Cause Related Marketing- New Angle of Corporate Philanthropy

The world is changing and so are the markets. In such a competitive scenario sustainability is a subject of not only discussion but of concern. Organizations regardless of the size and product are facing difficulty of doing and maintaining the business. Customers are flooded with options and hence consumerism is at peak. In order to sustain organization needs to make their offering different and unique. It is becoming difficult for marketers to differentiate their products or services on the basis of basic attributes like price, promotion and packaging. Consumers want much more, these virtual differences are not enough to grab and retain the consumers. In such a scenario, linking the brand with social responsibility can be an effective differentiation & positioning strategy. In order to promote the organization as socially responsible; organizations are getting into an alliance with the non profit organizations for mutually beneficial relationship where the profit organization contributes a pre decided portion of each purchase made by its customers during a specific period of time to the non profit organization. These partnerships between companies and causes and pairing the purchase of a product with the support of a charity, is called Cause Related Marketing (Referred to as CRM henceforth), or alternately, cause tie-ins, cause-brand partnerships, or company-cause linkages.

The concept of cause related marketing is a win-win proposition for all the party involved i.e Company, Customer and Cause. Company gets the benefit as they can differentiate their offering on account of being socially responsible. This helps in creating a better image for the company, which leads to increased sales hence profits. Customer gets benefit of purchasing a product and donating to a cause without sacrificing any money. This way customer is also able to perform their part of social responsibility. Cause gets attention, publicity and funds.

Cause related marketing benefits in three ways i.e it act as a corporate philanthropic act for the profit making organization, Non-profit organization needs help and support with funds that can be achieved with this and customer have a feel good factor that they have acted as responsible citizens by contributing to a cause. All these benefits are the main reason why this concept is getting so much attention both from profit and non- profit organizations.

Some of the examples of Cause Related marketing in Indian Markets are - Marico India Ltd, brand Nihar Naturals launched a campaign “Chhotte Kadam Pragati Ki Aur” where the company decided that every time a woman chooses to buy a bottle of Nihar Shanti Amla, 2% of all proceeds will be contributed to the cause of children’s education. This campaign was done in partnership with Child Rights and You (CRY) India. Under this campaign company provided funds to 19  projects across Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and other regions, where each project will touch around 25 to 30 villages within these geographies another is Tata Salt, in its ‘DESH KO ARPAN’ program contributed 10 paise for every kilo of Tata Salt, sold during specific periods, to the education of underprivileged children. Child Relief and You (CRY) was their partner in this program.

So we can conclude that Cause Related Marketing has become a good choice for corporations as it provides a message that is unique, well targeted and effective and can also be describe as an effective differentiation strategy.

Ms. Anu Bhardwaj

Assistant Professor

Dept. of Management