Cause-related marketing: who cares wins 677
accrued on all sides. It is not appropriate, for
instance, for the business or the brand to spend
more time and effort publicizing their involve-
ment in the activity than it is investing in it.
Consumers are more cynical and sophisticated
and, as has been shown, the strength of
vigilante consumers is thriving and growing.
Messages therefore have to be communicated
openly and honestly if the public and the media
are going to support the partnerships and help
generate maximum benefits for all parties.
Sponsorship
Sponsorship can be the primary focus for
realizing a cause-related marketing partnership
and may relate to a particular event or activity.
What makes it cause-related marketing as
opposed to standard sponsorship is the fact
that what is being sponsored is a good cause or
charity. This relationship is then marketed to
meet the mutual objectives of the partnership.
In some cases, the sponsorship might be a
straight commercial relationship with the cause
links interwoven within it, as demonstrated by
Coca-Cola’s sponsorship of Harry Potter.
Essentially this partnership, whilst a straight
commercial sponsorship on one level, uses the
power of the Coca-Cola brand to support the
critical issue of child literacy which is inter-
woven into the sponsorship. As the commu-
nications director of Coca-Cola Great Britain
commented:
[The campaign] brings together the uniqueness
of Harry Potter and Coca-Cola in order to
benefit young people through the joy of read-
ing. As it develops in the years ahead, it will
make a major contribution to Coca-Cola’s basic
business proposition, to benefit everyone who
is touched by our business.
(Adkins, 2002)Licensing
In a licensing relationship, the corporate pays
for the license to use the charity logo or identity
on its products or services. The corporate
generally wants to use a charity logo, to benefit
from the implied endorsement and halo effect
of the charity or cause and the positive values
that it projects, and to sell more products and
services. This is very much a commercial
relationship. As with all cause-related market-
ing partnerships, the parties, be they the char-
ity, cause or business, negotiate the detail with
each other and of course decide whether or not
to sign up to. As part of that process, parties
need to understand and put a value on the
opportunity, which will be made up of ele-
ments beyond the purely financial. The parties
involved will also need to consider the effects
on their own brands and reputation as part of
this assessment (Adkins, 1999a, Chapter 22).
Licensing can sometimes form part of a
much broader strategy where the purchase of
the right to use the charities logo is just part of
an overall package of activities that together
represent the cause-related marketing partner-
ship. It is important to understand that there
are important tax and VAT regulations to
consider when developing a licensing agree-
ment. Certain aspects of the cause-related
marketing relationship, for instance, may fall
under different tax rules. Individuals con-
cerned in negotiating such arrangements
should ensure that they are clear about these
implications and take proper advice.Direct marketing
Direct marketing is an obvious channel for
cause-related marketing messages. Many char-
ities, like businesses, are expert in the field,
managing databases of millions of records.
Often, access to a charity’s database is con-
sidered the big prize for the corporate and the
cause-related marketing relationship. Clearly, it
is very much up to the parties involved whether
or not it makes their databases available. If the
database is made available, the circumstances
have to be agreed and also whether existing or
new direct marketing strategies are developed
to support, enhance or indeed lead the cause-
related marketing partnership. Clearly, relation-