Newsletter: Cause Marketing for 'Boring' Industries 😴; Wendy's Loses Pigtails for a Cause 🧒; Why is Tom's Shoes Struggling? 👟
Are you attending the Engage for Good Conference in Chicago later this month? I hope you are because when it comes to cause marketing it's the biggest conference of the year! And the day before the official conference begins - Tuesday, May 22nd at 3:30pm - I'm hosting a Social Impact Mastermind to help people get to know one another and to share challenges and opportunities.
We already have over 60 people registered for the event so if you're attending the conference make plans to join me!
The following week I'm visiting the great state of Minnesota! I'll be in Minneapolis the afternoon of May 30th and staying at the Crowne Plaza downtown. Who wants to meet for a "Cup of Joe" and shoot the breeze about cause marketing? Just hit reply and let me know!
New stuff from me 😊
🎙This week on CauseTalk Radio, Megan and I talk to Mike Esposito, Director of U.S. Marketing at household cleaning tools brand (yep, you heard me: mops, brooms and dustpans!) O-Cedar about their involvement in Habitat for Humanity's Home is the Key cause marketing initiative that's now in its second year.
✅Did you make the webinar last week on Right-Fit Partnerships? We got some great feedback from attendees. Watch the recording here and then head over to the survey so we can get YOUR feedback.
Partnership notes 📝
🏕HanesBrands and National Park Foundation have launched a first-of-its-kind apparel collection to celebrate National Park Week.
👩🏫A nice lesson here in purchase-triggered donations and why companies don't want to disclose per-unit amount of the donation or its total sales. The author offers three workarounds for this issue that will be handy for your upcoming pitches.
🚰C-store chain Maverik will support Partnership for a Healthier America's [check out our podcast with PHA] mission to encourage people to "Drink Up" through a cause marketing campaign where the chain will donate 5 cents from every private-label bottled water sold to PHA, with a guaranteed minimum of $25,000. Salt Lake City-based Maverik operates more than 300 convenience stores across 10 states.
🥤Fast food chain Wendy’s removed the pigtailed girl from its logo for a cause.
European appliance brand Beko will raise awareness about the problem of childhood obesity with the aim to raise €1m (approximately $1.21m) for Unicef by encouraging people all over the world to share their healthy eating habits on social media. For every #EatLikeAPro post that appears on Instagram or Twitter, Beko will donate €1 (approximately $1.21) for Unicef.
🕹Through May 31, GameStop will host its third annual in-store autism awareness campaign with 100% of donations going to Autism Speaks. Check out the three ways guests can donate. Since 2016, GameStop has raised more than $2.4 million for Autism Speaks. Listen to this 2016 podcast with GameStop and learn how they raised the first $1.2 million for Autism Speaks.
Marketing your cause 🤑
📱An interesting study on the state of nonprofit email. Here's something that caught my eye. While nonprofits continue to grow their social media audiences, only 1% of nonprofit website visitors joined an email list. But on average, 28% of all online revenue for non-profits comes from...wait for it...email. It's time to prioritize email...and make sure it's optimized for mobile. Last year, the share of mobile traffic increased by 9% and accounted for 40% of nonprofit website visitors.
Cool jobs in cause** 😎
Coordinator, Children's Miracle Network Coordinator, Children's Hospital Trust (Boston)
Director, Corporate Alliances, International Rescue Committee (New York, NY)
**Have your cause-related job featured here? Hit reply or email me at joe@selfishgiving.com.
Brain food 🧠🍌
👟Why is Tom's Shoes struggling? Despite $313m investment from private equity giant Bain Capital back in 2014, Tom's Shoes banked only $8 million in profit last year.
Why brands are under increasing pressure to be transparent about what they believe in. "Ultimately it comes down to figuring out what your brand’s values truly are, then articulating them loudly and often."
🍪This mom has made 96,000 cookies and raised $16 million - or $8 million more than Tom's Shoes made last year.
Need some help? Have a question, story suggestion or category you want to see covered? Just leave a comment. 🙏
