10 – Cause Related Marketing & Brand Crisis Management Flashcards
Cause Related Marketing
When brands align with a charity in a bid get you buying more of their products there’s a few ways they may do it. A brand relies on the equity of cause & feels good when purchasing. Sometimes difficult to do for a luxury brand, as it does not align with their image & therefore it may be easier to just give a donation to a charity/not for profit organisation. There is a selfish interest, as long as it also contributes to the greater good.
• A pre agreed amount foes to a selected charity
o Brands may then market this as a total amount which goes to charity or
o Brands may set an amount per pack sold and then print the right amount of boxes for the pre agreed amount.
• All profits or a % of profits goes into a private philanthropic fund/ trust run by brand
• Brands pay a licensing fee to use the logo. Unlike donations that may sometimes be to avoid tax breaks
Pink Ribbon, Haagen Daz,Grill’d, Dawn, Toms.
It comes under CSR of a company/ leveraging secondary associations concept. It is a strategy to do good for the community but also allows them to climb a pyramid, & to engage with consumers. Builds brand equity through consumer feelings, brand imagery, and brand resonance as consumers have active engagement when participating in CRM initiatives.
Advantages of Cause Related Marketing
• The right cause + the right business = success & growth.
• Building brand awareness – makes consumers more aware of the brand through the cause
• Enhancing brand image. Functional aspects are not impacted, but imagery side of pyramid especially sincerity, because it has nothing to do with the products.
• Establishing brand credibility. A successfully implemented CRM initiative on credibility as it can be seen as dependable/caring.
• Evoking brand feelings:
o Social approval: it could improve social status of consumers & of sense of worth
o Self respect: makes consumers feel good about themselves
• Creating a sense of brand community: it brings people together. Can be a rallying point for brand users & means to connect to or share experiences with other consumer’s employees.
• Eliciting brand engagement: customers may become ambassadors & help to communicate about brand. People become part of the community & help it grow, & may eventually fade into background, although this may not be positive for brand. It needs to be well planned & implemented.
Big Knit cause for Age UK by Innocent Juice. Yoplait, KFC & Pink Ribbon
Builds brand equity through brand awareness (Recognition & recall), improves brand image, consumer judgements through credibility, consumer feelings as social approval, self respect etc. sense of community and brand engagement created that builds brand resonance – better relationships with the product.
Do’s and Don’ts
• Do choose a cause that fits the business: align with right not for profit, to ensure success.
• Don’t fake your concern: degrees of seriousness in engaging with CRM strategy.
• Don’t skimp on own marketing needs for the cause: charity supported is going to be underfunded, in comparison to your company. Important to also see some return for your company from the campaign.
• Do measure the campaign’s effectiveness
• Don’t rely on cause marketing as sole marketing campaign: It is just one tool among brand building efforts. It has positive impacts but it should not come at the cost of other efforts.
• Don’t forget employees: get employees involved, but do not force them. Encourage them to participate in the cause. Find out what they already support.
• Don’t make customer hunt. Tell them how their participation affects the support cause.
• Make customers aware of outcome: tell them what is happening with success of campaign.
• Be consistent
• Be transparent & specific about cause.
Grill’d.Joseph Abboud with Nordstrom. York Peppermint Patties.
Degree of fit and positioning is important. Consumer is most important and CRM should be a method of value creation. Brands are important to firms, employees, top management, investors’ etc. brand equity is built through sense of community and active engagement – let consumers be involved through outcome of CRM campaigns.
Brand Crisis Management
Brands are not immune to scandal. How should they respond to something that shakes up their core? Let response fit scandal. The response strategy depends on the nature of scandal.
Volkswagen, Mitsubishi, P&G, Unilever.
Degree of fit. Brands need to respond to scandal to prevent knowledge to be greater than esteem in BAV.
Step 1 in handling crisis - Assess the Incident
• Spill over effect: whether it has a local/wider impact? The bigger the spill over, the bigger the impact to brand. Even if they are not particularly responsible for the incident, other companies could be affected.
• Rebound effect: people may forgive initial perpetrator.
• Customers’ mindset: brand crisis takes over a consumers mind, as they are emotional unlike rational company. The management needs to be in the consumers’ mindset when reacting. Understand emotions behind the incident.
Neurofen, Lego
Knowledge greater than esteem. Consumer judgements and feelings. Brands are rational, whereas consumers are emotional. Importance of brands – successful brands are more likely to be forgiven.
Step 2 in handling crisis - Acknowledge Problem
Respond in 6-8 hours, say that they are acknowledging matter, & investigating & ensure consumers that steps will be taken to improve situation. Reacting & acknowledging problem quickly can minimise damage.
Jack in the Box vs Tylenol
Knowledge greater than esteem. Brand awareness. Successful brands more likely to be forgiven.
Knowledge greater than esteem. Successful brands more likely to be forgiven. Brand positioning.
Step 3 in handling crisis - Formulate Strategic Response
Depends on whether the allegation is true/false. Issue a strong denial & defend yourself. However, if allegation is true, response depends on whether it was negligent/accidental/intentional. Apology & compensation should be quick to prevent lawsuits if company is in the wrong.
Wendy’s
Knowledge greater than esteem. Successful brands more likely to be forgiven. Brand positioning.
Step 4 in handling crisis - implement response tactics
Marketing & communications specialists may be called in to help team figure out how to implement the strategy. They need to perform, persuade & alleviate concerns. The critical questions at this stage:
• Which issues should be addressed?
• What level of detail should be provided? Abstract/ detailed?
• Who should deliver response? The face of the company?
What should be the tone of delivery? Denial, apologetic, denial?
Cadbury
Knowledge greater than esteem. Successful brands more likely to be forgiven. Brand elements, IMC and leveraging secondary associations can be used.
