Executive Interviews: Interview with Richard M Earle on Social Cause Marketing
September 2009 - By Dr. Nagendra V Chowdary

Richard M Earle
Richard M Earle,
Senior Associate with the Regis Group, Inc.

• A word about The Regis Group, Inc.
  For a number of years I was an Executive Vice President, Group Creative Director at the advertising agency Saatchi & Saatchi in New York. I had created or supervised advertising for over 50 national and international brands. However, in addition to these, I regularly sought out assignments in the public service arena. I always found those to be my most satisfying projects. So I decided to leave Saatchi & Saatchi to devote most of my time to the marketing of social causes. I founded a small consulting Group called Greenbranch Enterprises. I quickly discovered how the techniques of product and service advertising must be changed and adapted to deal with serious social causes. It was then that I decided to write my book, to share with other practitioners the techniques I had developed and some cautions I encountered.

  I was approached recently by an old friend, Marc Chinoy, to join his consulting group, The Regis Group, Inc. Marc is a world-renowned planner and facilitator, who is very committed to social causes. He has recruited a group of like-minded and very experienced associates, that consult in a number of fields, including health care, education, law, marketing and branding, and now, social-cause marketing. (http://www.regisgroup. com)

• As the author of a best-selling book on cause and social cause marketing, The Art of Cause Marketing, can you take us through the contents and intended purport of your book?
  The subtitle of my book is How to Use Advertising to Change Personal Behavior and Public Policy. In product or service advertising, the goal is simply to make a sale. The construction of an advertising strategy (creative brief) is quite straightforward. You define your arget, select a benefit, describe some support points, and identify a tone and style that can readily reach your target.

  Social or cause marketing has a more sophisticated objective: the changing of deeply ingrained behavior or beliefs. The definition of the target must be a very detailed analysis, including their psychological makeup. The tone and style must be carefully considered, so that you speak meaningfully to that target. And the desired action must be clearly spelled out and readily accomplished.

  There are many pitfalls and cautions to be considered when preparing a social or cause marketing campaign. These must be avoided, or you may actually do some harm. I have tried to spell out all these issues clearly and succinctly in my book.

• What is social-cause marketing? What is the intended objective? Why should companies commit their shareholders’ money for social issues? Or is it to do with the company’s values? Do you see an inherent contradiction between the two words ‘social’ and ‘marketing’?
  I believe that this would be a good place to define some terms. Years ago, when I worked on cause campaigns at various agencies, they were called Public Service Ads (PSAs). Mostly, they were under the supervision of the Advertising Council (the best-known was the “Crying Native American” anti-littering campaign for Keep America Beautiful.) They were given ‘pro bono’ media placement, which means that they were aired or placed free of charge, by media outlets who were charged by government regulators to devote a percentage of their schedules to PSAs.

  As I started writing my book, I used the term PSA. My working title was: ‘Pro Bono.’ But by that time, the pro bono requirement for PSAs had been removed, so many cause campaigns were using paid media. Therefore ‘Pro Bono’ was no longer appropriate. An experienced copywriter who reviewed some of my early drafts told me: “What you’re writing about is Cause Marketing.” So the title became The Art of Cause Marketing. As I got close to a final draft, I first encountered the term ‘Social Marketing’ in the trade press. I asked my editor if we should change the title. We both agreed that ‘Cause Marketing’ was still clearer. But we also used the term Social Marketing throughout.

  I was invited to speak at a Social Marketing conference, where I met Philip Kotler, Distinguished Professor of International Marketing at the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University, and probably our most prolific writer of advertising and Social Marketing text books. Phil, a very pleasant man, claimed to have coined the term ‘Social Marketing.’ He also said that in the ‘naming’ discussion ‘Cause Marketing’ was a close second, and was almost selected. Shortly after, ‘Cause-Related Marketing’ (CRM) became the widely used term for corporate-cause partnerships and ultimately was shortened once again to Cause Marketing. Recently the term Social-Cause Marketing has appeared, and it also refers mainly to CRM campaigns. The bottom line is that the techniques employed in creating the messages in Social Marketing (produced and distributed solely by a government agency, NGO or non-profit) and Cause Marketing (the product of a corporate-cause partnership) are exactly the same. The differences are in the areas of funding and distribution.

  The value to a company and its shareholders of a cause-related campaign in support of social issues has been well documented. In a report published by the Boston research firm Roper Starch Worldwide and Boston cause marketing firm Cone Inc., employees in cause-related companies score 30-50% higher on categories like “I feel a strong sense of pride toward my company’s values” and “I feel a strong sense of loyalty to my company.” In my opinion, the most effective Cause Marketing campaigns are often those sponsored by companies with a strong corporate value system. Many times, the CEO or another top executive has a personal connection to the cause, perhaps through a family member or close friend. And no, I see no contradiction between the terms ‘Social’ and ‘Marketing.’ It is a more sophisticated form of marketing. But it is still marketing.