Tag Archives: Product RED

What is Cause Marketing?

Written on January 4, 2010 in Cause Marketing 101
59 Comments

***Note: Please see my updated post! But the comments in this post are certainly worth checking out!***

It’s the beginning of a new year so let’s start fresh by defining what exactly cause marketing is.**

Keep in mind that this is my definition of cause marketing. (There are other definitions out there.)

Cause marketing is a partnership between a nonprofit and a for-profit for mutual profit.

A few things about my definition.

First, my definition is focused on cause marketing, not the marketing of causes. CM for me is not about advertising campaigns for causes.

Just this year I’ve come to appreciate why some cause marketers still use “cause-related marketing” to distinguish transactional cause marketing from cause advertising. While I admire the precision of the phrase, the expression is so clunky I can’t bear to use it!

Second, the word partnership means something. The relationship is work-work and win-win.… Keep reading

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For Holidays Starbucks, Critics See (RED) & Green

Written on November 24, 2009 in Capplause, Cause Marketing In Action, Cause Marketing News
1 Comment

starbucks_480x360.sflbI love Starbucks. I love Product (RED). I love cause marketing.

If you have a problem with any of these you should probably leave now.

Through December 1st when customers spend $15 on any purchase Starbucks will automatically make a $1 donation to The Global Fund on their behalf. Customers also get a copy of the exclusive All You Need Is Love Holiday CD for free.

But that’s not all.

On December 1st, Starbucks will commemorate World AIDS Day by donating 5 cents from every beverage sold that day as well as $1 from every Starbucks (RED) product purchased in stores.

To date Starbucks has generated contributions equaling more than 5 million daily doses of antiretroviral medicine through the purchase of Starbucks/(RED) products.

But no good deed goes unpunished.

A recent Nonprofit Times article titled Product (RED)’s Impact is Shrouded in Vague Answers frowns on (RED) partners like Gap and Starbucks that don’t report sales related to (RED).… Keep reading

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Not Seeing Red Over Starbucks/(RED)

Written on December 4, 2008 in Capplause, Cause Marketing In Action
9 Comments

I love when Product (RED) launches a big partnership like it did recently with Starbucks.  It really thrusts cause marketing into the spotlight and gets nonprofits and for-profits talking about how they can work together to market each other and support their communities.

The Starbucks/(RED) pact has also brought up lots of good comments and questions about what cause marketing is, how it works and how it differs from other types of giving.  Here are some of the things that cause marketing IS and ISN’T as it relates to the Starbucks/(RED) program.

Starbucks/(RED) IS a partnership for profit.  Cause marketing is a partnership between a nonprofit and a for profit for mutual profit.  For the nonprofit, it raises money and visibility.  For the for-profit it enhances favorability with consumers, which drives sales.  In short, it gives consumers a better reason to buy than just for product or price.  Both (RED) and Starbucks have business goals beyond their real and noble intentions to fight AIDS in Africa. … Keep reading

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