Can Cause Marketing Boost Brand Image?

Companies often select different causes to support in an effort to boost their brand image.  Self magazine conducted a market research study to determine consumers’ feelings toward companies that participate in cause marketing or align their brands with specific causes.  

Based on the results from the study,  it appears that cause marketing pays off for companies.  Here are some interesting statistics from the study findings:

“The perception that a company is doing good raised the premium consumers are willing to pay for a brand by an average of 6.1%.”

“Cause marketing was most effective at raising brand value among products in the beauty and fashion categories, yielding a boost of about 8%.”

“The high-ticket automotive and technology sectors reaped the least benefit, about 5% in terms of added brand value.”

The study also showed that the majority of respondents feel good about buying products from a company involved in cause marketing, and most feel companies should get involved in supporting more causes.

Bottomline, it appears that cause marketing is effective in boosting profits indirectly.  I will argue those findings by stating that I think cause marketing needs to be done carefully for it to be successful.  Companies who participate in cause marketing campaigns need to do so credibly.  If there is any doubt in consumers’ minds as to the authenticity of a company’s campaign, it could backfire and draw negative publicity.

What do you think about cause marketing?  Do companies use it too freely simply to boost their image?  I should mention that I found it interesting that Self conducted this study.  On the homepage of the Self magazine website, next to the Self logo is a pink breast cancer awareness ribbon with the text, “Founder of the Pink Ribbon” superimposed over it.