I just finished compiling my picks for the Best Cause Marketing Campaigns of 2012. I have a list on my blog by cause marketing category, and an expanded collection of thirty campaigns on Pinterest. Check them out, and let me know what was your favorite campaign of 2012 (even if it wasn’t on my list!). Comment here or use the hashtag #bestcause12.
In this list of campaigns are five that I’m sure you’ll see more of in 2013.
More Campaigns Involving Pinterest
Pinterest was the red-hot social media platform in 2012. But cause marketing is just getting started on the virtual pin board. Elizabeth Arden’s #PinItToGiveIt campaign is just a sign of bigger things to come. Cause campaigns on Instagram will also take off. With its young, mobile users, Instagram is sure to be a hot property for brands and nonprofits alike in 2013.
More Mobile Campaigns
One campaign that caught my eye last year was Saucony’s Run4Good app, which allows runners to donate to community youth running programs when they logged miles with the app. We’ll see more apps for good in the new year, such as Checkinforgood.com, that allow donors to give when they shop.
More Campaigns that Bridge the Real and Digital Worlds
Thanks to QR Codes, we have offline hyperlinks that can link the physical world to the digital world. While QR Codes won’t last forever (people are already talking about Video Response Codes) adoption may peak in 2013. Planned Parenthood’s Where Did You Wear It campaign had digital (ahem) explorers checking in with QR Codes on condoms. When I wrote about this program last March, this innovative and successful campaign had 65,000 website visitors and 4,500 check-ins. It got young people talking about sex and protection. Watch for more cause campaigns in 2013 that combine location-based marketing with mobile and QR Codes.
More Cause Products From Small Businesses
Cause products–things made and marketed specifically to support a cause–aren’t just for big businesses. Last spring I wrote about a small brewery just two miles from my house that brewed Rescue One Kölsch to help the family of a firefighter who died on duty. When you see these cause products from small businesses, support them! They help local causes that are too often overlooked by that masses of people who flock to brand name charities.
More Cause Marketing Everywhere
Take a look at my Best Cause Marketing of 2012 Pinterest board. You’ll see smashed up Hot Wheels on key chains that urge people not to drink and drive. You’ll read about an Atlanta parking garage that donates to charities when drivers make a reservation. You’ll even see jets with mustaches in support of Movember. Causse will continue to permeate just about every part of our lives.
Coming off the Mayan Apocalypse scare in December, many naysayers are calling 2013 an unlucky year. Humbug! I predict that it will be remembered as a good year in which individuals and businesses resolved to support a cause, and kept their resolution.