Consumers, CSR management

Liza Lort-Phillips on cause-related marketing

September 30 2008

by Liza Lort-Phillips, Associate Director

Here lies the important distinction between a brand that simply wants to do something responsible to create a warm and fuzzy effect, and a responsible brand. While consumers clearly like the former, they increasingly expect the latter.

Thirst Aid joins a growing list of brands competing for high profile cause-related marketing campaigns in the bottled water sector. In a year that has seen the industry vilified as ‘the next tobacco’ for its environmental impacts - both water and plastic - it comes as no surprise that another brand (following the likes of One, Belu and Volvic) has launched another initiative to ‘offset’ its ‘bad behaviour’ by doing something good. And this should be welcomed, but with strings attached.

Firstly, in brand language, the word ‘campaign’ or ‘initiative’ is typically something short-term – a quick fix solution to boost sales and raise brand value. While soft drinks companies shouldn’t be (and by and large aren’t) claiming to solve complex developmental issues such as access to water in Africa, they should nonetheless be aware that for engagement of this kind to be effective it should last longer than this year’s marketing budget. And if they are not, then it should be the role of a switched on partner to advise it of the consequences of creating dependency, and the need for a sustainable solution that outlasts the campaign.

Secondly, press releases are just the beginning. If you’re sticking your neck out by engaging in such an initiative, make sure you have the process in place to understand the true impacts of your efforts. If you don’t, someone else will – and their views may not always be favourable!

Finally, while due credit should be given to innovative cause-related campaigns such as those that have direct relevance to the product or service they sell, they are only one part of a bigger puzzle that brands should be piecing together on their overall social and environmental impacts. How sustainable, for example, is the process of water extraction? What is the brand doing about reducing or recycling their packaging waste? Is it marketing responsibly to children? While some of these issues may be ‘house-keeping’ issues, they nonetheless need to be understood, managed and communicated. Here lies the important distinction between a brand that simply wants to do something responsible to create a warm and fuzzy effect, and a responsible brand. While consumers clearly like the former, they increasingly expect the latter.

Liza Lort-Phillips, Liza.lortphillips@corporate-citizenship.com

Liza has over ten years consultancy experience and has worked in both the corporate and non-profit sectors. She has also lived in Greater China for ten years and is a fluent Mandarin speaker.

Liza works on a broad range of consultancy issues and is the first port of call for any issues related to China, supply chain or consumer brands. Prior to this she worked for Save the Children UK as private sector advisor, where she was responsible for advocacy work on corporate accountability issues. She also represented the charity on the Publish What you Pay Coalition (PWYP) and the Board of the Ethical Trading Initiative (ETI).

In China Liza was Director for a leading public affairs consultancy (Batey Burn, now APCO China) where she managed a wide range of investment, government relations and CSR projects for both the private and public sectors (including UNAIDS and DfID). She also initiated the first joint British-US Chamber Forum on Corporate Responsibility in China for over 100 representatives of business, NGOs and government. She began her career as Procurement Manager for Carlsberg in Guangdong Province.

Liza has an MSc in Business and Environment from Imperial College London and has also worked as a freelance consultant for the International Institute of Environment and Development (IIED).

A graduate of Politics and East Asian Studies from Newcastle University, her publications include “Ethical Trade in China: One Country Two Systems?” She also co-authored a Save the Children UK publication “Beyond the Rhetoric: Transparency in the Oil and Gas Industry” (2005).

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