Your session on the science of cause marketing was a real highlight, Katya. I’m convinced that we humans don’t make rational decisions, only rationalized ones.

But it’s interesting that the pitch competitor who attempted the most emotional presentation—Simon Manwaring—didn’t succeed. He may have talked a little too generally about Purpose and not specifically enough about the non-profit’s purpose.

But Mollye’s winning pitch wasn’t exactly a tear-jerker. She dove into extensive research—and not on education reform, but on cause alliances in the insurance industry. It didn’t seem targeted to the reptilian brain.

Or maybe it was. In presenting the competitive landscape facing the insurance CMO, she showed that other companies had begun to invest in education-related causes. In a way, she was triggering a deep emotion in the judges: fear of losing.

During the conference I began to think that there IS a place for less lofty marketing language. Non-profits need to master both a B2C language, appealing to donors and volunteers’ deepest values, and a B2B language—that of a vendor offering a solution to a client.

For Citizen Schools, a cause marketing partnership might be an example. Pitching the CMO on a cause marketing campaign is at least partly a proposal for a business opportunity, and you have to lead with the benefits to them in business terms. We also find that school partners want proof of student academic growth first and foremost, and foundations want a comprehensive and sound organizational strategy. It’s as though some of our customers are already sold on the emotion—they’ve devoted their careers to education, after all—and are looking to find the highest value solution to the problem they’ve already identified.

At Citizen Schools, we sometimes make the mistake of taking that approach with ALL our audiences. That’s where behavioral science tells us we won’t succeed. People don’t volunteer to teach kids because we have a great strategy, or even because the education system is in need of reform. They teach kids because the kids—or, even better, the ONE KID smiling in the picture—are adorable, relatable, and in need of their help.

Colin, Marketing Director, Citizen Schools

Excellent - brief, easy to remember and it makes sense

I had the same observations.  I would argue Simon’s pitch wasn’t that emotional - it was pretty abstract.  And Mollye’s was great but would have been better with a story about what the charity really does (“we’re an education-based nonprofit” doesn’t get my heart racing).  I found myself wanting to edit both pitches.  But the reason Mollye came out on top in my view was she spoke to her audience’s values and showed she saw and heard their priorities.  With a bit more emotional juice, it would have been perfect.

Appealing to emotions is always a winner.  Nobody can resist a tug in the heart.