My friend Joe Waters got me to seriously think about cause marketing. Thanks to him, I’ve now been seeing cause marketing everywhere…sort of like when you buy a car and then start seeing them all over the place.
Enough already
Today was a bit over the top. I was on a Delta flight back from conducting a board orientation in Chattanooga. As the beverage service was about to start, the stewardess told us that Delta’s annual tradition in October was to sell pink martinis and pink lemonade. Money from those drinks would support cancer research. She repeated this same basic information at least three times. And, despite having said only credit cards could be used to purchase food, she repeatedly said cash could be used to by the pink drinks or to simply make a cash donation.
I kind of felt that awkward feeling you can feel in church when the plate was about to be passed: you feel sort of captive and not really sure you want to support what they’re talking about at the level they seem to expect.
They’d made this same pitch on the way down to Chatt so I shrugged it off. Although I thought three separate times, especially pushing martinis in the morning, was a bit overkill, I chose to be glad for the fundraising.
But wait there’s more
Then about 30 minutes later, something happened that I’ve never experienced in all my travels. As the crew was preparing to collect trash, a stewardess got on the intercom and started monologuing on the importance of recycling. “This crew recycles, even when the other Delta crews don’t even though their supposed to.”
Not a compelling start!
She went on to explain that the recycling generates cash proceeds that are given to Habitat. Despite her long speech, she never connected the dots on how that putting the plastic cups in her hand instead of the trash bag became money. But she told us Delta gave $76,000 to Habitat for Humanity in 2010. And Delta employees all over the country were giving up vacation time to build Habitat houses to help people like those displaced by Katrina.
Is it just me?
All this pushy messaging felt like a heavy handed dose of self righteousness with a dash of good corporate citizenship. While I’m glad Delta is making good philanthropic decisions, did we really need to have it shoved in our face?
Is it just me? Have you seen corporate giving come across oddly? But how else will companies let us know the good they’re doing?
Ummm…that is a bit in your face! I guess I’m concerned about the over commercialization of everything these days. Companies’ advert messages are everywhere…I saw a news story about schools making money now by allowing ads to be put all over student lockers. At the same time, I too feel guilty if I complain about it happening with good causes. Conundrum, big time!
I guess part of it is that people so rarely speak over the intercoms. It never usually feels invasive.
But I want to be happy that causes are getting funded…I really want too… 🙂
Pink drinks? okay, I get that one. Maybe pink-colored Goldfish crackers for the snack? DItto.
But trying to tell me that a company of Delta’s size and supposed global reach can only find $76K for Habitat?
Not impressed, not one little bit.
Heck, my CHURCH builds a Habitat house every year, perhaps Delta could pony up a bit more funding!
I KNOW!! I’m glad to know I’m not alone!
A quick Google search shows that for the quarter ending September 2010, they had an operating profit of just under $1 billion. So $76,000 is about…Wow. It’s far less than 1/10 of 1%. 1% would be $10 million.
For that quarter.
I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but…
Delta is a for-profit company. They don’t HAVE to give money. The fact that they do is great. The fact that they give in multiple ways to MANY different orgs is even better (major partner of BCRF, Habitat worldwide, Make a Wish, others).
76K is just one part of a very large overall program. In case you didn’t know, they also support countless small local organizations that you never hear about unless you go there. I know…because I’ve been a part of those orgs.
Good for you for questioning the level of the cause marketing they do, but shame on you for questioning the amount of giving back of their own money (not counting what customers donate).
I think that may be the very first time I’ve received a “shame on you” comment!
(1) I’d argue that $76,000 isn’t their own money but their customers. But that might be splitting hairs a bit.
(2) You’re right. No one is obligated to give anything away. But if you are positioning your company as a company that gives back, it might be advisable to give a more complete overview. Including a phrase like “among the causes we support are” or some such thing.
I love that over on Twitter,@gividend called the Delta flight being “captive 35K feet up in a cause marketing tube”
Reading this reminded me how important it is to find a few ways to say thank you before making another pitch – sounds like they definitely went overboard :-).
Oh yeah! A thank you would’ve been very nice!
I too have felt as if the church bag is being passed round and their is a need to contribute without fully understanding the cause. I feel that perhaps sometime ago that this wouldn’t have been an issue but today it’s an indication that you and many others are becoming more cautious about their giving behaviour. About time, I say! Great post.
Marc, you know you’ve hit a nerve when you’ve got people burning up your comment section.
I love all the great observations folks are making. I am going to see an additional moral to your story – make sure your spokespeople “get it”. You described turning over brand management and fundraising to someone who may or may not have the same goal. (I suspect no one is corporate giving expects the recycling to be a mud-slinging opportunity between crews.)
I cannot say it enough when we prepare for fundraising galas, make sure everyone knows why we are here and what they should say before they go on stage. Looks like that principle went out the Delta window.
It is being shoved in our faces more and more lately because that is what the PR departments insist on – constant awareness of the corporate charitable activities. While I think companies do need to talk about such initiatives they maybe should focus more on telling us how they made a difference by collecting all that funds instead of just stating numbers and doing it for the main purpose of reputation boost.
Sherry: You’re so right! It seems to have hit a nerve. 🙂
Terese: GREAT point. I don’t think it would’ve been bad if they talked about the impact.
I had to laugh at this one. Recently, we pulled in to our bank’s drive up ATM to get some cash. Standing 5′ from it was a sweet volunteer collecting donations for a national organization. Talk about feeling obligated!!!! You can’t hardly say no thank you when she just saw you make a cash withdraw. I gave and got my bag of peanuts! Have a nice day.
Joanie: Ew. I can’t believe they’d allow that!