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This study presents the first field investigation of the sales impact of cause-related marketing promotions (CMPs) in retail settings. Whereas prior work primarily studies CMPs in simplified experimental settings, actual fast-moving consumer goods markets are considerably more complex; ergo, consumers are unlikely to consider and evaluate all brands and CMPs in detail. In this analysis based on 63 CMPs across 20 categories, the authors therefore investigate the short-term sales impact of CMPs as a function of the brand and category context in which they are executed. On average, CMPs run 11 weeks and donate 3.2% of product price, resulting in an average sales lift of 4.9% per week. The findings suggest that a necessary precondition for CMP success is that consumers notice it at the point of sale and hence have considered the CMP brand for reasons other than the CMP itself. Accordingly, the sales impact of CMP can more than double when the category assortment is smaller, the category has less price dispersion, the brand is a category leader, or the brand is priced below the category average. Brands operating in less favorable market conditions can still achieve above-average CMP impact by combining CMPs with price promotions to ensure consumer consideration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cause-related marketing (CM), which links corporate donations to consumer purchases, has ongoing momentum in marketing. As the magnitude and direction of consumers' response to CM are inconclusive, this meta-analysis synthesizes evidence on main and moderator effects from 237 studies. On average, the authors find a moderate effect for attitudinal response (d = .458) and a weak effect for behavioral response (d = .283; both ps <.001), both with high underlying heterogeneity. A multivariate meta-regression on CM moderators grounded along four conceptual pillars—transparency, signals of sincerity, purchase context, and consumers' emotional attachment to CM—shows that attitudinal effects hinge mostly on emotional attachment. Suboptimal execution and poor communication of the donation appeal in particular can even have detrimental effects on attitudes. In addition, various moderators from other pillars play a relevant role. For behavioral outcomes, both emotional attachment and signals of sincerity are equally important. The visual prominence of the donation is the most relevant individual moderator, with only a few others related to the two pillars following at some distance. Therefore, CM requires different priorities depending on corporate objectives. This research further compares the effects of CM with those of discounts and other corporate social responsibility marketing instruments, simulates practical examples, and provides avenues for further research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Information about ethical strengths and weaknesses of individual products (e.g., cause-related marketing, corporate social responsibility records) is increasingly available in the marketplace. However, market shares of ethical brands are [...]

Smartphones have made it nearly effortless to share images of branded experiences. This research classifies social media brand imagery and studies user response. Aside from packshots (standalone product images), two types of brand-related selfie images appear online: consumer selfies (featuring brands and consumers' faces) and an emerging phenomenon the authors term "brand selfies" (invisible consumers holding a branded product). The authors use convolutional neural networks to identify these archetypes and train language models to infer social media response to more than a quarter-million brand-image posts (185 brands on Twitter and Instagram). They find that consumer-selfie images receive more sender engagement (i.e., likes and comments), whereas brand selfies result in more brand engagement, expressed by purchase intentions. These results cast doubt on whether conventional social media metrics are appropriate indicators of brand engagement. Results for display ads are consistent with this observation, with higher click-through rates for brand selfies than for consumer selfies. A controlled lab experiment suggests that self-reference is driving the differential response to selfie images. Collectively, these results demonstrate how (interpretable) machine learning helps extract marketing-relevant information from unstructured multimedia content and that selfie images are a matter of perspective in terms of actual brand engagement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses how to select the standard, or default, product or service to maximize customer satisfaction and boost profits while decreasing risks for both customers and the company. The use of decision tools and defaults taxonomies is included.