Cause-Related Marketing as Sales Promotion
基于63个品类20个品牌的公益营销活动数据，发现公益营销平均带来每周4.9%的销售增长，其效果取决于品牌和品类环境，如品类选择少、价格差异小或品牌是品类领导者时效果更佳。
This study presents the first field investigation of the sales impact of cause-related marketing promotions (CMPs) in retail settings. Whereas prior work primarily studies CMPs in simplified experimental settings, actual fast-moving consumer goods markets are considerably more complex; ergo, consumers are unlikely to consider and evaluate all brands and CMPs in detail. In this analysis based on 63 CMPs across 20 categories, the authors therefore investigate the short-term sales impact of CMPs as a function of the brand and category context in which they are executed. On average, CMPs run 11 weeks and donate 3.2% of product price, resulting in an average sales lift of 4.9% per week. The findings suggest that a necessary precondition for CMP success is that consumers notice it at the point of sale and hence have considered the CMP brand for reasons other than the CMP itself. Accordingly, the sales impact of CMP can more than double when the category assortment is smaller, the category has less price dispersion, the brand is a category leader, or the brand is priced below the category average. Brands operating in less favorable market conditions can still achieve above-average CMP impact by combining CMPs with price promotions to ensure consumer consideration.