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Cause
Article in current edition of Social Marketing Quarterly
While sharing presentation duties at Social Marketing Conference organized by the Arizona Dept. of Public Health in Phoenix in September, we were asked by Carol Bryant, Editor of Social Marketing Quarterly to contribute an article on Cause-Related Partnerships to her excellent publication. The introduction follows, plus a list of "Dos and Don'ts" For a more detailed illustration of this list, and the full article, you may access or order the Fall-Winter 2005 edition (Volume XI/Numbers 3-4) at the Social Marketing Quarterly web site at http://www.taylorandfrancisgroup.com/. HOW TO ENTER A CAUSE-RELATED PARTNERSHIP AND KEEP YOUR HALO ON STRAIGHT: SOME DOS AND DON'TS By Richard Earle Let's say you are a medium-size non-profit and have an important message to get out. You have a good staff and they have come up with some themes and branding materials that you believe are certain to advance your cause. You've checked the availability of PSA placements on your local media and have come up virtually dry. Perhaps your message requires precise targeting—it's aimed at retirees or pre-teens'but you simply don't have the financial depth for paid media. Your best solution: a cause-related partnership. Perhaps one of your directors has a strong business or social relationship with the CEO of a major corporation, who is very sympathetic to your cause. There's a good possibility that he can provide you with access to their corporate deep pockets. They've got the money, and you''ve got the halo. Surely something can be worked out to the benefit of both. And it can. That's what a perfect cause-related partnership is all about. The benefits to you are obvious. They bring you the resources, both financial and professional, to get your message out. The benefits to the corporate partner have been well documented. A recent Cone-Roper report issued by PR and strategy firm Cone Inc., states that employees in cause-concerned companies score 30-50% higher on categories like "I feel a strong sense of pride toward my company's values" and "I feel a strong sense of loyalty to my company." Another surprising finding is that upscale Americans are more likely to switch brands (79% vs. 65% national average), and 68% would pay more when a product is associated with a good cause. Some of the Dos and Don'ts are as follows:
Clean Energy States Alliance and Gardner Nelson & Partners prepare Public Information Campaign for Clean Energy The Clean Energy States Alliance, collaborating with New York advertising agency Gardner-Nelson & Partners, has created a "tool box" of innovative advertising materials currently made available to member states for the purpose of educating the public about the viability and availability of clean energy. Innovative Research The unique strategy for this campaign was based upon some innovative research designed by Gardner-Nelson. It delivered the surprising finding that while many Americans supported the idea of electricity created by solar, wind, water and biomass because of all of its environmental and independence "plusses", they didn't believe that it was a viable reality today. Until this misapprehension was corrected, we surmised, the all-important "early adopters" will continue to stay away. We collaborated with Lyn Rosoff and Second Wind Associates in the supervision and production of the advertising materials based upon these findings, which include four :15 second TV spots, 2 :60 radio commercials, 2 print ads and a billboard. Rhode Island Success leads to other states joining up All of this advertising started running in Rhode Island April 19th 2004 in a media campaign coordinated by SmartPower, in support of a "sign-up"effort designed to get Rhode Island residents to opt for green power suppliers for their home energy needs. Exceptional sign-up rates in Rhode Island have led to Connecticut, Pennsylvania and Maine commiting to media buys to start running the campaign this Spring. The CT kickoff was April 6 with Pennsylvania joining the campaign in late summer. More information may be found at www.smartpower.org. Pennsylvania Research Results Positive Pineda Research surveyed Pennsylvania residents in early November 2005 and found that the campaign's impact was very strong. Here are some of their findings: Seven out of every ten customers (70 percent) who recall the ads say the advertising makes them feel more favorable about electricity from clean sources. Customers who feel favorable about the ads are more likely to believe that clean energy is important and to believe that they have a choice when it comes to purchasing electricity from clean energy sources. Seventy-four percent of customers who received the ads favorably are convinced that politicians need to put clean energy near the top of their list of priorities, while only 65 percent of customers who do not recall the ads have the same conviction. Customers that view the ads favorably are nearly twice as likely as those that haven|t viewed the ads to believe that Pennsylvanians have the choice to buy electricity from clean energy sources (39 percent to 23 percent). As a result, 22 percent of customers who feel favorable about the ads say they have purchased electricity from clean energy, while only 6 percent of customers who do not recall the ads have made the switch. Ed Asner cuts a PSA
All the advertising features such surprising statistics as "America now makes enough clean electricity to power all the homes in eleven states" "We now make enough clean electricity to power every hospital in America; every computer in America, " etc. All the advertising contains the key phrase: "It's Real. It's Here. It's Working" As a key part of this branding campaign, Gardner-Nelson designed a trademarked logo and theme line for the Alliance, that signs all the TV and Print advertising:
To access and view the toolbox, visit the Clean Energy States Alliance website at. http://www.cleanenergystates.org.
News About Drug Policy Alliance Biennial Convention We gave a speech (actually, a "training session") on November 7 at the 2003 Biennial Conference of the Drug Policy Alliance at the Meadowlands, New Jersey entitled "This is your campaign on Drugs . . . Any Questions?" It was a review of anti-drug advertising throughout the years and seemed well received by this interesting and somewhat controversial group. The Harm Reduction People Founded in by a group of activists devoted to promoting realistic rational alternatives to the "War on Drugs" based upon the principles of Harm Reduction, the DPA is a unique alliance of medical researchers, law enforcement and criminal justice experts, libertarians, ACLU officials, social marketers, and, yes, some "controlled legalization" advocates. Among their stated policy goals are:
Highlights of the meeting:
Safety First Pamphlet The pamphlet may be accessed at http://www.drugpolicy.org/safetyfirst/ and other links will provide other information useful to people desiring the "harm reduction" approach to this problem. Much of the conference was devoted to the blurring of federal drug policies and punitive action under the Patriot Act; to documentation of the racist misapplication of drug enforcement in places like Texas; and finally, to a proposal for cash-strapped states which made a lot of sense to me: Diverting Offenders to Treatment can Balance the Budget The Alliance is recommending alleviation of the critical financial situation in most of our states by diverting monies expended in incarcerating non-violent drug offenders to mandated treatment and rehabilitation instead. California's Proposition 36 was offered as a prime example, credited with diverting 37,000 drug offenders to treatment instead of prison in the first year, at a saving of $275 million. Information on the conference and the Alliance may be found at http://www.drugpolicy.org
"Advertisers without borders": We were contacted recently by the managers of ad honorem, an "advertisers without borders" consortium based in Argentina to supply a guest column for their web site. It and other opinion pieces, plus news about new worldwide social marketing campaigns can be accessed at their impressive and elaborate web site at http://www.ad-honorem.net You are required to register, but that's not a bad idea. Praise for the Paperback Edition "Richard Earle has written an invaluable book about how to use the medium for the benefit of the people instead of just selling Doritos. I applaud him for making this contribution and reminding us of how even the advertising industry can have a conscience should it choose to realize the good it can do with its immense power." —Michael Moore, author of "Stupid White Men . . . and Other Sorry Excuses for the State of the Nation!," "Dude, Where's my Country?"film producer "Roger & Me." "Bowling for Columbine," and Fahrenheit 911 "A very valuable practical guide for those who want to do social advertising campaigns—not just think and talk about them." —Alan R. Andreasen, Professor, Georgetown University
Paperback Edition Is out!! The revised paperback edition of "The Art of Cause Marketing" at $19.95 is now widely available, published by McGraw-Hill (ISBN 0-07-138702-1) The visual above is from the Spring 2002 McGraw-Hill Trade Catalogue Be sure to click on the “Paperback” link on the Amazon page, or you'll receive a “limited Availability” message. The Paperback has been updated, and is much more affordable! “Innovations and hindsight reckonings” from the Good Grey Times Social Norms MarketingIn a fascinating December 9, 2001 New York Times Magazine section entitled “The Year in Ideas” highlighting among other things “conceptual leaps,” a Social Marketing technique made it onto the list, and since we agree with it wholeheartedly, we thought we'd bring it to your attention. Basically, it says that most young people confronted with the temptation to engage in risky behavior have greatly over-estimated the numbers of their peers who “did it” whatever “it” may be. They talked themselves into it by saying “everybody's doing it,” when, in fact, everybody probably isn't! According to the Times, Prof. H. Wesley Perkins at Hobart and William Smith Colleges found, in a watershed study, that most students consistently overestimated how much alcohol their fellow students drank. Then, these students drank more themselves, in an attempt to go along with the crowd. A social norms marketing campaign began on campus at Northern Illinois University in 1990 disseminating the message that contrary to popular belief, most students had fewer than five drinks when they partied. By 1999, incidents of binge drinking by students was down 44 percent. This year, all 23 campuses in the California state university system switched from a “Just Say No” technique in dealing with bingeing to a social-norms campaign. This is, in our view, a very sound approach. The Mass. Tobacco Control program used it in a very hip campaign a few years ago highlighting the fact that only 1 teen in 3 smoked (surprising to most teens in focus groups.) “Most don't smoke” was the tag line, and it made a “plus” out of dealing honestly with the situation rather than riding into their territory on a high moral horse. Likewise the Partnership for a Drug Free America a few years ago in an excellent marijuana spot called “Moment of Truth.” The kid in the spot is dreading the day when a friend offers him a joint, assuming that all his peers were doing it. He is pleasantly surprised when none of his buddies blinks an eye when he turns it down, and the kid offering says “Cool, Man!” “Don't Want to, Don't Have to” is the tag line of this spot which reflects a trend now being used by many state health departments on issues like safe sex, seat belts, and date rape. For more information on this very sound cause technique, check out the National Social Norms Resource Center at http: //www.socialnorm.org
PSA Research Center Discovered: An Invaluable Online Resource for Cause Marketers We got an email recently from Bill Goodwill at Goodwill Communications Inc. inquiring whether we might swap web site links. We looked at his site, and immediately agreed. Right there, and easily accessible with a mouse click, were news, reviews, case studies, meeting announcements, statistics, resources, both online and off, and one of the most comprehensive bibliographies we've ever seen on the subject of Public Service Advertising. What a time saver it would have been when writing our book had we known about it! By the time we got around to upholding our end of the bargain, Mr. Goodwill had already reproduced our May 8 2000 ADWEEK article and last month's "Pick of the Month" from this site and placed them prominently among the many other texts on the "Cause Marketing" page in his "Bibliography" section . If you're involved in any way in Cause or Social Marketing, we advise you to link right now to www.psaresearch.com You're certain to bookmark it!
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Hollywood Icon Ed Asner, a strong believer
in the importance of Clean Energy, agreed to record a
radio PSA to run as a campaign extension in all states.
We used the current buzz around his "Impress Ed
Asner" segments on the Tonight Show as a jumping off
point in the script, which extends our unique strategy.
The commercial can be heard on the SmartPower site at 
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