and what they can achieve. "Commercial enterprises will continue to see real benefits in helping ensure a harmonious balance between the stronger and weaker in society," they write, "and in structuring themselves to deliver the optimum blend of self-interested altruism to their communities." Their subsequent proposal is a solid blueprint for companies of all types and sizes that wish to demonstrate actively a genuine commitment to the concept of corporate social responsibility. --Howard Rothman.