Cause-Related Marketing: An Exploratory Study of Campaign Donation Structures Issues

ABSTRACT

Over the past decade, cause-related marketing (CRM) has become a popular and unique promotional tool for brands. Academic research indicates outcomes of such campaigns are generally positive for all stakeholders. Consumers feel they are making a difference, firms benefit from improved public image and increased sales, and the cause or nonprofit organization receives increased publicity and funding. However, there are ethical issues involved when linking a firm with a nonprofit organization as well as potential negatives (Smith and Stodghill 1994; Andreasan 1996; Meyer 1999; Polonsky and Wood 2001). An exploratory research study was undertaken to understand the impact of the structural elements of cause-related marketing campaigns, including how the donation is quantified, the size of the donation relative to the price of the product, the presence of donation deadlines and caps, and the level of promotion used to publicize the campaign. Findings suggest that the structural elements of cause-related marketing campaigns do influence consumers' perceptions of the campaigns. Based on these results, implications for CRM campaign managers and future research ideas are provided. This information will help practitioners, including marketing managers, advertising managers and advertising creative professionals to design the most effective communication tactics for a cause-related marketing campaign.     

Cause-Related Marketing: Keys to Successful Relationships with Corporate Sponsors and Their Customers

SUMMARY

An increasingly popular method for nonprofits to raise awareness, educate the public, and receive financial support from corporations is through cause-related marketing. The distinctive feature of cause-related marketing is the corporate sponsor's contribution to a designated cause being tied to customers' participating in revenue-producing transactions with the sponsor. The sponsor benefits from favorable publicity and increased sales. This article discusses factors contributing to the potential success of a cause-related marketing campaign: the sponsor's product quality, fair pricing, and customer traits; the nonprofit's and the sponsor's reputation, shared values, good communication, and commitment; a well-planned and executed campaign, and specific terms that protect both party's assets and clearly outline each party's responsibilities.     

Trends and Future Directions in Online Marketing Research

Over the last decade, the increased adoption of the Internet in public life as well as in developing businesses has led to a phenomenal rise in academic research on online marketing. This article is set to extensively review scholarly articles appearing from 2000 to 2014 on the topic from 10 top-tier academic journals to understand the research trends in the domain. A literature review has reported eight major subjective categories with an analysis of online marketing effectiveness framework. This review found three most significant subject categories: (1) online marketing issues; (2) Internet usage, perception, and attitude; and (3) online shopping and e-commerce. Additionally, some new online marketing research topics such as word-of-mouth, user-generated content, and social network are also highlighted. Finally, a selection of research topics that got the maximum attention of researchers is presented along with discussion of the future research directions in the online marketing space.     

A Study on the Effect of Cause-Related Marketing on the Attitude Towards the Brand: The Case of Pepsi in Spain

SUMMARY

CRM is an effective tool for differentiating brands and for obtaining emotional positioning among consumers. However, an utilitarian use of this tool might be counteractive. This research aims to better understand the effect of CRM on attitude towards the brand. For this purpose, Pepsi's CRM campaigns in Spain have been analyzed. Results show that, unexpectedly, CRM campaigns might lead to adverse effects as a result of the mercantilist abuse of the concept of solidarity.     

Commentary: Relative Presence of Business-to-Business Research in the Marketing Literature: Review and Future Directions

In this commentary we reaffirm the position taken by LaPlaca and Katrichis (2009 LaPlaca, P. J. and Katrichis, J. M. 2009. Relative presence of business-to-business research in the marketing literature. Journal of Business-to-Business Marketing, 16(1–2) [Google Scholar]) that there is an underrepresentation of business marketing research in the marketing literature. Our comments highlight the sector size of business marketing in the economy, document the degree of difference on the inherent nature of business versus consumer marketing, compare the relative representation of business versus consumer emphasis in the marketing literature with other subfields, and close by suggesting means for enhancing business marketing research.     

The Role of Logo Recoloring on Perceptual Fluency in Cause-Related Marketing Campaigns

Abstract

This article investigates the influence of brand esthetics on consumer response to cause-related marketing campaigns. Drawing on brand visual identity and advertising research, a processing fluency perspective is explored in the relationship between stimulus characteristics and consumer judgment. Processing fluency suggests color enhances the ease with which consumers recognize and process brand elements, and more broadly, cause-related marketing campaigns. Brand logos were recolored to enhance the perceptual fluency of the two entities. Its joint effect with conceptual congruence (e.g., fit) indicate that both low and high fit brands benefit from enhanced processing fluency, with a more robust outcome for high fit brands. These effects were mediated by logo evaluation, leading to a new path of fit perceptions in CRM initiatives.     

客户关系管理的研究现状、不足和未来展望

本文认为,企业实施客户关系管理的动因主要有顾客角色的变化与交换双方权力的转移,超强竞争环境,营销管理重心的转变以及互联网等通讯基础设施与技术的蓬勃发展等四个方面。目前客户关系管理研究中的主要问题是狭隘地理解客户关系管理,仅仅将其看作是一种管理软件;顾客权益的内涵尚不明确;尚未找到一种能够平衡顾客价值与企业价值的绩效评价方法;对顾客知识的研究基本空白等。文章还指出了未来客户关系管理研究的四大主要领域,即顾客权益合理内涵、评价方法与驱动因素及其在CRM中的应用;顾客价值的内涵多维动态评价体系、创造机制与驱动因素;顾客知识管理模型与数据挖掘技术的运用以及价值导向型客户关系管理的实施流程与竞争能力等。     

Use of the Customer Value/Mission (CV/M) Matrix in Strategic Nonprofit Marketing Analysis

ABSTRACT

Application of traditional portfolio methods to nonprofit marketing situations is difficult, to say the least. For the most part, they require detailed market share, market strength, market growth, market attractiveness, and cost and profit accounting information that many nonprofits do not have and may not be able to acquire given the nature of products typically offered by nonprofits, e.g., services and/or social behavior programs. We suggest use of a recently proposed product portfolio model, the customer value/mission (CV/M) matrix as a method that can help nonprofits in then-product planning endeavors. The CV/M matrix better serves the needs of marketing strategists not only in for-profit organizations but in nonprofit ones as well. This is because it reflects on customer value and differential advantage in the eyes of an organization's consumers. This paper directly compares the use of an older portfolio matrix that has been suggested for use in nonprofit organizations with use of the new matrix and discusses some advantages and disadvantages of each.     

Innovations in Shopper Marketing: Current Insights and Future Research Issues

Shopper marketing refers to the planning and execution of all marketing activities that influence a shopper along, and beyond, the entire path-to-purchase, from the point at which the motivation to shop first emerges through to purchase, consumption, repurchase, and recommendation. The goal of shopper marketing is to enable a win–win–win solution for the shopper–retailer–manufacturer. Shopper marketing has emerged as a key managerial practice among manufacturers and retailers, who are eagerly embracing innovations in the different aspects of shopper marketing. We review current and potential innovations in shopper marketing. We identify the managerial challenges to achieving new win–win–win solutions among shoppers, manufacturers, and retailers in shopper marketing and outline future scenarios and research issues related to these challenges.     

A Text Mining-Based Review of Cause-Related Marketing Literature

Social networking sites (SNS) have challenged ethical issues about users’ information security and privacy. SNS users are concerned about their privacy and need to control the information they share and its use. This paper examines the security of SNS by taking a look at the influence of users’ perceived control of information over their information-sharing behaviors. Employing an empirical study, this paper demonstrates the importance of perceived control in SNS users’ information-sharing behaviors. Specifically, perceived control has been found to be negatively related to perceived privacy risk and attitude toward information sharing, which in turn has an impact on their information-sharing behaviors. In addition, gender has been shown to be an important factor that moderates the influences of both perceived control and perceived privacy risk on SNS users’ attitudes toward information sharing. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.     

The Evolution of Marketing Channel Research Domains and Methodologies: An Integrative Review and Future Directions

Marketing channels are among the most important elements of any value chain. This is because the bulk of a nation's manufacturing output flows through them. The intermediaries (e.g., distributors, wholesalers, retailers) constituting marketing channels perform specific distribution functions, such as transportation, storage, sales, financing, and relationship building, better than most manufacturers. Over his distinguished career, Louis P. Bucklin investigated many questions about the structuring and functioning of marketing channels using conceptual, empirical, and microeconomics model-based methodologies. Today, the academic marketing literature contains hundreds of articles that have employed these three broad classes of methodologies to investigate issues of channel intermediaries’ interorganizational relationships, for example, power-dependence, relational outcomes, conflict and negotiations, and manufacturing firms’ channel strategy, for example, channel structure, selection, coordination and control. So far, however, there has been no review of how the three different methodologies have contributed to advancing knowledge across this set of channels research domains. This paper is the first that aims to (1) chart how channels research employing each of the three classes of methodologies – conceptual, empirical, microeconomics model-based – has evolved over seven decades along with current trends; (2) review the contributions and shortcomings of research to date using these methodologies; and (3) suggest future research opportunities using these methodologies, separately or in an integrated fashion.     

Telework: Existing Research and Future Directions

Telework, which is defined as work performed at home or a satellite office to reduce commuting, is attracting much attention as an alternative way to organize work. Numerous studies have pointed out a variety of advantages of telework for individuals, organizations, and society. Current telework research, however, displays many weaknesses that inhibit use of this alternative as an effective vehicle to promote distributive organizational design. This study was undertaken to characterize existing telework research, improve understanding of problems and issues of telework, and guide future research directions. A review of the relevant literature and a characterization of telework were conducted from 3 different angles: the research methodology, the focus of existing telework studies, and the research paradigm. First, an overall lack of robust research methodology was found in many studies. Second, although telework is an organizational phenomenon, disproportionate attention has been given to teleworker-related personal issues. Finally, the current telework paradigm was discovered to be characterized by suitability-based planning that selects appropriate persons and tasks and by ad hoc implementation in response to local needs. We suggest that future research could be enriched with more rigorous research methodology, more balanced focus for studies, and more flexible perspectives in the research paradigm.     

Franchising: Directions for Future Research

There have been important contributions to the literature on franchising in recent years, but many interesting questions have received less attention than they deserve. In this paper, I briefly highlight four of these: (i) the existence of master franchising and multi-unit ownership, (ii) the differences in the intensity of franchising across sectors, (iii) international franchising, and (iv) the problems surrounding the adoption of new technologies and adaptation in franchised chains. While not exhaustive, this set of topics illustrates the variety of potential franchise-related research topics.     

Cause-related marketing: More buck than bang?

Starbucks, Target, and Nike are just a few of the businesses partnering today with not-for-profit organizations in cause-related marketing campaigns. These campaigns are implemented for a dual purpose: on one hand, to raise awareness, support, and donations for social causes such as global hunger relief, and on the other, to enhance corporate reputations, customer loyalty, and financial gains for companies. An example of cause-related marketing is an effort organized by Macy's, Pfizer, and other businesses on behalf of the American Heart Association. The program has raised over $32 million in donations for the charity, while generating over 1 billion media impressions for corporate sponsors. In this article, we discuss the concept and practice of cause-related marketing, as well as some of its social-ethical complexities. We end with suggestions for increasing the effectiveness of this popular marketing tool and form of corporate philanthropy.     

Overcoming Consumer Skepticism in Cause-Related Marketing: The Effects of Corporate Social Responsibility and Donation Size Claim Objectivity

Even though cause-related marketing has become an increasingly popular marketing tool, consumers have become skeptical about this strategy. Consumer skepticism is likely to lower the acceptance of advertising claims. The current study investigates how marketers might minimize consumer skepticism by varying the level of perceived corporate social responsibility and the level of claim objectivity regarding donation size. The results indicated that consumers were more likely to disbelieve the ad claim when the advertiser was perceived to be socially irresponsible than responsible. In addition, consumers were more likely to disbelieve the ad claim when the donation size was stated subjectively than objectively.     

营销哲学的演变 缺陷与未来

自营销哲学出现以来 ,营销哲学经历了六个发展阶段的演变。通过对营销哲学演变过程的详细分析 ,指出现今营销哲学存在的缺陷 ,然后根据系统理论与权变理论的原理 ,综合现有营销哲学的精华 ,对现有营销哲学进行修正 ,并探讨未来的营销哲学应具有的特征和分析模式。     

从交易营销到战略营销:营销理论范式的比较与创新

市场营销发展的历史表明,在现代的市场竞争下单纯依赖以4Ps策略为分析框架的交易营销范式已经逐渐失去了对新问题的解释力。关系营销范式因为缺乏明确的研究框架和分析工具还不能成为主流的营销范式。而伴随着现代竞争的日益发展,基于竞争和顾客导向的战略营销管理理论范式越来越具有影响力。SMM范式具备一个全新的理论范式的条件,将对未来我国企业的营销战略的制定,长远的营销发展具有重要的意义。     

Mobile Marketing in the Retailing Environment: Current Insights and Future Research Avenues

Mobile marketing, which involves two- or multi-way communication and promotion of an offer between a firm and its customers using the mobile, a term that refers to the mobile medium, device, channel, or technology, is growing in importance in the retailing environment. It has the potential to change the paradigm of retailing from one based on consumers entering the retailing environment to retailers entering the consumer's environment through anytime, anywhere mobile devices. We propose a conceptual framework that comprises three key entities: the consumer, the mobile, and the retailer. The framework addresses key related issues such as mobile consumer activities, mobile consumer segments, mobile adoption enablers and inhibitors, key mobile properties, key retailer mobile marketing activities and competition. We also address successful retailer mobile marketing strategies, identify the customer-related and organizational challenges on this topic, and outline future research scenarios and avenues related to these issues.     

CRM:企业营销管理的新策略

在激烈的市场竞争中,越来越多的企业开始通过实施客户关系管理(CRM)来赢得更多的客户并且提高客户的忠诚度。本文认为,客户关系管理(CRM)作为企业营销管理的新策略,其目的在于建立一个系统,使企业在客户服务、市场竞争、销售和支持等各方面形成全新的关系实体,为企业带来长久的竞争优势,一方面通过优质服务吸引和保持更多的客户;另一方面通过对企业业务流程的全面管理降低企业成本。CRM与ERP(企业资源规划)、SCM(供应链管理)一起,已成为现代企业提高竞争力的三大法宝。     

基于企业营销能力的营销组织创新研究

本文认为,随着消费者需求的个性化与多样化、市场的国际化与微型化、信息技术的高速发展及市场竞争的日益激烈,企业的营销能力已超越生产能力和研发能力成为最重要的企业能力,而企业营销能力的高低取决于企业营销组织的合理性。要提高企业营销能力,必须构建适应环境、符合企业发展战略的营销组织,通过营销组织创新,建立市场驱动型的企业组织,培育、维护和更新企业可持续的竞争优势。当前营销组织创新的重点是营销组织概念创新、营销组织结构创新、营销流程创新、营销沟通创新及营销组织绩效考核创新。