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Research:
Who Benefits Most from Cause Marketing
Companies perceived as “ethically neutral” stand to garner the most image improvement from cause-related marketing, according to a study recently published in the Journal of Nonprofit and Public Sector Marketing.
Companies perceived as “ethically neutral” stand to garner the most image improvement from cause-related marketing, according to a study recently published in the Journal of Nonprofit and Public Sector Marketing.
Most businesses occupy this middle ground – viewed by consumers as neither devil or saints -- so the research suggests that cause-related marketing could pay big dividends for many companies.
Firms perceived as ethical and unethical “gained significantly less than neutral firms from participating in a cause-related marketing campaign,” found Michal Strahilevitz, assistant professor of marketing at the University of Arizona’s Eller School of Business.
To forecast the bang for the buck they can expect in image improvement, companies contemplating cause marketing should first gauge how they are perceived by their target markets.
Strahilevitz’s findings were based on a pair of studies of university students asked to rate how a cause-related campaign would affect their perceptions of firms they deemed unethical, ethically-neutral or extremely ethical. In one of the studies, Ben & Jerry’s exemplified an extremely ethical company, Timex an ethically neutral firm and Phillip Morris an unethical company.
A complete write-up of the study is available in the Journal of Nonprofit & Public Sector Marketing (Volume 11, Number 1) from Haworth Press at 1-800-HAWORTH.
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