Public Relations Commentary

Increasingly, public relations pracititioners have to know not only how to write for the Web, but also how to manage and respond to blog postings. This blog was created to use in my public relations courses to help my students prepare to blog and learn how to respond to others in a virtual yet professional manner.

Sunday, November 05, 2006

Mixed feelings on CRM

I do agree that the concept behind cause-related marketing is an excellent one; companies and non-profits partnering to achieve mutual goals - the companies are trying to sell products, and the non-profits are trying to raise money and philanthropic awareness. However, I do wonder sometimes if they're not pushing the emotional envelope a little too far with some of these "branded" products (as Sara & I discussed several weeks back, pink kitchen mixers with some of the proceeds going to benefit breast cancer research? Hmm...).

Evelyn & I addressed this topic in a presentation for Management last spring, so I went back to our PowerPoint and found the pro & con list we came up with...

Pros
  • Allows companies to position their brands on a social responsibility platform
  • An appealing way for consumers to support social causes - they have an increased inclination to purchase brands exhibiting social responsibility
  • An avenue for the companies to donate money to non-profit organizations
  • Highlight the social responsibility of the brand - the display of ethics and social responsibility is an important element of organizational effectiveness
  • Identification with popular causes is good for employee morale and recruitment
Cons
  • Threatens the integrity of contemporary society by absorbing charitable giving into strategic marketing exchanges
  • Giving is bundled together with brand-related choice, consideration of price, packaging and other consumption-related thoughts
The pros definitely outweigh the cons in terms of quantity, but the cons bring up some serious ethical considerations.

Personally, I feel much better about supporting organizations that give a substantional portion of proceeds from designated products to a specific cause, even more so if that product has an apparent link to the organization's mission. That makes me more inclined to believe that the company has a real dedication to the chosen cause and they're not using the alliance solely for promotional purposes.

What do y'all think?

posted by Giselle @ 5:15 PM  

1 Comments:

  • At 11:29 AM, November 06, 2006, Blogger Evelyn said…

    One of my friends here at UF made her thesis about IMC or IC. I read parts of her thesis and wanted to share with you some aspects.

    Integrated marketing communication (IMC), or integrated communication (IC), is
    “a strategic process used to plan, develop, execute and evaluate coordinated, measurable,
    persuasive brand communications programs over time with consumers, customers,
    prospects, employees, associates and other targeted, relevant external and internal
    audiences” (Schultz, 2004).

    Many public relations professionals have argued against the integration
    of communication because they viewed marketing and public relations as having
    different goals (Miller & Rose, 1994) and also due to fear of marketing imperialism,
    public relations is one of the communication disciplines that can contribute most and
    provide most value to this integration. IMC planning shifts the marketing idea that the
    most important thing is to “sell” products, or services, to acknowledge a principle that
    public relations practitioners have known for a long time: Every organization has more
    than one target stakeholder audience with whom it must communicate – not just
    consumers – and these audiences have different message needs (Moriarty, 1994. Since IMC focuses on the total corporate or brand reputation, it will turn to public relations to have a better global understanding of how impressions are created.

    I am trying to understand the meaning of IMC for corporation and nonprofit organizations. Since IMC is good for corporate and/or brand reputation that’s why we see so many campaigns that integrate corporations and nonprofits. Now, I wonder, do corporations make alliances with nonprofit just to get a good or better reputation? Do nonprofits make alliances with corporations just for the money (funds that nonprofits receive by selling the goods or services)?
    I do not know the answer to that.
    As we know, the benefits of IMC or the pros are enormous, I do not see why not to merge efforts since IMC is beneficial for both corporations and for nonprofits.

     

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