Marketing to Millennials For Dummies

Chapter 16

Cause Marketing with Millennials in Mind

IN THIS CHAPTER

Aligning your brand with the right cause

Connecting with a cause-oriented Millennial audience

Running a cause-focused campaign

Cause marketing isn’t a new concept, but it’s one that has received a significant amount of attention in recent years, thanks in part to the Millennial market. Social consciousness is a characteristic that many Millennials possess, so brands have found a way to provide social utility by aligning with a cause.

Several brands, though, have hopped on the cause bandwagon only to find themselves on the receiving end of a barrage of negative publicity. For example, in 2013, Kellogg’s UK told the world that for every retweet they received, a meal would be donated to a needy child. The problem here, as you may have already guessed, is that this seems like a lazy PR stunt that cares more about exposure than it does about the cause it’s promoting.

This chapter introduces the concept of cause marketing and covers the integration of this popular strategy into your Millennial marketing initiatives. This chapter helps you align with the right cause to reach a Millennial audience that wants to connect ...