Cause-related marketing tips from Coke, Microsoft and Renault
- Fri, July 30 2010
- Filed under: Cause-related marketing
As I posted yesterday, this week I attended the Conexion Colombia nonprofit conference in Bogota. A highlight was a panel of marketing experts from Oglivy (Coca-Cola’s agency here), Microsoft and Renault, who shared their marketing strategies - and their advice to nonprofits seeking partnerships with companies like theirs. It was a goldmine of information. Their advice spans borders - so I want to share it here. Here are the key points, nonprofit marketing friends:
1. Great companies inspire - often more effectively than we do.
In listening to each presentation on these companies’ marketing strategies, I was struck by how skillful they were at spinning a marketing strategy that turns their products into intangibles like a better world, a life aspiration or a route to self-actualization. Renault said, “We’re not here to sell cars, we’re here to build better lives and a greener planet.” Their tagline: “Drive the change.” Microsoft talked not about software but about “helping people develop to their maximum potential.” Their Windows 7 strategy - which has been well-advertised—turned customers into evangelists by having many claim they helped create the product that makes them more productive. Coke talked about instilling hope and optimism in people - a glass half-full ideal that is part of every single marketing message.
So, to summarize: A car company is about the environment we want for ourselves, a software company is about human potential and a soft drink company is about hope.
Surely, folks, we can do better on the same fronts! But we so often don’t. We talk about our work in ways that are far less eloquent. These companies make ads that bring tears to our eyes - and the average nonprofit appeal does not. Let’s do better - and we do it through the next point…
2. Great marketing focuses on the person more than the product.
Each marketing strategy discussed dwelt almost exclusively on what it meant to the consumer - with little to no emphasis on the product itself. Here’s where we go wrong - we too often talk about statistics and approaches and our organization rather than about human stories that convey our impact. That’s like Renault talking about powertrains or Coke focusing on bubbles. We must show what do we do for PEOPLE (or animals or trees), and for the donor. Which brings me to the next point…
3. To break through, build a relationship with an audience around emotion.
That’s what all of these companies do well. They don’t think of the transaction of buying their product. They highlight the emotional benefits of the experience. Nonprofit marketing folks: the lesson here is don’t think of the transaction of a donor giving you money. Highlight the emotional impact and the lives changed.
4. To work with corporations, show you understand their needs and meet them.
The companies then discussed how and why and when they do cause-related marketing. They gave VERY good advice to the nonprofits. Just as they focus on understanding their marketplace and meeting its needs, nonprofits approaching them need to understand their marketplace - and the needs of the company. Companies exist why? To make a profit. Nonprofits need to recognize this will never change - but it doesn’t mean that a company and nonprofit can’t work together. If a company has a goal that is complementary to the nonprofit’s aims - and achieving that goal enhances their brand while making the world a better place—partnerships can be successful. But you have to make that case to a company to get support.
As Oglivy put it: “Link with our business agenda. Don’t just ask for funds; Offer a program that provides mutual benefits.”
Here is their advice:
1. Make sure your mission is compatible with the company’s brand and aims. This is essential.
2. Make sure you have a program that is sustainable. A company may not be able to support it forever - but they want the social impact and good stories to last.
3. Frame what you do in a way that would be interesting to the company’s customers.
4. Show how your work matches the company’s brand, audience and business aims.
5. Propose a program that has real goals and steps - it shows you know your stuff and can have real impact.
6. As you work together, keep reinforcing the good results to maintain momentum in the partnership.
The last point is critical, because we’re in lean times. The people in a company who support you must keep making an internal case as to why precious resources should go your way. Help them keep the support going by continually reinforcing the mutual benefits. If you have them, you have a better chance of keeping your funding.
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Comments
Great article! My favorite is num. 2. (focus on the person not on the product). I think we all keep forgetting the personal touch that, in my opinion, is the key to anybody’s success.
This is a very informative post!
I’ll try to implement this with my the business that I’m planning to do with some friends.
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Thanx
Katya, thanks for sharing this information! I completely agree that marketing has become so sophisticated that communicating what a product/service/brand means to the consumer is absolutely crucial. In the old days, advertising and marketing were about the product and features, and more recently, about the “benefits.” However, in the new millennium, we’ve seen this shift towards finding that emotional connection with a brand, and we start to envision the potential that we have and the opportunities that result from engaging with a particular brand.
For example, if we want to encourage more people to ride their bike as a form of transportation, we could say, “Riding your bike 2-3 times a week will reap enormous health benefits, lower your risk of cardiovascular disease, etc.” OR we can say, “Using alternative forms of transportation like buses and bikes is not only good for your health, but also the community and the environment. You can start lowering carbon emissions today by committing to more sustainable forms of transportation.”
We need to be able to communicate the bigger picture, the potential and the opportunities for the greater good.
I’m going to go dig up nonprofit/cause advertising that “brings tears to our eyes.”
Grace
(Oops, typed in the wrong URL for my last comment!)
Emotions cause people to buy. Focusing on the benefits of every feature of the product helps convert. You have to think like your customer.
” A car company is about the environment we want for ourselves, a software company is about human potential and a soft drink company is about hope.”
I can agree with the first two but the last…come on! I don’t see any hope in coke.I rather see that experiment with the meat.
Regardless,I think the tips are useful.
Thanks for this great great sharing. What you pointed are great tips on marketing.
These big companies employ visionaries and they sell a vision to the consumer which instills a feel good emotion. People will always buy benefits rather than features.
It is an excellent cause to align the marketing methods of for profit and non profit organizations.
Asking for a handout does not have the same effect on a donor as does a vision and purpose of what his giving will produce in his life as well as the lives of the recipient.
I love this saying, “You can’t out give the Universe.”
Highly informative post. That is why so many companies invest in Customer Relationship Management(CRM). It is all about meeting peoples needs and enhancing the standard of living.
Ashley
South Africa
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This makes a lot of sense—after all, we want and need to hear how we can benefit. Coke has always had a great marketing spin
Thanks for the marketing tips, I will try to implement them.
Wonderful eye opening post about what major corporations like Coke and Microsoft are doing with marketing. It just makes sense and something we can follow.
I found this very enlightening. I am going to start implementing some of these tips right away.
people often antagonize the big corporations, but i think in some ways they will always be a great inspiration and a great example of success.
I wonder how Coke can be about hope. Soft drinks are one of the biggest reasons this generation and the older generation have diabetes.
But great tips nonetheless. Thanks.
Very true especially number three. It increase conversion rates very well.
Well marketing in the commercial world is all about selling the dream, not the product. If you are asking for money from corporates, sell the dream of unlimited good PR.
What a fantastic post! So glad I found your blog, Katya. Wonderful information that I needed to be reminded of. It’s all about people, emotions and relationships.
Those companies are HUGGEEEE, especially coke. I doubt you can go wrong taking advice from them. My opinion at least.