Twenty-one years ago, American Express launched a national marketing campaign to fund the restoration of the Statue of Liberty. Cause marketing was born.

Cause marketing happens when a for-profit business and nonprofit business join to create a marketing partnership to support a social cause. At its best, cause marketing is a win-win-win proposition. The cause is both promoted and funded. The nonprofit agency moves beyond dependence on donors and foundations to access a powerful new source of income. The for-profit business enters new markets and enhances their brand with everyone from employees to customers. In fact, recent research shows that customers may well be driving a cause-marketing mandate.

The Cone Corporate Citizenship Study is the nation’s longest look at American attitudes toward corporate support of social issues. According to Carol Cone, the decade-long study shows that, “…more than ever before, companies must get involved with social issues in order to protect and enhance their reputations.”

Cone’s 2004 study shows that 8 in 10 Americans say that corporate support of causes wins their trust in that company, a 21-percent increase since 1997. When price and quality are equal, 86 percent of Americans say they are likely to switch to a brand that supports a cause.

Is it any wonder that cause marketing is undergoing phenomenal growth?

When PR Week surveyed nonprofit leaders in October 2004, 61 percent of their respondents said that they’ve seen increased interest in supporting nonprofit causes from corporations in just the last year. More than half of the respondents report that this interest is translating into financial support. Cause-marketing optimism is very high among nonprofit executives across the board. The PR Week survey forecasts not only that the level of corporate investment will increase over the next 12 months, but also, on average, it will increase by 17 percent.

Increased demand is only one part of the equation. Creating successful cause-marketing campaigns requires professionals who have a sophisticated set of skills and knowledge. Beyond a solid understanding of marketing, cause marketers must be able to effectively initiate and manage alliances with people whose bottom line might be measured differently than their own. They must be able to anticipate the impact of the alliance on each brand, mitigate risks, and have confidence that their cause-marketing partner will perform as expected. Cause marketers need education and community, a place where they can learn from leaders in the field and connect with each other.

It is a need that David Hessekiel is dedicated to meeting. In 2002, David established The Cause Marketing Forum, a membership organization with a mission to advance and expand cause marketing. The organization offers classes, workshops, job listings, and an annual conference, complete with the “Halo Awards” to recognize outstanding programs and marketers.

Using conference attendance as a barometer, David gave me some insight to marketers’ growing appetite for the cause-marketing conversation. The first two conferences sold out. Despite a 40-percent increase in capacity from 2003 to 2004, dozens of eager registrants had to be turned away. Geographic reach is expanding. Last year, attendees traveled to New York from 39 states and five countries to participate. Even though the June 2005 conference will accommodate yet another 40 percent, if you’d like to attend, you might just want to reserve a spot now.

Today, there is a place reserved for you right here. In this issue of Enlightened Brand Journal, you can learn about cause marketing and be inspired by those who are leading the way—from Kurt Aschermann of Boys & Girls Clubs of America and Diane Dietz of Crest, to Canadian pop singer, Sarah McLachlan. Maybe their stories will help you to see how you can use your marketing to help make the world a better place. When you do, I hope you’ll let us know about it. As always, we welcome your feedback.

Pam Van Orden
Editor, Enlightened Brand Journal

Every day, in every community, children are home alone. The United States Census Bureau estimates that more than seven million school-aged children, about 19 percent of the children in the U.S., are left to care for themselves without adult supervision.

Though the numbers are increasing, the story is not new. In fact, it was all the way back in 1860 when a small group of women, concerned about the young, unsupervised boys who roamed the streets, created a club to provide them with a positive alternative. That first club has blossomed to one of the nation’s leading youth services organizations, Boys & Girls Clubs of America. Today, the Boys & Girls Clubs organization serves more than four million children at 3,800 Clubs in the United States and 394 Clubs on U.S. military bases around the globe.

For all that has changed since 1860, the original Boys & Girls Clubs’ mission lives on as the heart of their brand, summed up in the tagline, A Positive Place for Kids. Boys & Girls Clubs have played a significant role in the lives of the children they have served. Eighty percent of alumni say Boys & Girls Clubs’ staff helped them learn right from wrong and 52 percent said participating in the Clubs “saved my life.”

You only need to take a look at the impressive list of celebrity Club alumni to know that Boys & Girls Clubs have also helped to shape American culture. Basketball superstar, Michael Jordan; three-time Olympic gold medalist, Jackie Joyner-Kersee; acclaimed actors, Denzel Washington and Martin Sheen; United States President, Bill Clinton; Starbucks’ CEO, Howard Shultz and GE’s chairman, Jack Welch, are just a few of the greats for whom the Clubs made a difference.

Boys & Girls Clubs of America earns high marks for the overall way in which they run their business. The Chronicle of Philanthropy has ranked them the number-one youth organization for 10 consecutive years. Worth magazine has rated them one of the “100 Best Charities in America” based on financial efficiency, strength of reputation, and program effectiveness. And in 2004, Cause Marketing Forum selected them to receive their highest honor, the Golden Halo Award, for leadership and outstanding efforts in the field of cause marketing.

What can we learn from this cause-marketing leader? Enlightened Brand Journal talked with Kurt Aschermann, chief marketing and development officer for Boys & Girls Clubs of America, to get an inside look at their winning ways.

Enlightened Brand Journal: Kurt, what is your role in the organization?

Kurt Aschermann: As chief marketing and development officer, I am in charge of fundraising, as well as the brand and marketing.

EBJ: How did you begin marketing with corporate partners, and how has your cause marketing evolved?

KA: We have received corporate gifts for years. In 1993, we got the first sniff of change in corporate philanthropy. Companies began to realize that if they didn’t make money, they couldn’t give it. Reader's Digest approached us about becoming more of collaborator with them to make more resources available. That’s when we began to craft our approach to corporations.

In 1993, our annual budget was $280 million. Today, it is about $1.2 billion. We know what we need to succeed. We need money and awareness. We get what we need by putting the needs of our corporate partners first and our own needs second.

In 1999, we created a corporate opportunities group. It’s an agency within our agency. The group is structured like an advertising agency with account managers who are focused on serving the corporations’ needs.

We've done approximately $350 million in corporate deals in 10 years, about $35 million per year.

EBJ: Do you think of these deals as cause marketing?

KA: We used to, but not any more. We’ve gone through many names. The bottom line is that it’s no different than anything else we do. It’s relationship management.

With cause marketing, a consumer buys something, and a piece of the purchase goes to a charity. That still happens. The problem is that sometimes the cause and the marketing are disconnected. We want that connection to be strong. We look for marketing partners whose first priority is to help kids. When the kids are placed at the heart of what we do together, we have a deeper, more committed relationship.

EBJ: What do you consider your greatest co-branding success story?

KA: I’m reluctant to choose one at the risk of diminishing another. We have many very good marketing relationships. For instance, Microsoft provided us with $100 million in cash and in-kind donations. With them, we created “Club Tech” to give both kids and staff access to computers and software.

We also have smaller programs that work very well for us. One example is our “Teen Supreme” partnership with Taco Bell. It’s simple. In Taco Bell restaurants, there is a bucket at the counter for customers to leave their change. The money that is collected supports our teen strategy.

Another example is our relationship with Finish Line, a chain of retail sneaker stores. For seven or eight years, we have run a simple and successful holiday promotion with them. Customers can purchase a holiday card for one dollar and send it to Boys & Girls Clubs.

The program doesn’t have to be the biggest or newest idea.

EBJ: In your experience, what factors drive success?

KA: Two primary environments have to exist. First, the corporation has to really want to help kids. If the relationship is purely about marketing, it will have a short life. One way that we assess corporate commitment is to watch their staff around kids. Early on, we meet at one of our Clubs to see how they interact with the children. If they are into the kids, we're pretty sure we’re going to have a good deal.

The second essential piece is an effective relationship-management infrastructure. We often find that we are better prepared than the companies we partner with to manage the relationship. Often we teach them.

It’s important to recognize that when you form a relationship between your brand and another brand, you are then responsible for each other’s brands. You become a sub-brand of their brand, and they become a sub-brand of yours. You need to manage the relationship as effectively as you would manage your own brand.

EBJ: How do you assess if a partner is right for your brand?

KA: We have a system that we call the “wine press.” It is a series of questions we ask about each prospective marketing partner. The name came from Rick Goings, the CEO of Tupperware, who helped us create the system. The idea is that we put the relationship through the “wine press” and see what comes out the other end.

The list of questions is long, and I can’t share them all, but they include things like: What's the structure of the corporate organization? In what department is this relationship housed? How invested is the CEO?

It’s a thorough assessment that allows us to see when a relationship won’t fit. As a result of the “wine press,” we regularly turn down opportunities that we realize won’t work for us.

We also run through an exercise that we call “Got it. Need it. Can't do it.” We answer three questions that are essential to managing expectations for both parties: What have you got? What do you need? What can't you do?

In answering the first two questions, we look for what the corporation needs that we've got. Equally important is clarifying what we can’t do.

For instance, we can’t deliver Denzel Washington, our national spokesman, or Colin Powell, who was on our board for years, for your press conference. We simply can’t do it, but we are always asked.

On the corporate side, a “can’t do it” might be something that the company business model doesn’t allow for. For example, Wal-Mart is a volume business. They have 100 million customers a week. Their model doesn’t allow for donations that come from transaction money. They can’t do anything that slows down the transaction.

Once we clarify expectations, we put them in writing.

EBJ: Can you summarize your top three guidelines for creating a great co-branded relationship?

KA: First, both parties must have a shared commitment to what the charity does. However, the charity does not have an obligation to sell the product that the corporation sells.

Second, both parties must have the Infrastructure to actually accomplish what they say they will.

Third, you must be able to ensure accountability. Make sure that deliverables are clearly articulated in the agreement. In my experience, companies don't ask for enough accountability from the nonprofit.

EBJ: What’s next for your organization? What new things will you do to build the Boys & Girls Clubs of America brand?

KA: Our Clubs are independent affiliates. We would like to strengthen the relationships between our marketing organization and our Clubs. We want to develop our capacity to bring our Clubs in lock step with our brand strategy—from the color of the building to the language they use.

Right now we use a carrot-and-stick approach to brand management. The carrot is that we pass through about $110 million to the Clubs so that they can reach new kids. The stick is that if they are not in step, they don't get the money.

I want us to create brand tools that are so good that the Clubs will want to use them—that the value will be so obvious that they can’t choose not to use them.

We have started to move in that direction. We have an intranet site that we call “Brand Matters.” It provides the Clubs with everything they need. We give this to our Clubs. We don’t sell it. That’s important.

My best advice to nonprofits is to be seen as valuable to your affiliates—a value add, not a value take. In many cases, national nonprofits make money from their affiliates. We do not think this is a good practice. We give our affiliates $110 million. The affiliates pay us $5 million in dues. We don’t want to burden our Clubs with paying us.

EBJ: As is our tradition at Enlightened Brand Journal, I’d like to close by asking you, what does the phrase “enlightened brand” mean to you?

KA: It’s funny that you ask. My assistant and I were discussing this, and he described it to me as “Deepak Chopra for marketing.”

I think an enlightened brand is flexible and a brand that realizes that nothing is stable and stationary. A fixed view of your brand doesn't work to move your product or allow you to grow. For us, that means we do almost no research, but we are always evaluating.

I'd like to believe that an enlightened brand is a life-affirming brand.

Every good marketer knows the power of a persuasive call to action. When Diane Dietz read a report about the silent epidemic of oral disease in America, she knew that the call to action was meant for her.

The report, written in 2000 by then U.S. Surgeon General, Dr. David Satcher, presented a pretty grim picture of dental health in America, especially among low-income children. Dr. Satcher’s research showed that poor children have twice as many cavities as the non-poor, they are at higher risk for gum disease, and they miss more than 51 million hours of school each year because of dental-related illness.

Somewhere amidst the somber statistics came inspiration. Dr. Satcher issued a call to action. He challenged the public and private sectors to work together to end the disparity in oral care, by 2010. Diane Dietz, who is general manager of Procter & Gamble North America Oral Care, set out to answer the call.

Her first order of business? Find the perfect public-sector partner. Diane called her public relations agency for ideas. It just so happened that Tupperware was an agency client, and the CEO of Tupperware was on the board of directors of Boys & Girls Clubs of America. The agency arranged for Diane to meet Kurt Aschermann, chief marketing and development officer for Boys & Girls Clubs.

When Enlightened Brand Journal met with Diane recently, we asked her about that first meeting and how she knew that Boys & Girls Clubs of America was the right partner for Crest. She had this to say.

“We met at a Boys & Girls Club in Harlem. When I saw what they were trying to do at that Club, I didn’t even have to think about it. They are really impressive people, very professional. We could tell immediately that their hearts were in the right place. It was a gut feeling. We just knew it was a great fit.”

The Surgeon General’s challenge inspired the creation of Crest Healthy Smiles 2010, a program of oral-health education, tools, and access for America’s underserved. At the heart of the program is Crest’s partnership with Boys & Girls Clubs of America.

Since 2001, Crest has invested $1 million each year to create “cavity-free zones” at 3,800 Boys & Girls Clubs. Together, the two organizations have developed oral-health education programs, both for young children and teens, trained thousands of teachers, and implemented oral-health courses at thousands of Clubs across the nation. Crest donates toothpaste and toothbrushes for Club members and their families on an ongoing basis. They help low-income people to find affordable dental care. Crest has even funded the construction of five, full-service in-Club dental facilities where Club members and their families can receive affordable dental care from volunteer dental professionals within their local communities.

World-renowned marketing educator and author, Philip Kotler, views Crest’s Healthy Smiles 2010 as a stellar example of a strategy that he calls “corporate social marketing.”

Compared to other corporate social initiatives—such as socially responsible business practices, corporate philanthropy, and cause marketing—Kotler sees corporate social marketing as the best of the breed. What sets it apart from the rest is an overarching focus on behavior change. In a recent issue of the Stanford Social Innovation Review, Kotler calls corporate social marketing “one of the surest ways to have a measurable impact on a social issue, because it actually increases the number of people who act in a way that benefits society.”

Four years have passed since Diane Dietz and Kurt Ashermann committed their teams to achieving a measurable impact on the dental health of low-income children. Pausing to reflect on the journey, Diane provided us with insight to the lessons she has learned about blending social change with building a brand.

Enlightened Brand Journal: What has surprised you most about developing a social marketing program?

Diane Dietz: That there is such a good fit between the nonprofit and for-profit businesses, not only in mission, but a good fit among the people.

I work in for-profit enterprise to deliver great products for consumers. But our mission at Crest is to improve the health and beauty of people’s smiles. This includes trying to help consumers in need. It is important for us to reach all consumers, not just those who can afford us.

We understand the impact of having a great smile. A person’s smile is central to their self-esteem. Boys & Girls Clubs have a mission to be a positive place for kids, a place where kids can have fun and feel good about themselves. A beautiful smile is inherent in both missions.

Our shared mission makes the work a lot simpler. The thing that surprised me the most is how simple and great it has been to work together. Actually, in my experience, it has been easier than working with other for-profit business partners.

EBJ: How has the Healthy Smiles program influenced the way you approach other Crest marketing efforts?

DD: It has influenced our whole outreach program to children. Crest has always had programs for children, beginning with the first time they brush their teeth. These programs have been very effective. With Healthy Smiles, we found we could do more, especially in underserved communities. Our partnership with Boys & Girls Clubs fits our mission and helps us to live our mission.

EBJ: How do you measure success of the program?

DD: We look at the program’s reach. We measure how many children have been touched by the program and have received the tools. Our goal is to reach 50 million children by 2010. We are ahead of that objective.

We also measure our ability to get other important partners involved. For instance, the American Dental Association and local dental schools provide the Clubs with volunteer dentists and dental hygienists.

In what might be the most important measure, we run clinical studies to assess whether we are making a difference in the improvement of oral health. Those are the results that put smiles on all of our faces.

Match Points: Seven Essentials for Social Marketing Partners

Interested in creating your own social marketing program? Crest’s Diane Dietz offers seven guidelines for pairing your brand with another brand in the name of social change.

1. Match your missions. Whatever you are trying to do as a brand, look for a partner who shares your mission. If you have the same mission, all of the other pieces seem to fall into place.

2. Aim for the same target. What customer segments would you most like to reach? Look for a partner who wants to serve the same or similar consumers.

3. Commit for a long term. Our Healthy Smiles program began in 2001 and has a 2010 objective. Programs-of-the-month are not good for either side. People come and go. Circumstances change. Look for partners and programs that have staying power.

4. Protect your brand. Partnership is a reflection of who you are. If people have a bad experience with your partner, it reflects on you. Choose partners who reflect well on the character and equity of your brand. Crest is a family brand with a family image. We are careful to choose partners who reinforce those attributes.

5. Establish clear metrics for success. Each partner should know what success looks like for the other one. Both partners should know whether the program is on track for meeting objectives.

6. Ensure top-down engagement. Major partnerships require buy-in from the top of the organization. If you’re the leader, stay involved with the relationship. Don't delegate key decisions. Look for partners whose leaders are invested in the program’s success.

7. Trust your instincts. Does the partner seem professional? Do they really know what they are doing? Do you share quality standards and expectations? Your instincts will let you know. Look for partners who make you feel confident.