It started as a simple tweet: can you help and fill out this survey?  We’ll share results to all who participate.  Interested in the topic, I clicked on the link only to find a very short, poorly designed survey.  The survey had seven questions (not counting the email capture for results sharing) of which several were closed ended essentially binary questions — i.e, “yes”, “no” and “maybe” were the only answer options.  There were two open ends to collect unaided recall of favorite cause marketing programs and past participation in cause marketing programs.

I … Read more

Yesterday, tipped off by a tweet from Geoff Livingston, I learned about USA Today’s latest iteration of its What America Wants brand campaign: #AmericaWants Hashtag Campaign.  The  paper is offering a one day, full size color ad in its weekday (Monday-Thursday) print edition, valued at $189,400 to a charity that receives the most tweets to the line:  ”#americawants (insert charity name) to win a full page ad in USA Today.”

The campaign is a mix of brand and cause marketing: it is reinforcing through its proscribed tweet script its trade campaign while simultaneously attempting to tap into American’s desire to … Read more

Two nights ago, thinking about the devastation in Haiti, I saw a tweet come in from @knako, Kevin Nakao, VP of Mobile and Business Search for Whitepages.com.

I had been tweeting and posting onto Facebook and texting and generally trying to get the word out about how to help.  Because during these times of disaster, money is the most important — and immediate need — of  relief organizations.  So, I tweeted a simple request:… Read more

Chances are, if you are a Facebook user, you probably have seen friends posting a name of a color as a status update.  The latest Facebook meme began on Wednesday this week as female users began receiving messages in their inboxes.

“We are playing a game for Breast Cancer Awareness,” one form of the message read. “Write the color of your bra as your status — just the color, nothing else!! Copy this and pass it on to all girls — NO MEN!! This will be … Read more

Just before the holidays, a debate emerged among the greater cause community on the value and role of contests for good.  The debate was triggered by allegations that Chase Bank’s Community Giving program on FaceBook was flawed, that groups were unfairly eliminated and that Chase was not transparent in its management and communication of the program.  (For an excellent summation of the controversy and attendant commentary, see  writer and consultant Beth Kanter’s blog.)  The controversy prompted the Case Foundation — itself a contest sponsor — to consider hosting a forum to examine how these contests are designed and managed.

What’s missing … Read more