USA Today had a special feature today on the charitable giving in the the U.S. Some advertisers promoted their charitable efforts in this section, including one of our clients, Chili’s. We developed the website that encouraged people to “Create a Pepper” in support of St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.
As the current economic conditions in the country get tougher, I believe that brands that demonstrate a genuine sense of caring will be better perceived than brands that don’t.
A contrarian might argue that the self-promotion of good deeds may be viewed as self-centered and could be met with skepticism by consumers.
What do you think? I’d welcome good (and bad) examples of programs that support your point of view.
John Ellett is CEO of nFusion Group, LLC, a digitally-focused marketing agency based in Austin, TX. He has a passion for encouraging and supporting marketing leaders who have the courage to be change agents in their organizations.
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This issue was briefly discussed at a round table at the last SXSW. The consensus, although highly simplistic, was that if company spent more time and money discussing their involvement than they do actually being involved, than the effort was self serving.
However, from a charity’s perspective, corporate promotion is certainly likely to have benefits for them as well. Raising awareness of an issue is just as important for their long-term financial health as the short term donations and if a company promotes their charity while discussing their involvement, so much the better.