CAUSE BRANDING IN THE 21st CENTURY
By Carol Cone
As we enter the 21st century, it is clear that the integration of social issues and business practices was not a passing fad for the 1990s, but rather the beginning of a fundamental shift in how the world’s leading companies will use cause associations to position their organizations and brands for the future.Today’s pioneers are turning a concern for causes into long-term brand equity.
At companies such as Avon, The Home Depot, Target, Timberland and ConAgra, comprehensive social commitments have become an integral way to conduct business and a core component of corporate reputation, brand personality and organizational identity.
This is good news for corporations and nonprofits alike. Just as companies are finding it harder to “out innovate” or “out advertise” their competitors in a marketplace increasingly saturated with new brands, nonprofits too are competing with rival organizations for corporate support and public awareness.
Strategic cause programs provide companies and nonprofits with valuable leadership and differentiation strategies as well as enhanced brand equity and credibility, greater reach and significant resources and relationships. Now, more than ever, corporations and nonprofits are realizing the power of aligning companies and causes.
The Evolution of Cause-Related MarketingCause marketing has evolved from a short-term tactic used to spike sales into a powerful positioning discipline used to enliven brand equity and enhance corporate image with significant bottom-line and community impacts.
Cone calls this emerging business practice “Cause Branding.”In 1993, the first Cone/Roper study captured consumers’ enthusiasm for this evolving trend and gave executives and nonprofits benchmark results and fresh ammunition to create a burst of cause programs.
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