Purposeful ads that are executed well are more effective than ads that do not show a company is committed to wider social benefits, according to the research, which was commissioned by the Institute of Practitioners in Advertising. Successful purposeful ads also scored more highly both when looking at how far they improve market share and the extent to which they build brands in the long term, the study found. Meanwhile, less successful purposeful ads, which account for almost half of purposeful ads in the study, have the opposite result. They scored far lower than campaigns with no wider social message.

“If being purposeful means doing ads to you, then you’re probably doing it wrong.”

There are a few criteria which need to be met for strategic brand purpose work and stand a chance of delivering. The first is choosing a meaningful issue to address. The second is asking whether your brand can connect to the issue in a relevant and distinctive way? And finally, it must focus on an issue that your brand can do something significant about, rather than just ‘raising awareness’. ...While the new campaign might not have done much harm, at best, it is a waste of time and money. The content is off-character and therefore off-brand, it builds no memory structure, and has a negative effect on purchase intent.

Sometimes we marketers can climb so far up the brand ladder from functional benefits to emotional benefits to social benefits, we can lose touch with why people are buying our products in the first place. There is power in purpose-driven brands. And yet, when every piece of marketing attempts to communicate some kind of social purpose, social purpose can start to lose its meaning, particularly when purpose is left to the agency.Sometimes we marketers can climb so far up the brand ladder from functional benefits to emotional benefits to social benefits, we can lose touch with why people are buying our products in the first place.

"Models of Impact is a strategic business-design toolkit. Our mission is to promote legacy and entrepreneurship in the social impact community by developing tools and resources that make it easy (and fun!) to design disruptive business models. Our method is comprised of a simple 4-step process: Learn, Invent, Program, and Report. Our toolkit is designed for Educators, Entrepreneurs, Designers, and Non-Profits, and is available on a "Pay-What-You-Want" basis for immediate download. This .zip file contains a series of game-based workshop curricula and brainstorm activities, a comprehensive glossary that documents 101 business models, a series of 3 maps, and a library of 98 icons."

"The goal of making money is making money. The goal of social change is social change. Sometimes the two meet in the middle, but usually they don’t, and that’s absolutely fine. For a new generation of Samaritans who need a financial return on their compassion, a new slogan may provide some necessary extra motivation. But the rest of us don’t have to settle for self-limiting, self-promoting and self-interested ‘solutions.’ ‘Doing good and doing well’ is no basis for social transformation. It’s time it was put to bed."

"What many viewers are looking for today is a more inspirational, aspirational message," she says. "Don't tell me what I need to worry about. I already know that."

Best and worst of cause marketing in 2006 according to Paul Jones of the Cause-Related Marketing blog

Using affinity social-cause marketing techniques -- as opposed to sports/entertainment affinity marketing -- increases consumers' perception of brands' trustworthiness, according to a recent MIT Sloan Management Review article. (via WOM Research newslette

Logic+Emotion's David Armano has graphically portrayed U2 frontman Bono's philanthropic empire

Cause marketing in Zambia

It's participatory, viral and cause marketing all rolled up into one.

Proctor & Gamble is doing social marketing with PSI and blogging about it

A $100,000 package of in-kind communications services to create and launch a breakthrough cause marketing campaign for a visionary nonprofit and its corporate partner. Applications due 7/31/06.

Cause Marketing Forum

Change Me is an open conversation that brings people together to share ideas through powerful imagery. Find an image that inspires you and use it to express an idea that has the ability to touch or affect the person viewing it.

Cause Marketing Forum

Excellent article by Philip Kotler and Nancy Lee in the Stanford Social Innovation Review on corporate social marketing.