I’ve been talking about Marketing for Good for a while now but I haven’t provided too many examples of quantifiable success. Fortunately The Wall St. Journal ran an article yesterday called “Novel Program Blends Charity and Marketing” that provides just the performance data skeptics demand. The specific program discussed is a partnership between Crate & Barrel and DonorsChoose that started with Crate & Barrel sending 18,000 customers a gift certificate that recipients can direct to charities of their choice. Recipients pick from a list of non-profits on the DonorsChoose website. This program worked like gangbusters driving loyalty and changing perceptions of Crate & Barrel:
- 11% of certificates sent were redeemed (vs. under 2% industry average)
- 82% of redeemers were “very likely to consider Crate & Barrel for their next home furnishings purchase”
- 75% of gift-certificate redeemers perceived C&B as community minded vs. 21% for control group
An oh by the way the article also notes: “From green energy campaigns to the so-called (Red) brand–backed by companies such as Gap Inc. to raise money for fighting AIDS in Africa–corporate social responsibility is becoming a core marketing philosophy.” (Note–MFG covered the greening of Wal-Mart and (Red) in earlier posts.) Sounds like Marketing for Good is spreading.