Workshop: Cause Marketing

Currently, there is an increasing demand from the public for commercial organizations to be more engaged in Corporate Social Responsibility. One of the things companies do is to set up a collaboration with a charity. For example, in cause-related marketing (CM) campaigns, companies make a donation every time a certain product is sold. Companies hope to “do well by doing good” with such CSR campaigns.

To understand how these collaborations work best for both the company as well as the charity it is necessary to better understand the motivations of people to buy at CM investing companies, but also why people engage in moral behavior like donating to charities in the first place. These questions have been studied in the field of psychology, marketing, as well as behavioral economics. Each of these disciplines take their own perspectives and use their own methods, yet the topic of research is the same. For example, marketing research focuses on the drivers of CM effectiveness, e.g. the influence of the donation amount on the company’s return. Their main finding that consumers might respond to the donation irrespective of the actual donation amount can be used by companies to increase their return on investments from CM. This, however, is not in the interest of charities that are dependent on the overall amount donated.

While marketing research most often focuses on the company’s side, psychology and behavioral economics more often take the perspective of the donor and/or the charity. Unfortunately, there is not much contact between the various disciplines, while CM campaigns by definition consists of the three stakeholders companies, charities, and consumers/donors. The aim of this workshop is to bring together scholars and practitioners from various disciplines.

For whom?

The workshop is open to scholars from the various disciplines. Moreover, we cordially invite practitioners (e.g., marketeers from forprofit, and nonprofit sectors) to attend. To increase interaction between scholars and practitioners, we will organize a speed dating session. Workshop language will be English.

Workshop fee

The attendance fee is 20 Euro (including lunch). The workshop dinner is optional (40 euro). Registration deadline is November 1.

Contact information

If you have any questions about the workshop, please contact dr. Marijke Leliveld ( M.C.Leliveld rug.nl ). We look forward welcoming you in Groningen! Organizing team: Marijke Leliveld, Jan Schmitz, Daniel Västfjäll.