Rely on Your Folks and Make the Cause Campaign Fun: Time to "Create A Pepper" at Chili's to Support St. Jude Children's Research Hospital

My most sincere gratitude goes to Twitter for giving me the latest groundswell discussions on the topic I am interested in: like this morning I searched "#cause" and was directed to another awesome cause campaign in honor of Thanksgiving - St. Jude Children's Research Hospital's "Thanks-and-Giving 2009" - in the featured video our beloved luminaries Marlo Thomas, Jennifer Aniston, Robin Williams, Antonio Banderas and Reggie Bush all send the message: give thanks to the healthy kids in your life, and give to those who are NOT.

St. Jude is doing a great job of fundraising by partnering with a full lineup of corporations - my attention was instantly grabbed by Chili's Grill & Bar's "Create-A-Pepper to fight Childhood Cancer" campaign. The annual campaign has just witnessed its sixth success, and with less than $20 millions to go Chili's will fulfill its pledge of a 10-year, $50-million donation to St. Jude's, the largest one from a single partner campaign in St. Jude history.

So what's so special about Chili's "Create-A-Pepper"?

• It's fun. With a computer and Internet guests can create peppers embodying support for a cause and compete for popularity. Who doesn't want his/her artistic vigor flow with a grand purpose?
• It's viral. Supporters of the cause can view all peppers created at the Pepper Gallery and send the one they like to a friend, share it on Facebook or add it to MySpace page.
• It's got a great team. Team Hope really is the highlight of "Create-A-Pepper" Campaign - Chili's has been relying on its own employees, franchisees and vendor partners, and as a result the cause has become part of the corporate culture. Rarely did I see a corporation engage more internal stakeholders than external audience.
• It's sending the message that could strike a chord with guest supporters. Who are the most creative? Children. Who dream the most? Children. Who love fun most? Children. Who hold the brightest future? Children. Who are the primary beneficiaries of "Creative-A-Pepper" campaign and St. Jude? Still children. So when visitors hear the message from the PSA below - you bet how they'll feel.
  

• It's got an irresistible call-to-action. Most cause marketing cases are great at engaging audience but mediocre at gaining actual monetary support. "Create-A-Pepper", by incorporating a video featuring cancer kids' parents and personal stories of children with cancer in a separate page "Donate Now", is faring better with a call-to-action that's hard to resist.
• It's giving guest supporters identifiable credits for their charitable behaviors. What's better than wearing a specially designed T-shirt or using a customized pepper key to show off charitable behaviors? The tip here: let your supporters be the hero and give them badges to spread the philanthropic spirit.

What's your thoughts on Chili's "Create-A-Pepper" cause campaign? Are your cause marketing practices engaging, creative and fun? While deliberating you might wanna create a pepper here, and by the way, this is the pepper I like most from the gallery :) 

What I feel grateful for Thanksgiving...

Since it is Thanksgiving I might as well diverge a little bit and write about what I am thankful for for 2009.


I still remember this time last year I was sitting with a group of beggars and volunteers in a church, praying to God and enjoying turkeys, cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes and pumpkin pie - that was my first real American Thanksgiving dinner, and I was grateful for spending it cooking for the poor and the homeless, listening to their sad stories, soothing their tortured hearts, and extending gratitude for the extravagant food and love. This Thanksgiving I'm sitting alone at my desk - there is even no turkey - but I can feel more joy and gratitude.

I am thankful - for all the difficulties that almost devastated me this fall, for my family, friends and professors who've been supporting me with great patience, for the bumpy journey of learning and navigating social media (my newly found passion), and for the most amazing serendipity of cause marketing and corporate philanthropy.


When I felt I could no longer sustain the pain I was told "this too shall pass" by Steven Gross, founder of Project Joy at Life Is Good; when I was mired in despair and almost lost hope I was told to make a wish to the Santa Claus at Macy's; when I was indulging in my own miseries I was told there were angels expecting merely a doll or sweater for the Christmas; when I was a little crushed by negativity and pessimism the movie "My Sister's Keeper" told me how cancer patients were fighting for their happiness and spreading their optimistic spirit... when I first embarked upon the journey of exploring causes and philanthropy, it was like an outlet for my pain and grief. But more and more I realize how wonderful it is to align brands with causes. If I were a brand I've become stronger, more optimistic, loving and responsible through learning all the little, cute, warm stories... what about for other brands and businesses? I feel cause is no longer just the embodiment of CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) - cause actually helps a business understand the meaning of "love" "humanity" and "responsibility"; cause helps a brand connect to its customers, employees and the community, but more importantly, it helps it connect to its core value, its significance, its mission and unfinished tasks.


Just like the words of wisdom from the Life Is Good Book: 

Takers may eat well, but givers sleep well.

Take your love everywhere you go.

I am proud of spreading the message: With Love, Here for Good. I am thankful for relearning myself through participating in cause. What about you? What are you thankful for?

Häagen-Dazs Loves Honey Bees: the Right Cause Could Be the Best

I love ice-creams. I love honeys. But little did I know millions of bees have been disappearing from their hives in a poorly misunderstood phenomenon known as Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD). How can I still enjoy those honey flavors without the hard work of adorable bees? Häagen-Dazs told me the story about bees' dire situation in an interesting viral video:





When I first watched the video on the microsite dedicated to the campaign "Häagen-Dazs Loves Honey Bees" - I think the video was not properly conducted - there were no explanation, no story, no call-to-action. But when I found out the video was viewed by more than 1 million people I was amazed. And some of the comments are as follows:


"A funny video to raise awareness of a serious matter!"
"HaHa!!! The DJ is hilarious!!!!"
"Love the music!!!"
"A funny video to raise awareness of a serious matter!"
"Kool!
"lollololololool..."


Undeniably there were negative comments but pale in comparison to the positive ones. As I ponder over the seemingly untraditional way of doing cause marketing, I realized how important it is to align your brand with a cause that really resonates with your main stakeholders.


So who'd be an ice-cream brand's major consumers? Kids, young people... you'd say. That's for sure.
This is why a fun hip-pop music and dance could gain such popularity with online groundswell. And you think those healthy, carefree, energetic, sweet-tooth, fun-loving, ice-cream fans would feel more affinity to cancer patients, the poor and the homeless than diligent honey bees? I doubt. Obviously the latter has more to do with what they consume - isn't it enormous pain that they could not savor their favorite honey flavors?


That's my point - don't jump on the bandwagon and follow the "latest cause". The fittest could be the best.


In addition, do research regarding the media channels your major stakeholders/consumers find information. If they are 18-34, most likely they will be glued to their computers searching online 7/24. Social media, interactive Web sites, and viral marketing must kick in to engage the audience. Offer some freebies too - look for Bee Store and get a bee wall paper and screen saver for free.


So, are your brand still try to squeeze into the cohort supporting the most "prominent" cause? When are you planning to find your "Cause Right"?

Ready for TweetsGiving on Thanksgiving? Express Gratitude While Doing Good

TweetsGiving 2009 from LittlePurpleCow Productions on Vimeo.


Thanksgiving is around the corner... for individuals and companies dedicated to causes and philanthropy, this is your chance to express gratitude while doing good - join Epic Change, participating online 2009 TweetsGiving and live events to support spreading hope and social changes around the world.


It takes one to think of a brilliant idea but millions to get it accomplished.


2008 TweetsGiving was a huge success. During the 48-hour celebration of gratitude, $10,000 was raised to help build a classroom in Arusha, Tanzania. The event was build in only six days by volunteers and launched two days before 2008 Thanksgiving, but it quickly became the No. 1 topic on Twitter - thousands tweets filled the stream expressing gratitudes and the blogosphere was buzzing with thankfulness and goodwill.


I don't know how touched "Mama Lucy" Kamptoni was - if I were her - an awesome women with a grand idea (building a classroom for kids in Arusha), persistent courage (selling chickens to fulfill the idea) but limited income... I would be blown away by the power of the mass, the groundswell that was enabled by social media, new technology, and millions of philanthropic spirits.


So what you can do in 2009...

• Become a member of 2009 TweetsGiving community and tweet your gratitudes.
• If you have a blog, write about what you feel grateful for, and mention Epic Change and TweetsGiving.
• Go to the local TweetsGiving party and meet wonderful like-minded people.
• Make a donation - the amount is less important than your willingness to help.
• For corporations, consider sponsoring the event locally or globally for greater social media exposure and reputation.

So are you ready? I'm definitely going to the party in Boston on Tuesday, November 22, and will write a blog post about the event and my gratitude for 2009. What are you going to do? Better act quick!


Finally, I'd like to express my thanks to Scott Henderson - without reading your blog post The Rise of Creative Philanthropy I wouldn't know the upcoming 2009 TweetsGiving. Your blog Rally the Cause is inspiring and respectful :-)

Are You Sure Your CSR Programs Are Bringing Measurable Results?

During today's business research class we had a heated discussion about measuring the results of corporate social responsibility (CSR) programs. As potential market researchers my friends and I are curious about quantifiable benefits brought about by cause-related marketing initiatives. As the year 2009 closes an increasing number of reports and surveys are coming out indicating CSR programs are positives viewed by the C-suits and stakeholders. The problem is - does intention and attitude really translates into behavior and revenues?


Probably not.


When your consumer do not care about you as a brand in the first place; when your CSR programs do not resonate with your targeted audience; when you mismatch your causes with business, and when you donate without your consumers' awareness... 


But even if you did everything perfectly... how do you measure your CSR benefits on the business?


Here the advantage of consumer participated cause marketing kicks in. As I proposed - there are two basic forms of cause-related practices - corporations either cut a small portion of their yearly revenues and make a direct donation to the foundations/charities of their choice, or they could ask for their consumers' engagement. For example, JCPenney's Adopt-an-Angel and Macy's 2009 Believe have consumers be the heroes who spread warmth and kindness during the holiday season. Lands' End's Big Warm Up steps further by providing entice (discounts) for consumers' do-good behaviors. 


For the first type - direct donation without consumers' participation - as companies you really need to correlate year-end earnings with customer awareness of the programs, attitudes and intentions in a long run... not to mention numerous distracting factors that might render the correlations invalid. For the second type things become much easier - how many consumers are actually participating? Are they loyal customers or just getting attracted by the corporations' riveting responsible behaviors? When every penny/good donated is connected directly with consumer participation... now you do the maths.


The greatest challenge encountered by every market researcher is to translate intentions into real behaviors - survey participants are influenced by things they are unaware of or unpredictable, which could lead to drastically different behaviors from answers they previously give on a survey.


So easiness of measurement constitutes another merit of audience participated cause marketing initiatives. The others are related to participants' "feeling-good" psychological value, direct impact they can track, or monetary reward (discounts or special offers, etc. ) So why not embrace this innovative method and let your customers play the role of heroes?

Big Boston Warm Up - A Practical Cause during Down Economy

Lands' End is offering 20% off purchase in exchange for donation of a used coat from customers shopping at local Sears. This campaign - Big Boston Warm Up - embodies one of the most engaging cause branding events during the holiday season.

The initiative started at Boston but is expanding nationwide. Till this writing 9,110 coats have been donated over the country, and specifically in Boston, 1,964 individuals have received coats among the 7,681 homeless. The cause marketing campaign still has a long way to go, but its impact is not to be underestimated, especially during this enduring economic downturn.

Though the 2009 Giving in Numbers Report, recently released by the Committee Encouraging Corporate Philanthropy (CECP), reported good news - that corporate giving is on the rise despite downward profits amidst the economic turmoil. But how about every individual consumer who has the best intention to give but sank into a predicament due to a much tighter budget for the holiday season? Alison DaSilva, cause branding for Cone Inc. sharply captures the dilemma. She thinks it's a real win for consumers if marketers "can find a way to combine donation with a product purchase."

It is true. At least for me. When I was writing a letter to Santa Claus for Macy's 2009 Believe Campaign directing funds for Make-A-Wish Foundation, I was virtually racking my brains for the grandest yet realistic wishes... When I browsed JCPenney's Web site desiring so much to adopt an angel, only to realize I am not entitled to donate the clothes or dolls with my parents' financial support. But for Lands' End's offer - I need to buy a warm coat to get through the harsh Boston winter anyway, why wouldn't I save 20% off at Lands' End and at the same time do a good deed?

What's more -

• Though Big Boston Warm Up Web site, for the first time I learned about the demographics of the homeless around the U.S. and the reasons behind their stories - and in an interactive way.
• The campaign is online and offline - I accidentally walked past Prudential Center at Boylston Plaza and amazed at hundreds of life-sized figures of people installed by Lands' End and local coalition for the homeless - later I learned every figure stands for 10 homeless in Boston.
• I can even track my old coat through the Web site through its distribution.
• The entire Web site of Big Boston Warm Up is capturing, esp. the customized video. I put my name in one of the boxes and I was featured... I watched one scene where a worn-out woman clutches a coat with my name stitched on it... I couldn't help rummaging through my closet and visualizing the smile from a real person.

From a professional standpoint, Cone Inc. has summarized the gists that every cause marketing/branding campaign should incorporate:

• Demonstrate tangible impact. Big Warm Up's goal is clear enough - with "Give a Coat, Warm a Heart!" as its tagline.
• Tap Emotion. A combination of interactive Web sites, customized videos, and offline installation represents the best practice of striking a cord with do-gooders.
• Provide value to contributors. Big Warm Up's value is two-fold - the monetary value of 20% off and the psychology value of spreading warmth and kindness.
• Make it social. Those who get to the Web site can pass the message around through Facebook, email, Twitter and MySpace/Blog. The social aspect is a bonus offered by new media and Lands' End obviously has followed the trend.

So, for businesses small and large, this cause marketing case by Lands' End is worth emulating - customers like me appreciate the physical and psychological values it offers and the corporation itself earn credits by aligning its goal to the good of the community. Now I am running to my closet to get an old coat... and searching for more practices like this.

Another Way to Support Cancer-Related Causes: Care for the Family

I feel compelled to write down some thoughts as I finished watching the movie My Sister's Keeper. I was all tears. Somehow I've always felt a deep compassion and empathy with patients with terminal illnesses (probably because I got sick easily as a child), but it just occurred to me how much more pain the family of a cancer patient may be going through, helplessly watching their beloved suffer. I was wondering: if so many organizations devote time and funds to causes that support research or patient recovery, why not give more attention to patients' family?


As much as I love and want to commit my career to cause-related marketing and branding, sometimes I become suspicious too: are companies real do-gooders or hypocrites trying to dress them up with causes? When it comes to cancer campaigns I naturally think about the pink ribbon, marathon and city-wide walks... what about something more creative? What about thinking through the lens of patients and their families?

Two practices that care for patients' family and friends touched me recently. They are initiated by hospitals truly putting themselves in patients' shoes. Massachusetts General Hospital's CarePages and the Neely House at Tufts Medical Center embody genuine intentions to help patients and their family get through hard times.

CarePages is a special blogging system that allows patients to upload posts and images. What's more, the updates automatically send emails to blog readers - patients' family and friends - so that they can come back to the page and visit newest contents. There are also spaces where patients' family and friends leave wishes and prayers - the emotional supports flow through CarePages make a great difference in patients' well-beings. MGH aptly captures patients' pain of battling diseases lonely or repeating their conditions over and over again to people who care. The CarePages might not save a patient's life; it might not cost big money, but it surely lifts a burden from patients and their worrying folks.

The Neely House at Tufts Medical Center, according to its Web site, is "a bed and breakfast style home away from home for center patients and their families. It was created to fill an important need - to help pediatric and adult cancer patients and their families while undergoing treatment." The center understands the twinges and agony felt by every family with cancer patients, so it helps them support and encourage one another in pulling through the difficulties. The warm and homelike settings speak more than monetary donations, advanced but cold facilities, powerful but hard-to-swallow pills.

The Neely House was built by the Neely Cancer Fund, dedicated to helping patients and their families during and after treatments. Its next project - The Michael Neely Center for Brain Tumor Care and Research is still underway due to lack of funds. As to the Neely House, a donation of $20 by individuals enables a family to stay over for one night. Organizations and brands might want to direct funds toward this kind of heartfelt projects rather than completing for attention from those widely-reported campaigns that have already gained momentum.

Who's Your Angel? Check out JCPenney's Angel Giving Tree Online

When adult-customers find writing a letter to the Santa Claus is too childish, they've got another option at this holiday season: send a gift in need to an angel designated by the Salvation Army through Angel Giving Tree Online presented by JCPenney.

You might say it is just another cause that taps into the giving spirit of holidays, that it is not novel or refreshing... but aren't holidays - Thanksgiving, Christmas, and the New Year - bringing back all age-long traditions of get-together and laughter and warmth every time?


So even if "adopting an angel" sounds a little cheesy, the theme resonates well at least with me - whenever I see it I think of "the Little Match Girl." Isn't she an angel on earth? Why should she be punished by the harshness of winter while we are celebrating new hopes offered by a new year? I wouldn't expect everyone to think the same way. But I'm perfectly sure I am not the only one - who likes the "cheesiness" of holidays, and who would extend love and care and hope to those in need during the special season.



JCPenney, in this sense, is doing a great job at building its brand soul through cause as well as goodwill with customers.

A number of other elements of Angel Giving Tree Online grasped my attention. I want to share with you here and welcome your thoughts and comments:

• Less effort to join the cause. No painstaking reflections. No brain-recking writings. The only thing customers need to do is to log in online, select an angel and purchase a gift.
• Greater freedom. Customers can choose the angel they want to adopt based on age and location. By viewing angel's wishes they can adjust their choices based on the price of the gifts. Everyone loves some level of autonomy, and JCPenney certain realized this.
• Less commercial sense. JCPenney allows donors to buy gifts from any store including JCPenney online and offline. Donors can either mail the gifts or drop them at local Salvation Army. Though I doubt most donors will still buy gifts from JCPenney because it's convenient and quick, the possibility alone builds upon an image of pure philanthropy.

A few disadvantages from my perspective:

• The cause is conducted only online so people who are not into the Internet might not be aware of it.
• Angel Giving Tree surely costs participants more than that of Macy's 2009 Believe campaign. Not everyone who is kind-hearted affords the money.

Suggestion: why not continue with the cause online and offline, and use both traditional and social media to promote it? Hope more angels will be adopted this year.