9 Brands Getting Great ROI From Cause Marketing Campaigns

For the past decade, influencer-related cause marketing campaigns have been instrumental in building customer loyalty and driving sales. In fact, awards now honor brands for their social good campaign accomplishments. Gregory Galant, co-founder of Shorty Awards, said during the third annual awards night that “… Social Good is more relevant than ever, and consumers continue to respond to authentic brands that have a strong voice.”

Social good, coupled with influencer marketing, not only makes a difference in the world, but also impacts a brand’s bottom line, leading to huge ROI. In this post, you’re going to learn how brands are getting great ROI thanks to their cause marketing campaigns.

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9 Brands to Watch for Their Cause Marketing Campaigns

Here are nine brands who are getting it right when it comes to cause marketing campaigns:

1. Blog Tours with Social Media Amplification

In September, St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital partnered with influencers across the country to help with their Childhood Cancer Awareness campaign. The campaign aimed to raise awareness on and put an end to childhood cancer. The influencers participated in blog tours with social media amplification. Aside from that, St. Jude hosted a Run/Walk to End Childhood Cancer to raise funds for cancer research. Tammilee is one of the influencers who participated, and she wrote a blog post to help St. Jude Hospital with its fundraising goals. Additionally, she shared photos on her Instagram and Facebook accounts to support the cause.

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2. Facebook Campaigns

The Body Shop and Cruelty Free International organized the #ForeverAgainstAnimalTesting campaign. The objective was to gather signatures to bring to legislature that would put an end to cosmetic animal testing. They partnered with global influencers in the lifestyle and fashion niche to raise awareness and help with the cause. Some of the influencers were actors Ariel Winter, Masie Williams, and Sadie Sink. Beauty and Fashion influencers, such as Zoe Brown, also participated.

The influencers used Facebook and other social media platforms during the campaign. Ultimately, over 1 million signatures were gathered online. The brand also hosted street protests and other live events, which resulted to a total of 8 million signatures. These signatures were brought before the United Nations to propose laws to protect animals from cosmetic testing.

With this success, The Body Shop’s International Brand Communications Director, Charlotte Adjchavanich, said in an interview that the campaign brought their brand a lot of positive sentiment. “It’s not just about sales,” she said. “It’s about getting people involved in our campaign.”

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3. Instagram Campaigns + Live Events

Olay recently partnered with nine fashion/lifestyle influencers (called Fearless9) and introduced them to the #FaceAnything challenge. The objective was to encourage women all over the world to embrace their true beauty and never be ashamed. For 28 days, the influencers followed a new skincare regimen using Olay products and shared updates on Instagram. At the end of the challenge, Olay held a New York Fashion Week runway show highlighting the make-up free influencers. Other influencers joined the cause by accepting the challenge and attending the live event make-up free. The Instagram campaign partnered with a live event successfully raised brand awareness while encouraging the audience to act.

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4. Live Events

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is on its third annual #LightTheWorld campaign to celebrate the Christmas season. Each year, they invite people to give as Jesus gave, and share their blessings and light to the world. They place vending machines on selected locations worldwide. However, instead of snacks, you buy things like food, clothing, shelter, or other charitable items for people in need. The first unveiling happened in a busy mall in Manila last week. Others are scheduled below.

Manila–Friday, Nov. 23 (11 am)
New York–Tuesday, Nov. 27 (11 am)
Salt Lake City–Wed., Nov. 28 (6:00 pm dinner; 7:00 pm unveiling)
Arizona–Thursday, Nov. 29 (10:00 am)
London–Friday, Nov. 30 (TBD)

They are lining up influencers in each location to attend the unveiling and promote the Giving Machines. For example, in Manila, they partnered with CNN junior anchor, Janella Renner, and Catholic Cardinal Luis Tagle. They also partnered with gaming and fitness advocates Eric and Rona Tai, and young actor, Jairus Aquino. These influencers posted videos on their social media accounts and at the same time attended the live event and press conference.

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5. Live Streaming (Instagram Stories)

National Geographic is known for its campaigns that promote conservation of the earth and animal life. In their campaign to reduce the world’s plastic usage, their use of Instagram Stories helped raise awareness and promote their call to action. In addition, their wildlife photographers who are also influencers, helped promote their campaigns by posting on their own accounts. For example, photographers like Cristina Mittermeier and Ami Vitale posted photos of different animals and asked their followers to protect them by sustaining a healthy environment.

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6. Podcast

In its “Be Internet Awesome” campaign, Google enlisted influencers to complete a variety of activation types with the goal of raising awareness for and sharing tools to combat cyberbullying. The program’s campaign tactics included a blog tour with social media amplification, live events, Twitter party, and YouTube video. Additionally, popular blogger Amiyrah Martin and her husband discussed their bullying experience and tips for helping kids with cyberbullying on their parenting podcast, Cool Hip Parents. The combination of activations contributed to increasing the reach and success of the campaign.

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7. Snapchat

Walmart is known for its dedication to end hunger as evidenced in its cause marketing campaigns. In fact, Kathleen McLaughlin, president of the Walmart Foundation and Chief Sustainability Officer for Walmart, said that their campaigns are “…great example[s] of our long-standing commitment to hunger relief and dedication to ensuring every family has access to affordable, healthier and sustainably grown food.”

Last year, Walmart partnered with Feeding America in its Fight Hunger, Spark Change campaign. They activated in-store and online events which aimed to raise awareness and invite people to join the cause. For every social media post with the hashtag #FightHunger, Walmart donated $.90 cents to secure meals for the needy. The audience could either send a tweet or post comments on Facebook and Instagram with the hashtag #FightHunger. Additionally, they could use Snapchat filters in certain stores.

Walmart also partnered with 7 influencers to help spread the word and encourage everyone to act. By the end of the campaign, over 80,000 people used the Snapchat filters. The total digital and media interactions reached 1.6MM, which equaled to over 18MM meals for Feeding America.

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8. Twitter Campaigns

Calling to its Twitter audience, Boxed Water aimed to move the cause of environmentalism further by activating the #ReTree campaign. The campaign suited Boxed Water’s call for a more sustainable and better way of using packaged water. They partnered with the National Forest Foundation and committed to plant two trees for every tweet using the hashtag #ReTree. Influencers, such as Michael Heverly and the Shaed Band, among others, joined the cause and tweeted using the hashtag. In effect, the tweets resulted in 612,567 trees planted.

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9. Video (YouTube)

Dig Deep is a nonprofit organization working to move the cause of clean water access as a human right. Dig Deep activated a cause marketing campaign on YouTube by partnering with three YouTubers to take on the #4Liters challenge. The brand challenged influencers to consume only four liters of water for 24 hours. Why four liters? Because it is the minimum water requirement to survive a day.

The objective was to raise awareness and encourage the audience to be mindful about their water consumption. As stated in the video, the influencers thought the challenge was insightful. Furthermore, it made them appreciate their access to clean water that not all people have. The three videos gathered about 120,000 views and 9.9 percent engagement.

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How to Choose the Best Activation for your Brand’s Cause Marketing Campaign

Recent studies show that influencer marketing can get your brand ROI that is 11% higher than traditional marketing. That may be especially true if the right activations are put to place. Brands big and small have suffered backlashes with wrong or irrelevant activation. Learn more about choosing the right activation to get the best ROI results for your next cause marketing campaign.

Wrapping It All Up

Influencer-related cause marketing campaigns help brands to have a strong voice and stand for something. In return, brands drive sales and increase customer loyalty. Several activation types are available to make cause marketing campaigns successful. Brands can decide on which activation to use that would get them the best results.