Welcome to another interesting Journal Debate and this month’s marketing breakfast takes an in-depth look at cause-related marketing with a range of experts. As always, the hour long debate will be hosted by Jeremy Maggs.

Cause-related marketing can, and should, become a cornerstone of your marketing plan, highlighting your company’s
reputation – but …how do you make sure you do it correctly?

The panel includes:

• Joanna Oosthuizen – Managing Director of Ogilvy PR
• David Barnard – Executive Director of the South African NGO Network (SANGONET)
• Dr Ivan May – South Africa’s pioneer in the area of Cause-Related Marketing
• Trisch Rosema – Trustee of the Dis-Chem Foundation
• Marilyn Dutlow – Director of Procter and Gamble’s Pampers/UNICEF ‘One pack one vaccine’ campaign

Cause related marketing has been with us since a local store setup a collection box in 1893. The phrase was coined by American Express to raise money for the statue of liberty, so it has been around for a long time….

Having said that though, does cause marketing still have appeal and does it add any value to your brand?

The interesting points from the morning debate include:

Dr Ivan May

• Cause related marketing is a secret weapon and not many people in SA know exactly what it is.
• Generally companies look at how to differentiate the products from one another as in banking.
• In the case of Nedbank, the profitability of Green alone was bigger than the entire KZN region (it made over R430 million rand). Just illustrating the power and profitability of cause related marketing.
• NGO’s need to develop themselves as businesses and brands, they need to show compliance and their legal compliance so they stay on the radar and get noticed
• NGO’s need to be positioned not as trustee, but more as a trusting relationship
• Cause related marketing needs to be treated separate from regular brand marketing and not confused as the same thing, but needs to be integrated with all marketing initiatives

Trisha Rosema

• There is always something bigger with cause related marketing than just the cause.
• Cause related marketing helps take away the guilt by giving users the chance to contribute to something meaningful.
• Customers will tell you about Causes, so you need to listen and this will help find causes worth contributing toward
• If staff gets involved in the cause as it helps productivity and also makes them believe more in the initiatives of the company

Marilyn Dutlow

• Cause related marketing allows one to have that warm fuzzy feeling when it comes to helping out.
• The cause though has to contribute towards the profitability of the brand as well.
• People are more loyal to Brands that utilise cause related marketing.
• A brand has a heart, a soul and a body… what does the brand stand for… Brands need to understand their consumers well enough to know what causes they relate to most.
• You need to know how to market the cause correctly to consumers in order for them to care and actually know about the cause supported by the brand.
• There has to be a quantifiable result at the end of the campaign / relationship

Joanna Oosthuizen

• PR is more about awareness of the cause.
• The digital space is definitely the best place to start.
• The challenge is always on how do we get buy-in and the online space creates a platform where people can engage and interact with the brand and the cause.
• Igniting the conversation helps ignite the cause.
• Its all about sustainability at the moment.
• Understand your customers and make sure the cause matches and talks to your brand.
• Cause marketing should not be your sole purpose if you want to build your brand.
• Always look at making your cause media worthy.
• There is no need for a product to be used in cause marketing, a brand can be used as well

David Barnard

• Need to get the message out from social media platforms, to corporate websites.
• Your general standing in the society at large also contributes to the cause
• CRM is something that NGO’s need to consider to expanding their funding base
• Cream of the crop NGO’s have powerful brands and people believe that their causes are worth following
• Companies need to investigate causes to make sure the money is distributed correctly and the cause is “clean”

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The next Journal of Marketing Debate: “Outdoor & Mobile Media” -Thursday 9 September.