Cause Marketing Today: Your green strategy -- Is it working?


Cause Marketing Today		Helping You Reap Financial and Social Dividends April 2008

Greetings!

Thanks to the annual celebration of Earth Day, April remains the high water mark for green promotions, but clearly environmental campaigns are now a year-round phenomenon.

On June 4, Discovery will launch its PlanetGreen channel in 50 million homes. As part of its launch promotion, Discovery sponsored the first Green Effie awards for effective eco- marketing. HSBC was one of the inaugural winners --

Soon Clorox, a charter advertiser on Planet Green, will ship packages of its Green Works natural cleaning products carrying a Sierra Club endorsement.

Interviewed by The New York Times, Sierra Club Executive Director Carl Pope said the endorsement decision stirred things up within the organization, but that enduring the controversy would

From April 20 to 27, Macy's will stage "Turn Over A New Leaf", a major green promotion that should generate substantial revenue for the National Parks Foundation, according to a MediaPost.com article.

Like Clorox, Macy's has increased its chances of succeeding -- and avoiding charges of greenwashing -- by linking with a reputable nonprofit, branding expert Raphael Bemporad of BBMG told MediaPost. (Raphael will share insights into Conscious Consumers at CMF6.)

In addition to programs that seek to stimulate sales, some green business/nonprofit alliances are focused on generating breakthrough thinking.

Last month Progressive Insurance and the X Prize Foundation announced that the car insurance giant is sponsoring a $10 million competition to design and bring to market a car that gets 100 miles per gallon.

I don't have the engineering smarts to join the competition, but I'm thrilled that someone is putting up the money to inspire greater minds to develop solutions to the environmental mess we're in!

David Hessekiel
President

In this issue

	Exciting Additions to CMF6 Upcoming CM Masters Teleconferences Cause Marketing Performs for Pedigree

Upcoming CM Masters Teleconferences

4/16 -- Phoebe Campbell of Campbell Associates on "Cause Licensing Success"

5/21 -- Misti Dragano of 1st Degree on "Keeping Your Cause Campaign Fresh"

Click here for details

Cause Marketing Performs for Pedigree

Pedigree's Adoption Drive has helped the brand achieve double digit sales growth since its launch in 2004, Director of Brand Marketing John Anton tells Marketing Daily.

The Cause Marketing Halo Award-winning campaign uses heart melting images of dogs up for adoption in television, print, online and in-store creative. This year the campaign has grown to include a role in the story line of "Celebrity Apprentice" and the creation of a "pop-up" store in conjunction with the Westminster Dog Show.

"When you find something that works, you want to stick with it and you want to do things that make things better and better," Anton said. The campaign has raised $750,000 for animal shelters to date, a figure he forecast to hit $2 million this year.

Free Sponsored Teleconference on May 7

To break through to consumers and supporters, cause marketing partners often turn to direct marketing.

In this sponsored teleconference, Monique Fernander of Event 360 weighs the relative strengths of a variety of online and offline direct response tools including THINKDesktop Deliver, a secure, co- branded billboard placed directly to your supporter's desktop.

Join us on May 7 from 1:30 pm to 2:30 pm ET

Click to register

Exciting Additions to CMF6

The exciting offerings and opportunities at the Cause Marketing Forum conference continue to expand as May 29 approaches.

Among the latest developments:

An "instant poll" of attendees sponsored by For Momentum

A post-conference reception on May 29 hosted by America's Second Harvest

A presentation on the growth of cause-related video by CMF's David Hessekiel

Add that to the high-powered speakers, the valuable pre- and post-conference workshops and the great networking opportunities and CMF6 is an event you don't want to miss!