Identification with a Socially Responsible Apparel Company: Role of Cause-Related Marketing Strategy in Building Brand Loyalty

Abstract

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) includes actions that further the interests of society as a whole and extend beyond the interests of the firm. As one type of CSR, cause-related marketing (CRM) brings several benefits to companies such as enhancing consumer's attitudes towards a brand and increasing customer's purchase intent. Consumers can also benefit as they fulfill self-definitional needs by linking their identity with a brand that engages in a CRM strategy (Curra´s-Pe´rez, Bigne´-Alcan˜iz, & Alvarado-Herrera, 2009). Organizations have recognized that different strategies exist (e.g., sponsorship marketing) but despite the growing cause-related marketing literature, there is limited empirical research investigating types of cause-related business strategies (CRBS) and their impact on consumer response. The purposes of this study were threefold; First, we identified and defined different types of CRBS. Second, we investigated the impact of four different types of CRBS on consumer perceptions of an apparel brand. Third, we assessed the effectiveness of different types of CRBS on consumers.To facilitate this research the following CRBS were identified and defined: sponsorshiplinked marketing, transaction-based CRM, cause-related event marketing, and cause-related experiential marketing. Sponsorship-linked marketing is a non-conditional donation. Brands engaged in sponsorship-linked marketing donate resources to a social cause. An example is American Apparel, a U.S. apparel brand, donating 5,000 pairs of socks to the victims of the Haitian earthquake in 2010. Transaction-based CRM is the practice of a brand making a donation to a social cause as a result of consumers' purchasing the brand's products or services. An example is BCBG MAXAZRIA, a France-based apparel brand, donating 20% of the profits from the sale of specially designed ear buds to the Susan G. Komen for the cure organization, a non-profit that works to end breast cancer. Cause-related event marketing creates a specific event to support a cause and provides a recreational value to event participants in exchange for their direct or indirect donation. An example is Clinique's Happy e-card event. Clinique donated $1 for each e-card sent to friends through their website. Cause-related experiential marketing links an event or campaign to socially responsible causes and initiatives. An example is TOMS shoes' "One Day without Shoes" campaign. This campaign entailed asking customers to live one day without wearing shoes to experience what it is like to live like the millions of children in Africa who live without shoes.Conceptual framework. As a conceptual framework, the four types of CRBS were categorized based on Pine and Gilmore's (1998) four realms of experience that identify experience using two dimensions: customer involvement (high vs. low participation) and customer connection (absorption vs. immersion'). Cause-related experiential marketing reflects high involvement and high connection since event participants are actively engaged in the cause...