“Cause-Related Marketing, Win-Win- Win?” - A Qualitative Study of the Pink Ribbon in Swedish Partner Companies’ CRM Campaign Authors: Jonas Berggren Caroline Stark Supervisor: Per Nilsson Student Umeå School of Business Fall semester 2010 Master thesis, 15 hp Acknowledgement Per Nilsson, our excellent supervisor Inger Granberg and Susanne Nilsson, our ever so helpful administrators The respondents, who made the study possible Thank you! I Abstract Today, people have become more aware about problems in the society and profit making companies are taking more and more responsibility for their actions. Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is something that they more commonly incorporate in their business strategy. Philanthropic actions are not always required from the society, however it is expected. Cause-Related Marketing (CRM) is one way for companies to implement and show responsibility. The concept is regarded as a process were the company, through marketing activities, contribute an amount to a non-profit organization or a cause. The Pink Ribbon campaign enhances the breast cancer as a cause and several companies are engaged in this particular campaign. We have conducted a qualitative study through semi-structured interviews with five companies: Lindex, ICA, Apoteket, ClasOhlson and EuroFlorist. The first three companies are senior partners and the two latter are pink partners. Our research question is as follows: How do Swedish partner companies employ the Pink Ribbon in their Cause-Related Marketing campaigns, and does it create a win-win-win situation? The purpose is to how the Swedish companies incorporate the Pink Ribbon in to their marketing campaigns, and therefore we also examine how CRM-theories work in practice. Hence, our aim was also to investigate if the company’s engagement is strategic or tactical. The purpose is also to find some explanations to why the companies have chosen to support the Pink Ribbon. As social constructionists we argue that the reality is determined by people rather than objective and external factors. By having theories as our starting-point we have approached the study in a deductive way. From the literature review we found that the cause, the campaign and the products are important cornerstones within Cause-Related Marketing and based on these variables we have developed our study. From our empirical findings and analysis we have concluded that three companies have a strategic approach. One company is in a developing stage towards strategic, and one company has a more tactical approach. Furthermore, the category of products included varies among the companies. The last conclusion is that, in long-term, the marketing campaign in relation to the Pink Ribbon creates a win-win-win situation. Keywords: Business Ethics, Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), Cause-Related Marketing (CRM), and the Pink Ribbon II Table of Contents __________________________________________________________________________ 1. Introduction ............................................................................................................................ 1 1.1 Choice of Subject......................................................................................................... 1 1.2 Problem Background ................................................................................................... 2 1.3 Problem Formulation ........................................................................................................ 4 1.4 Purpose ............................................................................................................................. 4 1.5 Limitations ....................................................................................................................... 4 2. Theoretical Method ................................................................................................................ 5 2.1 Preconceptions ................................................................................................................. 5 2.2 Approaching the Problem ................................................................................................. 6 2.3 Viewing the Problem ........................................................................................................ 7 2.5 Secondary Sources ........................................................................................................... 8 2.6 Criticism of Secondary Sources ....................................................................................... 9 3. Theoretical Background ....................................................................................................... 10 3.1 Business Ethics ............................................................................................................... 10 3.2 CSR ................................................................................................................................ 12 3.2.1 Reasons for CSR Involvement ................................................................................ 12 3.2.2 A CSR Model .......................................................................................................... 13 3.3 What is CRM? ................................................................................................................ 14 3.3.1 Different Types of CRM ......................................................................................... 15 3.4 CRM and the Campaign ................................................................................................. 16 3.4.1 Development of the Campaign ................................................................................ 16 3.4.2 Time Frame ............................................................................................................. 17 3.4.3 The Strategic and Tactical Approach ...................................................................... 17 3.4.4 Four Principles ........................................................................................................ 18 3.5 CRM and the Cause ........................................................................................................ 20 3.5.1 Company-Cause-Customer Fit ................................................................................ 20 3.5.2 Portfolio, Geography and Visibility ........................................................................ 21 3.6 CRM and the Product ..................................................................................................... 22 3.6.1 Pleasure-oriented and Goal-oriented Products ........................................................ 22 3.6.2 Low Involvement .................................................................................................... 22 3.6.3 Quality ..................................................................................................................... 23 3.7 Win-Win-Win ................................................................................................................. 24 3.7.1 Company Benefits ................................................................................................... 24 III 3.7.2 Charity Organization Benefits ............................................................................ 24 3.7.3 Consumer Benefits .................................................................................................. 25 3.7.4 Issues with CRM ..................................................................................................... 25 3.8 Summary ........................................................................................................................ 26 4. Practical Method .................................................................................................................. 27 4.1 The Companies ............................................................................................................... 27 4.2 Interview Method ........................................................................................................... 28 4.3 Ethical Considerations .................................................................................................... 29 4.4 Interview Questions ........................................................................................................ 30 4.5 Description of the Interviews ......................................................................................... 31 4.6 Criticism of Primary Sources ......................................................................................... 32 5. Empirical Findings ............................................................................................................... 33 5.1 Lindex ............................................................................................................................. 33 5.1.1 Lindex and the Cause .............................................................................................. 33 5.1.2 Lindex and the Campaign ....................................................................................... 34 5.1.3 Lindex and the Products .......................................................................................... 34 5.1.4 Benefits According to Lindex ................................................................................. 35 5.2 ICA ................................................................................................................................. 36 5.2.1 ICA and the Cause