With Thanksgiving just a week away, the holiday season is officially in full swing. And, so is this season’s holiday shopping.
On that note, one of my favorite communications agencies, Cone LLC, just released a study today that indicates that shoppers are looking for ways to support causes while doing their holiday shopping. According to the 2010 Cone Holiday Trend Tracker, “nearly nine-in-10 consumers (89%) want companies to support causes this holiday season, and 78 percent want to be personally engaged in these efforts. Getting a jump on their shopping, half (49%) of Americans say they have already purchased or plan to purchase a holiday gift that supports a cause this year.” (Related post: You Shop, They Donate)
I’m thrilled to see that the United Nations has its finger on the American pulse. Just two days ago on November 15, 2010, the UN Foundation held a reception for its Girl Up Campaign in New York, hosted by Ivanka Trump, the new face of the campaign. During the reception, Ivanka, and her fine jewelry partners at London Jewelers brought together the jewelry world to raise awareness and funds for Girl Up, which will ultimately provide the world’s hardest-to-reach adolescent girls with basic needs such as access to school supplies, clean water, life-saving health services, safety from violence, and more. Here's the blog post written by Ivanka about the event, published just yesterday.
In an effort to raise funds for Girl Up, Ivanka Trump has developed a sterling silver Girl Up bracelet, retailing for $30, of which 100% of proceeds benefit the organization.
What excites me most about this campaign is that the UN Foundation has very intelligently developed a campaign with two critical components: (1) a celebrity spokesperson and (2) a product that benefits charity.
I hope to see other similarly structured campaigns this holiday season. If you spot any, let us know. And, if you’re looking to do a little shopping of your own, stop by Glamour Gone Good’s shop, which features fashionable items that benefit women and girls.
With the holidays around the corner, we’re seeing all kinds of incentives being marketed to shoppers these days, from coupons to free shipping offers to sales promotions of all shapes and sizes.
There’s no doubt that consumers want to stretch their dollars as far as possible this year, so these promotions go a long way. However, these aren’t the only ways for businesses to boost their sales this holiday season.
A great trend emerging in the consumer world is driven by cause marketing. More and more companies are realizing that consumers are interested in more than discounts and free gifts. They want the dollars coming out of their pockets to multi-task. What do I mean by this? More and more consumers want to spend money on products that give back to charity. (For more on this topic, read one of our previous posts, Do You ‘Shop For A Cause’?) Companies are listening. Here in the U.S., you see this most commonly during Breast Cancer Awareness Month in October and around the end-of-year holiday season.
It’s a brilliant strategy to adopt because everyone ends up a winner. Consumers get excited by the fact that their money is not only going towards their purchases, but also towards meaningful causes. Meanwhile, brands see a boost in sales (assuming they market their promotions effectively) and get the chance to take advantage of these charity-driven promotions to garner new press opportunities. And, of course, the charities that benefit from these percent-of-proceeds promotions end up raising funds without having to do much on their end beyond spreading the word.
With all of this in mind, I was inspired to launch a virtual shop that features products and brands offering a percent of proceeds from all purchases made in their online shops shops to Glamour Gone Good. The brands currently participating in the Glamour Gone Good virtual shop are:
CLOTH
Good For Your Girls
SalonSpa.com
Stop Traffick Fashion
The Glamour Band
Stop by the Glamour Gone Good shop and maybe you’ll find the perfect gift for a loved one or a little treat for yourself. If you’re interested in contributing to the shop, it’s not too late to contact us. Or, simply help us spread the word.
Perhaps this blog post and our own shop will inspire you to develop a percent-of-proceeds promotion of your own to support causes near and dear to the hearts of your consumers. If you want some help, email us at info@glamourgonegood.org.
A couple weeks ago, Glamour Gone Good issued a survey called Skin Care Brands Gone Good. The survey focused on three socially responsible campaigns launched by three different skin care brands: Dove, Clean & Clear, and philosophy. Below are our findings and some additional thoughts.
Background information on survey takers:
100% of respondents were female
75% of respondents are between ages 25 to 34
25% of respondents are between ages 35 to 49
100% of respondents use skin care products on a daily basis
THE RESULTS:
Dove's Campaign for Real Beauty was the overwhelmingly popular choice amongst all survey respondents with 100% of respondents saying they would support the campaign, if they are not already doing so.
Conversely, Clean & Clear's Join the Surge program seemed to have the least impact on survey takers. While 100% of survey takers felt either somewhat or highly motivated to support Dove's and philosophy’s campaigns, none of them felt the same way about Join the Surge.
There are a few possible reasons for this. First of all, the Join the Surge campaign is targeted at teens. Given that 100% of respondents were ages 25 or above, they were clearly not the target audience for the campaign. So, it’s not a huge surprise that they did not respond as excitedly to this program as they did to Dove's and philosophy’s socially responsible campaigns.
In addition, as the survey results would indicate, our respondents were most interested in campaigns that had the strongest relationship with the charities involved in their campaigns. Along those lines, the overwhelming majority of respondents felt that philosophy’s shop for a cause campaign is most successfully supporting its charities (it clearly communicates to its consumers which charity each "shop for a cause" product benefits and it donates 100% of net proceeds to that charity.) Meanwhile, neither Dove nor Clean & Clear clearly communicates to the consumer its strategy for supporting its charity partner(s). An important question left lingering in our minds is what kind of financial contribution either brand is making to its charity partner(s), if any.
Most importantly, 100% of survey takers responded that they prefer brands that invest in multi-year, multimedia campaigns. So, it’s no surprise that Join the Surge did not excite respondents since the campaign lasted only three months while both Dove's and philosophy's campaigns have been going on for at least a few years.
Why does any of this matter?
This survey and its results were an interesting experiment that reinforced some important lessons for brands engaging in socially responsible and charitable activities. They are as follows:
1. Consumers want specifics. They want to know exactly how brands are supporting the charities around which they develop their campaigns. Slapping a logo on promotional materials with a vague ‘We Are A Proud Supporter Of’ message is no longer relevant for today’s sophisticated, savvy consumer.
2. Consumers want a long-term commitment. Heavily promoting a campaign that will only last a week or a month will not have as great an impact on a brand’s consumer base as a campaign that lasts all year or is repeated annually. People are forgetful, so it's critical to develop a campaign that is sure to leave a lasting impression. If a brand really wants to woo its consumers, it must think of its charitable campaigns as long-term relationships, not quick flings that are here today and gone tomorrow.
3. Consumers want brands to care about what they care about. All too often, brands align themselves with causes or issues of special significance to their CEOs and founders. Unfortunately, those issues or causes may not always resonate with their consumers. Meanwhile, brands that listen to their consumers and develop campaigns that truly speak to them are in a better position to increase consumer brand loyalty and boost sales of products and services tied to those campaigns. While not all brands have the resources to conduct formal market research and talk to focus groups, they can all reach out to their most loyal consumers, survey them and, most importantly, engage them in meaningful dialogue to find out exactly what moves them.
What other important lessons can we learn from our consumers when it comes to developing meaningful and successful socially responsible campaigns?
Beauty brands are becoming more increasingly aware that in order to stay competitive in the American market, they need to support charity in one way or another.
Why? Good question. More and more consumer market research is coming out each year with the same overall message: Americans want to support companies that pay equal attention to both society and business needs.
Take a look at some of the latest numbers (according to Edelman’s 2009 goodpurpose study):
71% of consumers think brands/companies spend too much on advertising/marketing and should put more money into good causes.
67% think its no longer enough for corporations to simply give away money to a good cause; they need to integrate good causes into their day-to-day business.
64% would recommend a brand that supports a good cause.
63% want brands to make it easier for them to make a positive difference in the world.
58% are looking for brands to do more than just provide them a product or service.
Based on these numbers, it seems pretty evident that we now live in a world where the pendulum swings in favor of companies that put more weight on being socially conscious and responsible corporate citizens than their competitors.
Think about yourself for a moment. Do the numbers above reflect your own personal values as a consumer? Are you more likely to support a brand that is visibly aligned with a cause over its competitor, price and quality of both products being equal?
Here's how some of our favorite beauty brands are responding to this cultural phenomenon:
M.A.C. launched the M.A.C. AIDS Fund to provide grants to programs that serve people affected by HIV and AIDS. 100% of net proceeds from M.A.C.’s ‘VIVA GLAM’ lipsticks benefit the fund.
Sephora launched ‘The Sephora Project’ to educate and empower women who help make the world a more beautiful place. A percent of proceeds from select products benefit Sephora’s preferred charities.
philosophy has a dedicated ‘shop for a cause’ category of products. 100% of net proceeds from these products benefit the charities listed directly on the product packaging.
Of course, some brands do a better job than others at communicating why they choose to support certain causes or charities. There will always be those that give away much more money to charity each year than others. Some will have consistent campaigns over the years while others will switch it up as they see fit. But, at the end of the day, they are all giving back because they know its what their consumers want to see. It's becoming increasingly rare to find a beauty brand these days that does not support charity in one form or another. For those brands still out there that managed to miss the memo - it's time to wake up! (And, consider giving Glamour Gone Good a ring.)
To learn about other beauty brands doing great stuff to give back, check out some of our previous blog posts. And, feel free to share examples of other favorites of yours by leaving a comment.
On that note, one of my favorite communications agencies, Cone LLC, just released a study today that indicates that shoppers are looking for ways to support causes while doing their holiday shopping. According to the 2010 Cone Holiday Trend Tracker, “nearly nine-in-10 consumers (89%) want companies to support causes this holiday season, and 78 percent want to be personally engaged in these efforts. Getting a jump on their shopping, half (49%) of Americans say they have already purchased or plan to purchase a holiday gift that supports a cause this year.” (Related post: You Shop, They Donate)
In an effort to raise funds for Girl Up, Ivanka Trump has developed a sterling silver Girl Up bracelet, retailing for $30, of which 100% of proceeds benefit the organization.
