Cause-Related Marketing and How Banks can learn from them?

Trying out the first post sharing my research on cause-related marketing which was part of my school assignments

Cause-Related Marketing – Vincent Kee

Cause marketing is defined as a type of corporate social responsibility, in which a company’s promotional campaign has the dual purpose of increasing profitability while bettering society. Another perspective in cause-related marketing refers to the a subset of cause marketing that involves the cooperative efforts of a for-profit business and a non-profit organization for mutual benefit. A high-profile form of cause-related marketing occurs at checkout counters when customers are asked to support a cause with a charitable donation which is commonly found in retail stores GrantSpace. (n.d.). .

Common retail cause marketing examples:

1. Dove’s Real Beauty Campaign
   As a brand of Unilever, Dove has been on a mission to help women look and feel beautiful by offering care products and educational workshops that focus on the value of body image and self-worth Bahadur, N., & Bahadur, N. (2017, December 07).. Some of the prime examples of Dove’s Real Beauty campaign are the advertisements featured on public transports showcasing real life women with skin problems as their model to promote the brand that Dove products serve not just to make one fairer but it is the product for all types of women.

2. Starbucks and World AIDS Day
   In a campaign to help tackle against AIDS, Starbucks donated 10 cents to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS for every made-to-order beverage they sell in their stores on World AIDS Day. These funds are then sent to coffee growing communities in Africa to help with the treatment and prevention of AIDS. In the eight years of this partnership’s existence, Starbucks has donated more than $14 million into the cause Starbucks. (2017)..

3. Coca Cola and WWF’s Arctic Home
   The Polar Bear has been Coca Cola’s unofficial mascot for years. So when it was brought to their attention that polar bears were in danger of losing their home due to global warming, Coca Cola partnered up with the World Wildlife Fund to raise money for research and conservation efforts that will help preserve the melting ice caps where polar bears roam and hunt for survival. The majority of the funds raised were collected via text messages; consumers of Coca Cola texted package codes, which amounted to $1 per message. Coca Cola intends to raise $2 million per year and $10 million in 5 years WWF Panda. (2013).

Therefore, these efforts are just part of the main bulk of the corporations’ CSR, not only it provides the necessary aid to the communities that are lacking in support and resources, it also inspires their consumers to do the same by invoking emotions through advertisements to raise awareness in ethical causes. Though it may seem like a cost to corporations, there are tangible benefits for their efforts in bettering the world.

The first benefit is that it will create a lasting impact on sales. Supporting a cause will affect general consumers’ psychology therefore consumers are willing to spend more if they have the accessibility to help a certain cause thus creating an impression of the business and lastly, increasing customer loyalty. The next benefit is that it will distinguishes businesses from their competitors
Living in a highly competitive business environment which makes it hard for it companies to stand out therefore cause-related marketing will be the ideal choice to be different. When a customer is choosing between two similar products or services the tipping point usually comes because of a lower price or claimed superior product. However, due to the influx of social responsibility movements more people are likely to choose a product over another if it supports a worthy cause Lora, F. D. (2011)..

The bridge between Banking and Financial Services and Cause-Related Marketing

Though it might seem like a far-fetched idea of a sociable motivation partnering up with an industry that is notoriously known to the laymen for its’ money grubbing nature. Over the years, banks have been pushing cause-related marketing in ways to promote their brand. Cause-related marketing in the banks are not usually limited to donations or fund raising but they can hold initiatives or even push their efforts in helping certain businesses or clients to achieve their respective customers’ cause. For example, DBS hold their annual social entrepreneurship seed fund competition where social entrepreneurs pitch their business ideas with the core operation surrounding on doing good for a sub segment of society and the winner gets the seed fund as their prize and DBS will be there to assist in their business operations for profitability and impact. One of their past winners, Zaya a tech-solution education company aims to provide an affordable and quality education using high-technological devices to rural places where literacy rates are low comparing to first world nations, DBS has supported Zaya in their distribution needs and outreach to more countries where Zaya managed to clinch a deal with them to educate their schools DBS. (2017).

Besides holding specific competitions to promote social entrepreneurship, DBS has organised a waste-recycling design competition in partnership with Singapore Creator Award and kindly sponsored the prizes. This competition aims to spurred innovation in scalable solutions that will help to tackle the waste problems that Singapore and Asean is facing.

These are the examples that banks utilise to promote their brand and services with campaigns and competition to create a lasting impression to consumers that banks are beyond the excel sheets of pricing models, loans or chasing after the commissions they make on every deals but a bank that cares for the world and leverage on their massive resources and connection to expedite people’s primordial concerns for world issues.
In order for banks to promote their services, they should hold campaigns and causes more that is align to their core businesses therefore, they are able to market their solutions in aiding with that certain cause with their specialised services or products.

References

Bahadur, N., & Bahadur, N. (2017, December 07). How Dove Tried To Change The Conversation About Female Beauty. Retrieved from https://www.huffpost.com/entry/dove-real-beauty-campaign-turns-10_n_4575940

DBS. (2017). Tech startup Zaya Learning Labs brings high-quality education to low-income students in India. Retrieved from https://www.dbs.com/innovation/dbs-innovates/tech-startup-zaya-learning-labs-brings-high-quality-education-to-low-income-students-in-india.html

GrantSpace. (n.d.). What is cause-related marketing?: Knowledge Base. Retrieved from https://grantspace.org/resources/knowledge-base/cause-related-marketing/

Lora, F. D. (2011). Cause-Related Marketing: Building Good Will And Business Growth. Retrieved from https://www.retailtouchpoints.com/features/industry-insights/cause-related-marketing-building-good-will-and-business-growth

Starbucks. (2017). Retrieved from https://stories.starbucks.com/press/2017/starbucks-marks-world-aids-day-with-red/

WWF Panda. (2013). Coca-Cola kickstarts Arctic campaign with WWF donation. Retrieved from http://wwf.panda.org/?207386/Coca-Cola-kickstarts-Arctic...

DBS Wastage Design Competition
https://www.dbs.com/livemore/recyclemorewasteless.html