Conversations with Cause Marketers: Carol Cone

“A lot of people call Jerry Welsh (formerly of American Express) the father of cause marketing and they call me the mother,” founder Carol Cone quipped while recalling her first cause-related work – a campaign that positioned Rockport as the walking shoe company back in 1982.

To mark her twentieth anniversary in the field, we asked Carol for her views on several hot topics including recent criticism of some breast cancer campaigns.

CMT: Everybody seems to have a different name for what we call cause marketing. You use the term cause branding. What's the difference?

CC: “There’s nothing wrong with cause marketing – it’s promotion, it’s short term. Cause branding is something much deeper. Cause branding is about business strategy. It’s about adding to the DNA of a brand so it stands for something in the employee’s mind, the community’s mind and the consumer’s mind. Cause marketing can be done at the brand level, but cause branding has to be led out of the “C suite” (at the highest corporate level). Of all the great programs we’ve created, 9 out of 10 have come out of the C suite.”

CMT: In its "Think Pink" ad campaign, Breast Cancer Action has criticized several leading cause-related breast cancer campaigns. How do you respond to BCA’s criticism that a woman would have to eat three containers of Yoplait a day for the duration of the four-month campaign to raise $36? (Cone Inc. works on Yoplait’s Saving Lids to Save Lives campaign.)

CC: “Their criticism shows their misunderstanding of the activity. It’s not about eating that many containers to raise $36. It’s the fact that millions of people can come together to raise money by doing activities they do every day.” (In fact, Yoplait donated $1.5 million to fight breast cancer in 2002– CMT.)

CMT: What are the challenges clients face in creating a successful cause marketing campaign?

CC: “The three major challenge are misalignment, innovation and communication. The cause must be properly aligned with the company’s business. It makes a lot of sense for Yoplait to align with women’s health, for example, because it’s a healthy product.” (Innovative campaigns, she went on to explain, have what it takes to stand out and capture consumer attention. To overcome the communication challenge, sufficient promotional resources must be applied to generate awareness.)

CMT: What do you see on the horizon for cause marketing and cause branding?

CC: It’s not going to go away. Corporate social responsibility is a very deep and intense subject – especially for global companies. The internet has made everything transparent. What companies stand for becomes more and more important. Corporations must differentiate, generate loyalty, gain approval of the communities they do business in.

To hear the latest analysis from Cone, Inc., attend the Cause Marketing Forum Conference on June 13, 2006. Click here to register.