Brands Doing Good: An Introduction to Cause Fusion, as the Next Frontier beyond Cause Marketing
Introducing Cause Fusion
For companies and brands who already have a successful track record of Cause Marketing, or for those starting out, Cause Fusion is a strong consideration to take things to the next level.
Firstly, a definition. In short:
“Cause Fusion is the collaborative integration of a cause into a commercial entity.”
From a practical perspective, Cause Fusion represents a multi-year merger(*) of a cause into a commercial entity, almost like creating a new department. This might include sharing of office space, people, IT, marketing, and other company resources, with the non-profit.
Cause Fusion is therefore a long-term, strategic, and purpose-led initiative a company makes with a specific brand (or brands) in mind. It has the potential to significantly enhance employee and stakeholder engagement, increase loyalty, attract, and retain talent – in fact, all of the people-pieces you need to optimize the impact and sustainability of a brand in the market.
As such it is a unique, authentic, and powerful opportunity to demonstrate fusion of purpose into your company to create and sustain competitive advantage in the market.
Cause Fusion requires the same collaborative approach and best practices of Cause Marketing, with the addition of the company and brand:
Designing the Cause Fusion program to map towards achieving long-term impact for the cause and its primary stakeholders;
Delivering cornerstone funding to the cause throughout the Cause Fusion program;
Developing in sustainability initiatives from the start to bridge through potential transition or increase program capacity;
With all these three components above in place, signing a multi-year (minimum 3 year, ideally 5 year) partnership.
Cause Fusion therefore requires company-wide sponsorship and will tend to be most effective with companies who either have one long-standing brand aligned with the cause, or with companies who have multiple brands that can be authentically positioned as complimentary to the cause.
Cause Fusion Benefits
Cause Fusion done well significantly enriches all the benefits of Cause Marketing – driving far higher employee and stakeholder engagement, contribution, and satisfaction; surpassing brand loyalty metrics with consumers; retaining talent; and attracting new consumers and, indeed, talent to the brand.
It works (or fails) for all the same reasons as a Cause Marketing campaign but because of the level and length of commitment, efficacy of the program design, and significantly higher impact on the cause – it resonates with consumers, employees, prospective talent, and other key stakeholders at a much higher level. It is therefore the ultimate model to bring the personality of purpose to life, through the brand.
As with any cornerstone funder of a non-profit, the company would be entitled to a number of benefits around brand placement, branded content, access to non-profit program content, recognition at selected events, connection to certain other non-profit stakeholders.
All of these would be materially amplified by the daily opportunity to engage its people (and stakeholders generally) with non-profit programming and people. When you consider the potential value vs cost of engagement, loyalty and talent, Cause Fusion is an innovative and meaningful solution to authentically create and sustain competitive advantage in the market.
There Are Three Primary Reasons for This Increased Value
Firstly, because of the level of due diligence that goes into a long-term partnership (or affiliation), the authenticity and fit between the brand and cause is genuine and clear, which alleviates the #1 reason why Cause Marketing campaigns and programs, fail.
Secondly, because of the physical (or virtual/hybrid) integration of the cause into the company, it furnishes employees with easier access to get involved, increased opportunity to develop relationships with peers in the cause, and a much more visible measure of impact – by seeing the work directly from inside-out. The merger of certain services (co-location, systems integration, regular virtual check-ins) all foster a sense of cohesion between the cause and company employees, that lead to an enriched culture. It is this power of human connection that is perhaps the most impactful part of a Cause Fusion program, resulting in new initiatives, campaigns and programs that can deliver value for the cause and the company.
Thirdly, because of the long-term nature and higher financial commitments involved in the partnership, it enables both the company and cause to build towards much larger goals. From a non-profit perspective this builds critical capacity to enable them to increase sustainability and improve program outcomes. From a company and brand perspective, it provides the option to be strategic and tactical about marketing impact. The partnership can exist throughout the entire see- think- do- care consumer journey, simultaneously, for multiple consumer targets. Thus, appealing to a broader base of consumers, rather than having to be targeted at a specific group, based upon their stage in the lifecycle.
So, Cause Fusion isn’t for everyone. However, for companies who are purpose-driven, with well established brands and portfolios of complimentary brands, it is the ultimate way to demonstrate commitment to a cause. In doing so, companies and causes together can lever the power of human connection to ignite and inspire stakeholder contribution, over the long term at levels never seen before.
(*) Please note: From a legal perspective a non-profit cannot be acquired or merged with a for-profit. So, from this viewpoint, Cause Fusion would represent a strong, legally documented Affiliation and Shared Services Agreement, whereby the benefit of resources (money, people, tech) flowed to the non-profit.
Read the last article in the series “Leading with Purpose: How Well Are You Exhibiting these 7 Traits, to Lead Your People, Brands and Company with Purpose?”.
About PurposeFused
At PurposeFused, we use purpose to unlock people’s potential to optimize their performance and impact. We act as Purpose Partners with organizations, individual leaders and teams to solve immediate challenges while driving long-term value. We do this by inspiring people and organizations to establish meaningful objectives fused with purpose, so they can be intentional about the positive impact they aspire to have on themselves, each other and society as a whole. Everything we do is at the intersection between people, purpose and performance, with the vision of making a meaningful contribution to a better world with purpose.
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