Category: Loyalty Marketing

Changing How We Think About Giving Can Help Change the World

By: Mark Dority, Director of Marketing

“The way we’ve been taught to think about giving and charity and the nonprofit sector are actually undermining the causes we love and our profound yearning to change the world.” – Dan Pallotta, Founder, AIDS Ride and Breast Cancer 3-Day.

I found these words, spoken by Pallotta during the recent TED 2013 conference in Long Beach, California, particularly inspiring because they speak to what KULA is all about: in essence, doing well while doing good.

And he’s right. At the core of Pallotta’s presentation is the hard fact that, as a society, we’re not conditioned to think about nonprofits as businesses that can grow, so they are hobbled by an obsession with “overhead” in the wider donor community.

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Empowering the Cause-Minded Consumer – How to Create Brand Advocates and Encourage Long-Lasting Loyalty

By Mark Dority, Director of Marketing, KULA Causes

In 2006, U2 frontman and activist Bono and politician Bobby Shriver hit on the idea of creating a cause marketing campaign that could enlist the help of almost any consumer brand in order to raise funds for fighting HIV/AIDS in Africa. 

By December of 2012, companies as diverse and well-known as Apple, Nike, Motorola, American Express, Starbucks and Microsoft – as well as many other global brands – had launched Product Red campaigns, raising over $200 million for the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. 

It’s one of the largest cause marketing campaigns, ever. Of course, the above companies couldn’t have done it alone. What made the success of the greater Product Red campaign possible was, and still is, the rising cause consciousness of consumers all over the globe. 

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Rethinking Your Loyalty Strategy: Is Cause-Related Marketing a Part of It?

By: Mark Dority, Director of Marketing, KULA Causes

It seems that today’s loyalty programs aren’t inspiring a whole lot of brand-love…at least, according to a recent study from Deloitte. 

The concept of rewarding customers for their repeat business goes back to at least the late 1700s. But it’s airlines – along with hotels – that pioneered the modern loyalty program or “points for rewards” model that we’ve come to know. But, despite these companies’ vast loyalty experience, the US fiscal crisis of 2008 and the ensuing recession have had a profound effect on buyer behavior.

During an economic crunch, most consumers find themselves forced to focus more on hunting for the lowest possible prices than on racking up rewards. 

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Global Giving, Choice, Innovative Partnerships and the Customer Experience: This Week’s Hot Cause and Loyalty Marketing Trends

By: Mark Dority, Director of Marketing

In order to help our company partners provide the best possible Cause-Related Loyalty Marketing (CLM) services to their loyal customers, we always have to stay on top of the latest trends in loyalty and cause marketing.

The past week or so has been a big one, with plenty of news stories that support how we see the current stage – and future evolution – of both fields, and the trends we have highlighted and discussed in our blog and other published pieces.

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Three Cheers for Corporate Philanthropy!

By: Mark Dority, Director of Marketing

I recently posted a link to a Chronicle of Philanthropy article on KULA’s Twitter feed. The article’s title: “America’s Big Donors Lag in Charitable Giving.”

The title is pretty self-explanatory. In the article itself, the writers report that the vast majority of donations from the rich went to elite institutions such as hospitals, universities and private foundations – although local community groups are starting to see more donations.

Sounds a bit glum, no? Well actually, it isn’t. Although the article states that private philanthropy by some of the country’s wealthiest people has yet to bounce back to pre-recession levels, look closely at the operative term being used. Private.

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Meaningful Brand Loyalty is Evolving

The Currency of Giving discusses trends at the intersection of loyalty, cause marketing and corporate philanthropy.
 
 
 
 

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This blog is produced by KULA, a B2B enabling technology that empowers companies to measure, engage, and reward their customers through democratized charitable giving.