Consumers rally to good causes

If you want to get ahead, get an issue. That's the message from The Winning Game, a report published this week. It shows that consumers like businesses that associate themselves with good causes and are more likely to buy their goods and services.

Oddly, though, the survey also shows that customers are more enthusiastic about this than bosses. While 83 per cent of consumers surveyed believe cause-related marketing gives a company a positive image only 56 per cent of top executives acknowledge its importance.

There are a number of reasons for this, according to Business in the Community (BITC), which commissioned the report. All too often companies do not view involvement with good causes as part of their marketing. And those that do get involved are often wary about promoting it for fear of accusations that they are cynically exploiting a cause for sales gain. BITC, which promotes corporate involvement in developing the economies of local communities, is eager to help British business understand cause- related campaigns and increase their use.

With the backing of businesses (including BT, Lever Brothers, NatWest and Tesco), BITC commissioned a two-part survey. The first sweep covered 450 big companies. Ninety three per cent of respondents spent some money on cause-related marketing, yet only one in four marketing directors placed successful cause-related campaigns in their top 10 activities.

The second sweep, which focused on consumer attitudes, revealed that where price and quality are equal, 86 per cent would be more likely to buy a product associated with a cause and 61 per cent said they would change retail outlet for the same reason. Sixty four per cent felt cause- related marketing should be a standard part of any company's business practice.

"In recent years we have seen a new trend: brand is getting to become as important as the company," says Peter Hayes, chairman of Research International. "Whereas in the past it stayed in the background, today we have both company and brand right up front." Cause-related marketing offers firms an effective way of positioning themselves in the hearts and minds of consumers, he believes.

Yet the findings also indicate a gulf between executives and consumers. The most striking differences arise when consumers are asked what type of causes businesses should support. Top for consumers are medical and health (ranked seventh most important by chief executives);in contrast, chief executives rank the arts second, while consumers put it in seventh place.

Sue Adkins, a marketing director of BITC, believes consumers feel comfortable with business motives as long as they are presented honestly: "Every indication suggests consumers are happy with the tie-up as long as there are identifiable benefits to the cause and the communication is handled with integrity."

Tesco, for example has never claimed its computers-for-schools campaign was anything other than an attempt to boost customer loyalty. Yet it has also benefited from the positive response to the voucher scheme, which by late 1997 will have installed 31,000 computer in schools across the UK, she adds.