No A, O & B letters in the UK! Find out how cause marketing rules the roost in India too

9 years ago

Image courtesy: pioneeeringooh.com

Letters A, O and B are nowhere to be seen in the UK. S_, wh_se mischief is it?

It’s no prank. It is actually a marketing strategy adopted by the NHS Blood and Transplant. The campaign #MissingType aims at spreading awareness about the current shortage of donors for A, O and B blood groups and thus encouraging people to contribute to the good cause while the country observes National Blood Week from June 8 to 14.

A fine example of cause marketing, this territory is being explored by the corporates as well. During the devastating Nepal earthquake we saw the human face of capitalists too.

Brands now realise that true business is transcending the confines of transactions and contributing to society. Otherwise, what does a telecom company has to do with tigers, or an apparel line with water, or a consumer products brand with education, or, for that matter, a mobile phone manufacturer with e-waste management?

It’s heartening to see business bigwigs shouldering their share of community responsibilities with gusto. Here are some Indian examples of cause branding:

Aircel: Save Our Tiger

1411 was just another number for all of us until Aircel in association with WWF-India roared loud that “Now just 1411 left” sounding an alarm that it’s high time we geared up for saving our national pride, tigers. The “Save Our Tiger” campaign drew the country’s attention towards the falling number of tigers.

Procter & Gamble: Siksha

A part of P&G’s CSR programme, Siksha was launched in 2005 in association with CRY to educate underprivileged children. With the tagline “Padhega India toh badhega India”, they focused on infrastructure development.

Tata Tea: Jaago Re

The heady concoction of social awareness and ad campaign shook the people around the country to consciousness. Launched in 2008, Jaago Re (Wake Up) was originally meant to take on the competitor HUL bringing all the Tata brands of tea under one umbrella, that is Tata Tea. But instead what it did was broached serious issues like “Right to Vote” during Lok Sabha elections and batted for the cause. The campaign provided a way to increase citizen activism.

Fair & Lovely: Project Saraswati

Under the project, scholarships of up to a lakh were awarded to girl students from across the country so that they could pursue their graduate and postgraduate courses. Lovely idea! And fairly won the game too!

Times of India: Teach India

In 2010, the leading media house volunteered to work on teaching and skilling the underprivileged youth to enhance their spoken English and thus increasing their chances of employability. Thousands of volunteers lent a hand in the good cause.

HUL (Lifebuoy): Swasthya Chetna, Help a Child Reach 5

Swasthya Chetna, the five-year health and hygiene education programme kicked off in 2002 with an objective to aware 200 million people in rural and urban areas about the importance of adopting good health and hygience practices. It’s Help a Child Reach 5 helps is a movement that teaches good hand-washing habits.

Nokia: Take-Back Recycle

Nokia welcomed 2009 with an initiative Take-Back Recycle that harped on educating mobile phone users about the importance of recycling e-waste. The company encouraged users to dispose their handsets at their stores. It also planted a tree for every handset dropped at the counter.

Colgate: Zero Tooth Decay

In 2009, the company celebrated October as Oral Health Month during which it conducted free dental camps across the country.