The 2013 Cone Global Cause Evaluation Survey shows that 55% of surveyed customers have boycotted a company because of irresponsible business practices. 53% would not invest in a company that does not actively support a good cause. The market is seeing a flooding number of new collaborations between corporates and NGOs in which their respective assets are combined to create shareholder and social value.
Nowadays, there is an increasing number of companies introducing marketing activities involving corporate efforts of business and non-profit organizations for mutual benefit. As a result, the number of new cardholders grew by 45%, and card usage increased by 28%. American Express donated one cent to the restoration every time someone used its charge card. The concept of cause-related marketing was first introduced to the mass market in 1983 by American Express to describe its campaign to raise money for the Statue of Liberty’s restoration. Today, consumers want companies and brands to demonstrate a purpose that benefits both local communities and the world at large. In his seminal work Marketing 3.0, Kotler wrote that marketing must engage people in ways that provide "solutions to their anxieties to make the globalized world a better place.” Research has shown that that consumers believe companies should do more than return profits to their shareholders. The idea was best explained by Philip Kotler. Thanks to initiatives such as the UAE’s Year of Giving, cause-related marketing is now catching on in the Gulf as well. However, the concept, which is also named cause marketing, of partnering a product or company campaign’s profitability with a charitable cause has become commonplace in Western Europe over the last decade. Decades ago, if you dropped the phrase “cause-related marketing” in the meeting room, your colleagues would most likely return an empty stare. In their ever-increasing need to differentiate both corporate and product brands, many companies are turning to the use of cause-related marketing. This article was co-written with Alex Malouf, Corporate Communications Manager for the Arabian Peninsula, Procter & Gamble Shutterstock