Each year, the Cause Marketing Forum recognizes one business and one nonprofit organization for their leadership and outstanding efforts in the pursuit of doing well by doing good. Our 2010 winners are:
Business: Macy's
Instead of pulling back on its cause marketing efforts when the recession hit,Macy’s deepened its programs and supported them with substantial promotional budgets.
Partnerships with the American Heart Association, Feeding America,Make-A-Wish Foundation,National Park Foundation, Reading Is
Fundamental and more than 10,000 other local and national charities raised more than $36
million in 2009, up from $32 million in 2008.
Cause marketing plays an important role in the 800-store chain’s efforts to strengthen
bonds with its customers and employees while demonstrating its corporate citizenship.
Common to most of Macy’s cause-related programs is an offer providing consumers with a
savings certificate in exchange for a donation or activity (for example,wear red while shopping
or donate $2 to the AHA’s Go Red forWomen campaign to save 20 percent).
In an era of short-term thinking,Macy’s stands out for its long-term approach to improving
its cause marketing programs by more fully engaging its nonprofits year after year.
Macy’s cause marketing campaigns are most successful when nonprofit partners work
with stores to inspire employees to talk up programs to customers, says Exec VP-Marketing
Martine Reardon.
Book a Brighter Future, a partnership launched with Reading Is Fundamental in 2006, is a
prime example.The program,which offers consumers $10 off a $50 purchase for a $3 donation,
generated $1.2 million in donations in 2006, $2.5 million in 2007, $3.1 million in 2008 and $6.5
million in 2009,due in large part to increased grassroots support by RIF chapters.
Nonprofit: Feeding America
In 2008, after 30 years of fighting hunger as America’s Second Harvest, a new leadership team at the Chicago-based network of 203 food banks conducted thorough research that resulted in rebranding the organization as Feeding America.
Bold marketing moves backed by deep analysis and the recession,which, ironically, raised the profile of hunger in America, have combined to make Feeding America one of corporate America’s most sought-after nonprofit partners. It’s difficult to keep track of the numerous new and renewed corporate partnerships the group has inked in the last two years.To cite just a few examples:
The Pound for Pound Challenge links GeneralMills’donation of a pound of food to Feeding America for each pound fans of NBC’s hit show“The Biggest Loser”pledge to lose.This year, the multimedia,multibrand campaign has garnered nearly 6million pounds of donated food.
Feeding America is one of the top beneficiaries ofWalmart’s recently announced $2 billion Fighting Hunger Together initiative.
Kraft Foods invested in college bowl game naming rights to create the“Kraft Fights Hunger Bowl,”part of a broader programwith Feeding America kicking off this fall.
The number of stores in Feeding America's retail donation programnearly doubled in 2009, collecting almost 200million pounds of food.
Investing in resources that create value for corporate partners is one reason for Feeding America’s success.For example, its Entertainment Council, chaired by actor David Arquette, spurs coverage of the group's causemarketing by engaging top celebrities.
eBay Giving Works was launched in 2003 to enable the eBay community to raise funds for their favorite charities. Funds are raised in four ways: Sellers donate 10 to 100% of their sales to a nonprofit and eBay waives that percentage of the seller’s fees. Nonprofits can sell their own merchandise. Buyers cans add a $1 or greater contribution when checking out. Customers can “Donate Now” directly to charity using PayPal.
Over time eBay – and its nonprofit implementation partner MissionFish – have expanded and deepened their offerings in a manner that drives donations while supporting eBay’s business by attracting new buyers and sellers, driving sell-through at above-average prices and simply makes transacting on eBay feel good.
In 2009, eBay spotlighted more charities on and offline, upgraded Give at Checkout and Donate Now and much more. The number of sellers with charity listings increased 60% over 2008. The number of charity listings increased by 150%. The overall program raised $50 million through transactional activity in 2009, nearly a third of the $162 million total it has raised since 2003.
SILVER: Send a Net. Save a Life. See a Game. National Basketball Association and the United Nations Foundation.
Since 2006 NBA Cares and the United Nations Foundation have worked together with numerous partners to engage people to donate $10 to purchase a bed net to fight malaria in Africa. In December 2009, the partners launched a holiday campaign which offered fans two complimentary NBA game tickets for every $10 or greater donation with a cap of 10,000 tickets. From December 14 to 31, the program raised over $300,000 online, 29% of the foundation’s total online revenue for the year with an average donation of $45, far more than the $10 minimum. For the NBA, the program generated substantial press coverage and strengthened its relationship with HP, which sponsored the program and promoted it to its employees.
GOLD: Send a Net. Save a Life. See a Game. National Basketball Association and the United Nations Foundation.
In 2008, NBA Commissioner David Stern helped Nothing But Nets launch a partnership with the UN High Commission on Refugees to fulfill an urgent need for long-lasting insectide-treated bed nets in African refugee camps in 15 countries. By October 2009, Nothing But Nets was 160,000 short of its goal of providing 600,000 bed nets to this initiative.
Send a Net. Save A Life. See a Game. was designed as a blitz campaign to help meet this life-saving goal. Its success helped Nothing But Nets protect more than 1,000,000 refugees in Africa from Malaria.
SILVER: Cybex Pink Ribbon Run. Cybex and The Breast Cancer Research Foundation
Cybex, a leading exercise equipment manufacturer, and the Breast Cancer Research Foundation teamed up on this B to B and B to C campaign to introduce a new product to athletic clubs, the 750T Treadmill, educate consumers on the benefits of exercise in combating breast cancer and raise money to support the foundation’s work.
Cybex offered participating clubs a turnkey cause marketing program for October 2009: Cybex would donate 10 cents for every mile logged on one of its customized pink treadmills. 270 of the machines were sold, more than $50,000 was raised for breast cancer research and local programs and 92% of participating clubs indicated they were pleased or very pleased that they had joined the Cybex Pink Ribbon Run.
GOLD: SunChips: Building a Pre-Eminent Green Brand. Frito-Lay
As SunChips leadership saw the strength of its healthier positioning eroding from greater competition, they identified an opportunity: Connect SunChips with the environment based on the trend among consumers to link their health and the planet’s health.
Determined not to get lost in a sea of green claims, SunChips committed to two major capital investments: adding solar power to a plant in California and launching the first fully compostable chip packaging.
Its advertising for both innovations was bold and creative – as those of you who were with us last night saw in its time lapse photography commercial showing a bag decomposing . It also partnered with National Geographic on “The Green Effect,” an online program that solicited consumers’ green initiatives and funded five of them with $20,000 grants. The program received 2,500 entries, which may sound small until you realize it exceeded the number of submissions in Frito Lays’ much heralded Doritos Crash the Superbowl contest.
Although Frito-Lay does not publicly release specific sales figures, revenue and awareness increased dramatically. Market research clearly linked those moves to SunChips environmentally-focused advertising.
Sprint launched the recyclable Samsung Reclaim handset in 2009 to position itself as the leading green wireless company in the United States. Attracted by its US Adopt an Acre program, Sprint forged an alliance with The Nature Conservancy which supported Sprint’s emphasis on positive environmental behavior.
Sprint staged a multi-faceted promotional campaign to inform consumers that it would donate $2 to The Nature Conservancy’s Adopt an Acre initiative for every Reclaim purchased between August 16 and December 31 up to $500,000.
In-store point of purchase materials, print and online advertising, aggressive media outreach and efforts to tell its supporters about the partnership pushed sales beyond Sprint’s expectations and more than doubled its share of positive environmental coverage among its competitors. The $500,000 generated for The Nature Conservancy will enable it to protect 10,000 acres of important habitat.
GOLD: The Pound for Pound Challenge: General Mills, The Biggest Loser and Feeding America.
To help address the hunger crisis and obesity in America, General Mills partnered with “The Biggest Loser” TV show and the nonprofit Feeding America in challenging consumers: For every pound they pledged to lose online,, one pound of groceries would be delivered to a local food bank.
The multimedia program supplemented General Mills’ 25 years of support of Feeding America and reinforced “The Biggest Loser’s” commitment to weight loss. 19 weekly on-air segments about the anti-hunger program were incorporated into the top-ranked show. Consumers pledged to lose 3.59 million pounds and the program raised more than $750,000 from online pledges and donations while significantly expanding awareness of America’s hunger crisis and the new Feeding America brand.
SILVER: A Focus on Baby Safety. Toys “R” Us, the Home Safety Council, Kids in Danger and Safe Kids Worldwide
In 2009, Toys “R” Us set out to strengthen its safety leadership position by providing support to nonprofit organizations in the field and working with them to share valuable information with consumers on baby safety.
The Great Trade-In encouraged customers to be more vigilant about used and potentially unsafe children’s items. Kids In Danger research indicates less than 30% of recalled items are returned. During three weeks in August and September, Toys R Us and Babies R Us locations gave 20% savings certificates to consumers who brought in used cribs, car seats and other baby items. It used the occasion to publicize the issue through media outreach, in-store promotion and print advertising. More than 55,000 old baby products were traded in and millions of impressions were earned.
A related initiative partnered with the Home Safety Council to alert consumers to potential hazards and move them to baby-proof before children were crawling. The company enhanced its online safety microsite and created in-store Baby Safety Shops that educated shoppers on baby-proofing through signage, merchandising and brochures created with Safe Kids Worldwide and the Home Safety Council.
GOLD: Drive Out Hunger Tour: The Cheesecake Factory and Feeding America
To raise awareness of domestic hunger and coordinate food and financial donations during Hunger Action Month last September, the Cheesecake Factory visited 30 cities in 30 days in a customized bread truck collecting cans of soup.
Radio stations in local markets set up live feeds to drive awareness of the tour and donations to local food banks. Restaurant-goers who donated received a complimentary slice of cheesecake and could have their photo uploaded to the tour website to be incorporated into a photo mosaic of a giant slice of cheesecake.
National publicity was sparked by the tour’s kick off, a star-studded event featuring actor David Arquette, chairman of Feeding America’s entertainment council. The centerpiece of the closing gala in Washington, D.C., was the construction of the world’s largest slice of cheesecake – a sculpture made up of 30,000 cans of soup. During the tour, 322,000 cans of soup were collected and donated to local food banks, more than three times the program goal.
SILVER: Hear The World, Phonak and the Hear The World Foundation
Phonak, a Swiss-based hearing system manufacturer, is dedicated to breaking down taboos surrounding hearing aids and hearing loss. In the future, wearing a hearing aid will be considered as normal as wearing glasses. Hear The World was created in 2006 as a global educational initiative on hearing-related issues.
The creative focal point of Hear The World is an expanding body of photographs by musician and photographer Bryan Adams of well-known personalities holding the Hear the World pose – one hand cupped behind their ear. These images are incorporated into all Hear The World promotions such as its custom magazine, website and touring exhibit.
In 2009 Hear The World and Macy’s commenced a six month tour of a Hear The World photography exhibit to stores in Dallas, San Francisco, Miami, New York and Philadelphia. In addition to viewing the exhibit, consumers at each site were able to receive free screenings and consult with local hearing healthcare professionals. Thousands of consumers have already had their hearing tested and this important message has been exposed to many, many more.
GOLD: Ben & Jerry’s Hubby Hubby, Ben & Jerry’s, Freedom to Marry
The controversial gay marriage issue gave Ben & Jerry’s an opportunity to celebrate the legality of same-sex unions in its home state of Vermont and to speak out about its long-standing commitment to social justice and equality for all people.
The company renamed its iconic flavor “Chubby Hubby” to “Hubby Hubby” for the month of September to raise consumer awareness. It teamed with Freedom to Marry, a gay-nongay partnership working to win marriage equality nationally to give Americans an avenue for more information. Although on the ground promotion was limited to Vermont, the multimedia program reached more than 429 million people in a single month and received extensive national media coverage.
SILVER: Iams Home for the Holidays. Iams and Helen Woodward Animal Center
For the 4th quarter 2009 edition of this long-running campaign, Iams pet foods sought to increase the effectiveness of its efforts to persuade consumers to adopt shelter dogs and cats.
Iams focused its resources on earning media through the use of celebrity spokesperson Hilary Swank, owner of two adopted dogs. Swank’s voice was used in the two Halo award-winning PSAs many of you saw last night, she attended and gave numerous interviews at a national kick-off event at the Bideawee shelter in New York, she made national media appearances on Today, Oprah, The Ellen DeGeneres Show and other top programs and was woven into press kits and local and online campaign extensions.
At the end of the program, Swank and Helen Woodward Animal Center leader Mike Arms announced that nearly 1.4 million pets had been adopted at 3500 participating shelters, a program record. Each of those adopting families received an Iams branded pet adoption kit. The campaign generated more than 424 million impressions and Iams recorded its highest sales in two years, a milestone partly attributable to this program.
GOLD: Sweethearts Red, White & You: New England Confectionery Co. and USO
In 2009, New England Confectionery Co. created a seasonal “Red White and You”product to support sales beyond Valentine’s Day and tied into the Operation USO Care Package program. The candy and packaging carries heartfelt phrases of appreciation to the troops and an integrated promotional campaign invited its core consumer, Moms with kids, to get involved.
A highlight of the marketing program was an ad in People’s popular “Hottest Bachelor Issue” As you see, the creative cleverly integrates Sweethearts candy into a letter to the troops and encouraged readers to tear it out and send it to a soldier.
The program yielded a substantial inkind donation of Sweethearts product, a $75,000 cash contribution to the USO, enough to sponsor 3,000 care packages, and multi-million dollar brand growth.
SILVER: SunChips Building a Pre-eminent Green Brand
In April 2009, SunChips announced it was launching the world’s first 100% compostable chip bag. An actual compostable bag was inserted in People magazine during Earth Week allowing consumers to touch it and try composting it themselves.
One measure of the impact of this and Frito-Lays’ other marketing moves: SunChips is now ranked a top 5 green brand by multiple sources even though it competes in a category not previously associated with sustainability.
GOLD: New Balance/Komen 20th Anniversary. New Balance and Susan G. Komen for the Cure
2009 marked the 20th year of partnership between Komen and New Balance, reflecting the company’s commitment helping people live healthy, active lifestyles. Their relationship is dominated by two major programs.
The Lace Up for the Cure Collection of footwear, apparel and accessories carry Komen’s logo and contribute 5% of the suggested retail price of sales to cause – with a minimum donation of $500,000 and a maximum of $1 million. NB’s sponsorship of the Race for the Cure & 3-Day for the Cure series and generate an additional $1 million for Komen.
To break through the sea of pink, New Balance launched a year-long program that integrated packaging, in-store promotion, local race and walk events, a nationwide contest that empowered consumers to share their personal experiences with breast cancer and a video highlighting two decades of hope.
New Balance was the only race series sponsor to activate at all 120 events – it raised $55,000 for Komen affiliates at its booths by selling pink shoelaces. Among the retail efforts were a video gift with purchase program and point of sale donation effort.
In addition to raising funds and stimulating sales, the program generated more than 200 million impressions with placements on all three morning shows and other leading outlets.
SILVER: Lose for Good. Weight Watchers, Share Our Strength and Action Against Hunger
Launched in 2008, Lose for Good, links pounds shed by Weight Watchers members and online subscribers to company donations, up to $1 million, to hunger-fighting these two leading hunger-fighting organizations.
In 2009, Weight Watchers sought to further integrate the effort beyond meeting room collateral and press releases. It simultaneously launched with a press event at a California Head Start Center featuring campaign ambassador Jenny McCarthy and kick-off events at local food banks organized by Weight Watchers and Share Our Strength.
Throughout the 10-week campaign, members were encouraged to bring food donations to meetings as part of 3,300 local food drives. The effort yielded 2 million pounds of food – a 33% increase over 2008 – and were highly motivating because they provided members with a visualization of their accomplishments. Participants lost more than 4 million pounds during the campaign generating a $1 million donation to Share Our Strength and Action Against Hunger.
GOLD: SLIDE GOLD: Pink Together: General Mills and Susan G. Komen for the Cure
General Mills launched the Pink Together program in 2007 to align a number of its brands with the breast cancer cause. Pink Together, which provides Komen with an annual $2 million donation, was positioned as celebrating the power of personal connections in the fight against this disease.
In 2009, Pink Together came to life as a fully-integrated campaign across many online and offline touchpoints with an engaging social networking website at its epicenter. Visitors can share stories and photos, send a virtual flower to someone who is newly diagnosed, read messages of encouragement and engage with others through social media. Online, in-store, on-pack, FSI and other marketing activity increased site visits by 65 percent; the number of friends on Facebook and MySpace grew exponentially; Tweets, blog impressions and posts were in the millions.
SILVER: Join Shaq Give Back. Toys “R” Us and the Marine Toys for Tots Foundation
Over a long relationship, Toys R Us has established itself as the #1 retail partner of The Marine Toys for Tots Foundation. In 2009, the company wanted to expand its audience by leveraging social media.
To get the job done it teamed up with Shaquille O’Neal because 1) he is the 11th most followed user on Twitter and 2) he has earned the nickname Shaq-A-Claus by shopping for toys on Christmas Eve each year and distributing them to underprivileged children.
In addition to its customary in-store, print and PR efforts, Toys R Us focused on the Facebook and Twitter communities. Facebook users were encouraged to join Shaq by becoming fans of Toys R Us or Babies R Us to trigger a $1 donation to Toys for Tots. The Toys R Us Facebook page received a Shaq A Clause themed redesign including video and updated texts and tweets from Shaq.
Shaq tweeted persistently to his 2.7 million followers and successfully recruited high profile twitter users such as #9 most followed Ryan Seacrest to support Toys for Tots.
The impact was impressive: the company’s Facebooks fan increased from 20,000 to nearly 445,000. Nearly 30,000 users posted messages on their walls. The campaign raised $3.4 million and collected more than 335,000 toys. In addition Toys R Us contributed an additional $1 million worth of toys – nearly half of which resulted from the Join Shaq Facebook campaign.
GOLD: Iams Home 4 The Holiday. Iams and the Helen Woodward Animal Center
For the 4th quarter 2009 edition of this long-running campaign, Iams concentrated on upping its effectiveness in persuading consumers to adopt shelter dogs and cats.
Iams focused its resources on earning media through the use of celebrity spokesperson Hilary Swank, a two-time academy award winner and the owner of two adopted dogs. In addition to her many duties as part of a substantial media outreach campaign, Swank’s voice was used in a pair of touching PSAs showing shelter dogs and cats bonding with their new owners. “The real reward in adopting a pet,” she intones, “is when the pet adopts you.”
SILVER: Limeades for Learning. Sonic Drive-In and Donorschoose.org.
When consumers visited Sonic during the 2009 Back to School Season and purchased a small through Route 44 sized fountain or frozen drink, they received a code to vote online for their favorite public school teacher project. Using DonorsChoose.org to solicit , vet and fulfill teacher project requests, Sonic contributed more than $630,000 to fund nearly 1,500 projects.
The drive in chain’s first cause marketing program had a major positive impact on consumer, employee and teacher attitudes toward Sonic and the program helped increase sales by 8%. The company pulled out all the stops to support the program with substantial print, PR, packaging promotion and this charming broadcast television commercial of kids thanking customers for their support.
SILVER: Boxtops for Education: Power of One. General Mills
This school fundraising campaign has contributed more than $320 million to public schools since its inception in 1996. In 2009, Boxtops for Education sought to engage more consumers by having them share an online video with friends via email, social media and influential bloggers. Online participants have proved to be 25% more active than the typical boxtop member.
It’s easy to see why this video of singing boxtops delivered 62,000 new members to the Boxtops for Education community in one month.
GOLD: SunChips: Building a Preeminent Green Brand: Frito-Lay
After Frito-Lay committed millions to introduce the world’s first fully-compostable chip packaging, it challenged agency Juniper Park to announce the move in a fun, accessible way. The result: A video that instead of talking about biodegradable materials, let people see a bag disappear through time-lapse photography. The commercial was broadcast one on “American Idol on the eve of Earth Day and then was seeded on video-sharing sites.
Instead of pulling back on its cause marketing efforts when the recession hit,Macy’s deepened its programs and supported them with substantial promotional budgets.
Partnerships with the American Heart Association, Feeding America,Make-A-Wish Foundation,National Park Foundation, Reading Is
Fundamental and more than 10,000 other local and national charities raised more than $36
million in 2009, up from $32 million in 2008.
In 2008, after 30 years of fighting hunger as America’s Second Harvest, a new leadership team at the Chicago-based network of 203 food banks conducted thorough research that resulted in rebranding the organization as Feeding America.
As SunChips leadership saw the strength of its healthier positioning eroding from greater competition, they identified an opportunity: Connect SunChips with the environment based on the trend among consumers to link their health and the planet’s health.
To help address the hunger crisis and obesity in America, General Mills partnered with “The Biggest Loser” TV show and the nonprofit Feeding America in challenging consumers: For every pound they pledged to lose online,, one pound of groceries would be delivered to a local food bank.
The controversial gay marriage issue gave Ben & Jerry’s an opportunity to celebrate the legality of same-sex unions in its home state of Vermont and to speak out about its long-standing commitment to social justice and equality for all people.
In 2009, New England Confectionery Co. created a seasonal “Red White and You”product to support sales beyond Valentine’s Day and tied into the Operation USO Care Package program. The candy and packaging carries heartfelt phrases of appreciation to the troops and an integrated promotional campaign invited its core consumer, Moms with kids, to get involved.
2009 marked the 20th year of partnership between Komen and New Balance, reflecting the company’s commitment helping people live healthy, active lifestyles. Their relationship is dominated by two major programs.