All Talk, Little Action: Study Reveals How Cause Marketing Can Move Consumers from Talk to Purchase

NEW YORK, June 23, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- While Americans claim they are more likely to purchase a product if the brand supports a cause, and more than 40 percent have "liked" a brand or posted on Facebook for supporting a cause, barely one in five actually put their money where their good intentions are by switching brands, paying more or purchasing more.  

That's one of the key findings in a new study co-sponsored by BlogHer, the leading participatory news, entertainment and information network for women online, and the recently launched Cause Consumer Engagement specialty at Ketchum, one of the world's largest global communications firms, as part of the BlogHer 2011 Social Media Matters Study. The study, fielded by the Nielsen Company to nationally representative samples, was conducted to gather insights on current social media and cause marketing trends in the U.S. general online population and members of the BlogHer community. In addition to the United States, the study was fielded in Brazil, Germany and Hong Kong.

"This research is significant because it contrasts what consumers actually do versus what they say they would do in reaction to a hypothetical cause marketing situation," said Kelley Skoloda, partner and director of Ketchum's Global Brand Marketing Practice. "In many instances, it appears cause programs have a far greater effect on brand affinity, reputation and share of voice than on sales. But the research also revealed the keys to turn talk into action."  

While only 23 percent of consumers report a change in their purchase behavior based on a cause, nearly twice that number report using social media and word-of-mouth to talk about a cause.

"The study reveals four key drivers that brands must focus on to generate consumer engagement and sales," noted Melissa Kinch, senior vice president and associate director of Ketchum's North American Corporate Practice. "These drivers are target your most passionate audience, understand what they are passionate about, include local engagement opportunities, and leverage online influencers."

Personal and local cause support critical to short-term sales

The study finds people are willing to change purchase behavior if the cause aligns with their personal passions and impacts them, their community or someone close to them.  

• Passion for a cause is the top reason why Americans evangelize a particular brand and the cause it supports, with 38 percent of adults saying it was the primary reason why they have written, blogged or tweeted about a brand and cause.  
• People want cause support to be simple and easy: 48 percent are most receptive to programs from which companies donate a portion of sales to a cause, and 38 percent want companies to make it easy to support a cause online (e.g., become a Facebook friend).  
• About half (46 percent) of those surveyed are motivated to buy a product from a company when it makes a donation to a local school or organization, a figure that jumps to 70 percent for older adults aged 65 to 76.  
• Americans are most passionate about causes supporting breast cancer initiatives (44 percent), animals (36 percent) and children's causes (35 percent).  

"The findings show consumers will purchase a product if they are passionate about the cause associated with it or if it's important to them and their loved ones," said Kinch. "Too often, brands focus on causes that are less relevant to consumers and later wonder why there is no impact on sales. While there's certainly still a place for longer-term reputational cause or responsibility programs that educate customers about causes, short-term sales are clearly driven by addressing consumers' personal passions."

Young adults are the cause trendsetters

The study also proves that companies interested in cause marketing benefit most from targeting young adults aged 18 to 27.

• While one-third of Americans report telling a friend or family member about a brand that was supporting a cause, nearly half of young adults were likely to do so.  
• Young adults' passion also translates to sales: 36 percent bought more of a product because it supported a cause close to them, and more than one-third said they switched to – and paid more for – a brand supporting a cause that was important to them.

"In our fourth year of conducting the Social Media Matters Study, we focused specifically on whether heavy social media usage leads to a decline in human connections and relationships, and found quite the opposite to be true," noted Elisa Camahort Page, co-founder and COO of BlogHer Inc. "Ketchum's cause-focused portion of the study goes even further, indicating that the youngest adults in the country are the most likely to turn their online media consumption into positive social action, and to try to influence their family and friends to do the same."

Global findings expose different cause preferences and how people share their support

• Brazilians prefer to support a cause via email, while those in Hong Kong like to share content and information about a cause via social media.
• Hong Kongers are the most likely to post an update their Facebook page urging friends to support a cause.
• Brazilians are far more likely to turn to social media than Germans to discuss a brand's cause and urge readers to make a purchase. Only 6 percent of Germans said they would blog or tweet about a cause, compared to 23 percent for Brazil, 16 percent for Hong Kong and 10 percent for the United States.
• While 42 percent of Americans have "liked" a brand or product on Facebook to support or learn about a cause, only 9 percent of Germans have done the same.

Ketchum launches Cause Consumer Engagement specialty

Anticipating the growth and dramatic technology-driven changes in cause marketing, Ketchum launched its Cause Consumer Engagement initiative earlier this month to help businesses maximize the effectiveness of their programs in this area.  

"As CMOs and other senior marketing executives spend more of their budgets on purpose-driven marketing, it's critical that they know how to achieve true consumer engagement for a brand," Skoloda said. "Our new Cause Consumer Engagement specialty helps clients achieve that by understanding and tapping the personal passions of consumers. This means knowing how the cause has intrinsically touched people's lives, knowing the difference between what consumers actually do versus what they say they will do, understanding the role of influencers, and knowing how to engage the right influencers in a way that's good for the business as well as for the cause."

Ketchum's ongoing relationship with BlogHer, which includes the second consecutive co-sponsorship of the BlogHer Social Media Matters Study, provides the agency with audience insights into women's purchasing behaviors that help develop more effective programming for clients.

An executive summary of the BlogHer 2011 Social Media Matters Study can be found at http://www.ketchum.com/BlogHer_Social_Media_Matters.

About the Survey

As part of the 2011 BlogHer Social Media Matters Study, Ketchum's Cause Consumer Engagement survey probed differences concerning cause marketing between men and women and among various age groups. A general U.S. population sample was fielded from a Nielsen Company panel. The results were weighted by age to be representative of U.S. online characteristics. There were 1,771 respondents. The margin of error at 99 percent confidence is +/- 2.2 percentage points. The study was conducted in March 2011.

About BlogHer

Reaching more than 26 million women each month (Nielsen Site Census, January 2011), BlogHer is the leading participatory news, entertainment and information network for women online. Founded in February 2005 by Elisa Camahort Page, Jory Des Jardins and Lisa Stone, BlogHer's mission is to create opportunities for women who blog to pursue exposure, education, community and economic empowerment. Today BlogHer creates opportunities for members via a community hub (www.blogher.com), annual conferences and a publishing network of more than 2,500 qualified, contextually targeted blog affiliates. BlogHer provides the highest quality content on a range of topics, with all blogs continually edited to meet strict editorial standards, including content quality, category relevance and blog frequency. BlogHer enjoys a strategic partnership with iVillage, part of Women@NBCU. BlogHer's investors are Venrock, GE/NBC Universal's Peacock Equity Fund, and Azure Capital Partners.

About Ketchum

Ketchum is a leading global communications firm with operations in more than 70 countries across six continents. Named 2010 Large PR Firm of the Year (Holmes Report and PR News) and the winner of an unprecedented three consecutive PRWeek Campaign of the Year Awards, Ketchum partners with clients to deliver strategic programming, game-changing creative and measurable results that build brands and reputations. For more information on Ketchum, a unit of Omnicom Group Inc. (NYSE: OMC), visit www.ketchum.com.

SOURCE Ketchum