Ethics: marketing campaigns to change the world
Author: CIM COM
Consumers prefer to buy from brands whose values reflect their own. Research from YouGov and GNM surveys indicates that this ethical behaviour is likely to grow. The implication is that the brands which provide ethical products and services, and demonstrate honesty and integrity, will give themselves a competitive advantage. Brands with a social purpose provide consumers with a positive choice that goes far beyond the usual transactional purchase. That’s something that brands like Toms, Rosa’s, Innocent and Pampers have embraced. Ethical consumerism can effect change, as these cause-related marketing examples show.
Take photos of your bare feet to give kids shoes
TOMS makes shoes. It all started in 2006, when traveller Blake Mycoskie met some children in a village in Argentina and saw they didn’t have any shoes to protect their feet. So he created TOMS as a company with a cause. It’s One for One® business model means that every time a pair of shoes is sold, the company donates a pair to a child in need. It’s also held an annual One Day Without Shoes campaign for the last eight years. to raise awareness about the way a simple pair of shoes can help improve a child’s life. Most recently, for every photo of bare feet posted on Instagram with the hashtag #withoutshoes, TOMS also gave a needy child a new pair of shoes. The social media campaign meant that anyone could participate and increase donations, without even needing to buy a pair of shoes themselves. It was a great way to extend the brand’s reach and raise awareness of its work. Almost 300,000 children benefitted with new shoes.
Since launch, TOMS has given more than 45 million pairs of shoes to children in over 70 different countries. The TOMS One for One concept has been extended to eyewear sales to help restore sight, coffee sales to fund clean water and bags sales to provide birth kits and midwifery support.
Buy nappies to give vaccines
Nappies brand Pampers partnered with UNICEF on a cause related marketing campaign to provide tetanus vaccines. Like the TOMS concept, the campaign has been built upon a very clear and straightforward message: one pack equals one vaccine. Since 2003, enough funds have been provided by the campaign to fund 300 million tetanus vaccines.
Professor Linda Scott, from Oxford University cites the partnership as an example of best practice. Her study revealed that UNICEF’s brand name provided significant extra leverage for the Pampers campaign enabling the brand to build new business, as well as benefitting the recruitment and retention of staff for Proctor & Gamble. The win-win partnership meant that Pampers provided a new and sizeable revenue stream for donations to UNICEF.
This video explains more about the project: Protecting Mothers & Their Newborns: Pampers and UNICEF Working Together to Make a Difference
The project aims to eliminate neo-natal tetanus and in 8 years it has achieved this in 10 countries, and in pursuing this cause Pampers has been able to grow its business. It’s a world away from marketing the practical benefits of nappies.
Buy an extra pizza slice for the homeless
Mason Wartman left Wall Street to start his own business, Rosa's Fresh Pizza, in Philadelphia, USA. Rosa’s sells pizza by the slice. It made the food an affordable meal, and sometimes even people who were homeless would pop in for a dollar slice. One day a customer paid in advance for an extra slice so the next homeless person to come in to Rosa’s wouldn’t have to pay. Their kind act has gathered momentum. Today many customers pay an extra dollar and jot a note on a post-it. Homeless people coming into the pizza shop can take a post-it note, read the good wishes and redeem it for free pizza.
It’s good for business and its generated a huge amount of publicity for Rosa’s. Mason has even appeared on Ellen DeGeneres’ chat show.
Ellen from Mason Wartman on Vimeo.
Knit tiny hats to help the elderly
Smoothie drinks company Innocent had a quirky idea back in 2003. It started its campaign, The Big Knit, encouraging people to knit tiny woolly hats. The hats were put on their smoothie bottles, whenever a bottle with a woolly hat was sold, Innocent donated 25p to Age UK.
The homemade hats fit neatly with Innocent’s homely image, as a company where three friends started out selling smoothies at a festival. The campaign has helped to tackle the issue of loneliness, amongst Age UK’s target group, as its brought people together to knit for a cause. The big idea of The Big Knit is to raise funds to keep older people warm in winter. The money raised is used to fund Age UK day centres, buy blankets, fund hot meals, pay for emergency heaters and pay for special Winter Warmth packs.
Since 2003, 5 million tiny hats have been knitted by people in the UK and the Big Knit has raised over 1.75 million pounds and raised awareness for charity.