5 Cause Promotions You'll See More of in 2013

Photo by Jaunted.com via DesignTaxi.com

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.

7 thoughts on “5 Cause Promotions You'll See More of in 2013”

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  4. Getting the Real and Digitals world closer is an amazing idea. This will help expedite processes that required a lot of man hours before. People will be able to find products faster and be more informed about these products all with the comfort of being in their own homes. Also this will target a younger society as well and they will become become educated about products that they would have otherwise never found out about.

  5. 2013 was a year that where more and more companies decided to take to social media to promote their cause campaigns. Social media is a great way to not only spread the awareness of a campaign, but to also get younger generations involved. I seen so many men (even women with fake mustaches) post on instagram/facebook promoting #movember in Nov 2013. I don’t recall such a trend in the years prior. The viral frenzy over Make a Wish’s Batkid, no doubt resulted in tons of donations from people who were unaware of the program before Batkid went viral via social media. 2013 appeared to be the year that made giving back and supporting good causes trendy in the social media universe. Now that it is 2014, I imagine there is nothing but more good things to come as more and more companies and even smaller businesses are jumping on the bandwagon to promote various causes.

  6. I can imagine that in 2014 we will also see a rise in the use of social media to engage and inform not only younger generations, but older ones as well, uniting people across the internet. Cause promotions from small businesses are trending as well which is a great advancement for small businesses to give back to the community too, and to increase their own brand loyalty just how the larger corporations manipulate profits by promoting causes. Linking the digital world to cause promotions is genius and will enhance the experience of giving back to the community by instantly documenting and sharing all cause promotion endeavors.

  7. I definitely think it is very interesting the emphasis placed on digital avenues in recent times when it comes to cause promotions. It makes sense though, because that is literally the best way to promote & market anything in the new decade and within the new generation. Cause promotions isn’t a new concept, but pairing it with the internet/digital media could take an old concept and put an even better, newer twist on it, a positive one.

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