More on Red Dress Campaign!

So with only 3 more days left in February, the month for Heart Health, we thought we'd elaborate more on the cool message/credible celebrity/brand partnerships of successful cause related marketing campaigns.

First of all Heart Health... who would have ever thought of going the Red Dress angle? Well probably before they decided on this COOL MESSAGE, they worked internally or with external groups to come up with the right strategy to get a hook for the campaign. The first and easiest step is to try and figure out what else is going on at the same time to figure out what partnership opportunities could be worked out. Heart Health Month is February... so what else goes on in this month?:

• NYC Fashion Week (only twice a year, other is in September)
• Super Bowl (always first weekend)
• NBA All-Star Weekend
• NHL All-Star Weekend
• Awards Season
• Oscars
• South Beach Wine & Food Festival

When you take a look at this list it seems obvious, but only because we are use to the campaign now. Men are afflicted by heart problems as well, but sometimes when you target a cause to a specific group it is easier to rally behind it and create an emotional connection. Plus you get the peripheral halo effect when you make a STRONG impact with a targeted group. Whether the women's demo came before or after their decision to go with Red Dress, it doesn't really matter, the marriage was perfect. They made a connection with their target demo.

Once you have a solid message it is a lot easier to get brands to rally behind it because there is a common and clear goal, here are some of the campaigns that came from the red dress concept:

HEIDI KLUM- COCA-COLA
If you are obsessed like we are with the Oscars than you probably saw the Heidi Klum commercial for Coca-Cola and Heart Truth a million times. What a great celebrity, some get annoyed by perfection, but she is adorable, smart and supports the little people (up and coming fashion designers and charities). The commercial was a perfect marriage and emotional connection. People were watching the Oscars and with all of the dress watching probably got caught up in the superficiality that comes with the red carpet. This commercial brought you back to realize what is really important and how small statements like supporting the Heart Truth with Diet Coke can really make an impact. If you haven't caught the commercial check it out:
HEART TRUTH RED DRESS & HEIDI KLUM & COCA-COLA

NICOLE MILLER & JANE KRAKOWSKI- CAMPBELL'S
My other favorite that we mentioned was Campbell's Red Dress Campaign with Nicole Miller. Check out the microsite they created to build the campaign and create a contest to vote for the favorite Nicole Miller dress for Jane Krakowski to wear on the red carpet. They had 2 celebs both benefiting by added exposure for their brands, plus with all of Campbell's products benefiting heart health, the charity is a perfect fit to tout its brand benefits to the consumer.

The Art of a Good Cause Marketing Strategy-- Cool Message, Credible Celebrities, Brand Partnerships

When you think of some of the top cause related marketing campaigns right now what comes to mind?… probably Bono’s (RED) Campaign for HIV/Aids, the Susan G. Komen’s Pink Campaign for Breast Cancer Awareness and this month’s Go Red Campaign (Red Dress) for the American Heart Association.

So how did they all make such a successful campaign… well here are the 3 most common variables:
• A cool and comfortable message with the cause
• A credible celebrity advocate
• Partnerships with Other Brands

COOL MESSAGE
This might sound strange, but people either need to relate to a cause they are not ashamed of like Heart Disease or Breast Cancer; or they need to feel comfortable talking about it like HIV/Aids and Malaria. Many diseases unfortunately sometimes have uncomfortable stigmas where people don’t want to associate with them. Creating a tagline and image around the disease that allows for people to feel comfortable promoting it without ultimately being accused of having it can be key (I know this sounds awful but before you can get people to be comfortable you have to make them feel comfortable). Why do you think so many of the cause programs relate to a color not the cause? It allows a sense of comfort… eventually the campaign will get there and with more awareness comes education.

CREDIBLE CELEBRITIES
One way to jump-start the cool and comfortable factor is by sharing stories of celebrities that are inflicted with the disease or who want to associate themselves with the cause. If celebrities are willing to let everyone in the world know about their disease that automatically helps ease some other people’s tensions about admitting their infliction. Plus with celebrities’ circles there is more room for donors, sponsors, and events to increase fundraising and awareness. Here are just some top celebs and the causes they have associated themselves with:
• Bono- (RED) Campaign, HIV/Aids
• Elton John- Aids
• Heidi Klum- Red Dress Campaign/American Heart Association
• Reese Witherspoon- AVON & Breast Cancer Awareness
• Oprah Winfrey- Angel Network
• Paul Newman- His own causes funded by Newman’s Own products
• Michael J. Fox- Parkinson’s Disease
http://www.celebcauses.com/

BRAND PARTNERSHIPS
The (RED) Campaign is arguably doing the best job of this right now… with cool brands ranging from Converse to Apple to Armani to Gap… they are picky and they can be--the brands who have associated with (RED) have seen an increase in their sales in short periods of time. (RED) even recently hosted a pop-up store with all of its red products in NYC during the holidays. Ultimately this partnership of co-branding has given a boost in revenue for the brands and the charity without having to “solicit” money.

The Red Dress campaign also did a great job, tying in brands like Campbell’s Soup to create a dual partnership with Nicole Miller and Jane Krakowski from 30 Rock. Nicole designed 3 dresses and consumers got to vote on their favorite. The winning dress was worn by Jane on the red carpet and every vote counted towards $1 towards the Red Dress Campaign. A credible fit and one that created a human interest to Campbell’s Soup and V8 brands that are beneficial for heart health.

Causes can do many things from intimate fundraisers to social gatherings, but to create a multi-million dollar campaign that truly gets noticed throughout the country and the world the three common variables tend to be: Cool Message, Credible Celebrities and Brand Partnerships (in that order!)

Sponsorship Audit- What Really Works

We love sponsorships, whether it is for a film festival, fashion show, sporting property or wine & food festival they are great, they tap into consumers’ passions, loyalties and lifestyle interests. And when you hit the nail on the head with a credible activation the results are staggering- you automatically act like a friend to the consumers instead of another salesman trying to make them buy something they don’t really need.

But in these difficult economic times, sponsorships need to be re-evaluated. There are way too many brands out there that sponsor an event and then just sit back and think the brand logo exposure is going to do something for them…. Well wrong. That is why right now, more than ever, everyone needs to do more with less and that starts with something we like to call a Sponsorship Audit.

If you have the internal resources go ahead and evaluate internally, but if you want an unbiased view, contract a freelancer or consultant, right now you could get one for relatively cheap, and you don’t have to deal with the annoying overhead of having a full time employee conducting this audit.

So what to do for a Sponsorship Audit. Well here are just a few things to take a look at:

• Your Target Consumer (not just demos, look behaviorally)
• The Sponsorship Platform's Target Consumer (again not just demos.. that means nothing)
• Who are the other sponsors (do you want to be associated with their brand identities)
• Would you consider partnering on special promotions or on-site activations with the other sponsors (half the cost)
  
• How is the sponsorship platform supporting you (do they include you in its ads, press, marketing material, etc)
• What is the sponsorship platform's long term strategy (are they growing or shrinking and do they seem to be positioning themselves well in this new technologically driven era)
  
• What are the free opportunities during the big events and throughout the year (have you been taking advantage of them... if not why not... they're free)
• What have you been doing to activate (what did that do for the brand)
• Have you been measuring activations (awareness, name acquisition, impressions)
• Have you been collecting names of the fans of the sponsorship platform and have you continued dialog with them (remember these are suppose to be your friends now, treat them like that, if you only talk to them once a year how do you expect them to react)
• What kind of press hits have you been getting and how have you been mentioned
  

Every sponsorship is different, and certainly you can’t be perfect in every area, but why continue a sponsorship that you can’t afford and that is not giving you the payback you want. Instead, invest in a few key platforms that make sense for your brand. Once you’ve decided on these you’ll feel comfortable to extend the relationship long term which in turn will allow you to re-negotiate your contract with a better annual rate, which solves your short term problem.