Does Cause-proximity Matters in Cause-related Marketing?

Abstract

Over the past 30 years cause-related marketing (CRM) campaigns have taking ground. In the business environment of today, a multitude of companies have aligned themselves with plethora of worthy causes. CRM benefits both the sponsoring company and the cause supported. Companies benefit as CRM is normally linked to a purchase of the sponsoring company’s product and thus brings profit to the companies. Meanwhile, causes benefits from the increasing awareness and funds for the causes through CRM campaigns conducted. Cause related campaigns support causes at both local and international levels. Hence, examining whether cause-proximity may influence consumers’ response to CRM is crucial. Furthermore, there have been very few studies that focused on this matter. Hence, the current study is carried out to: (1) highlights CRM and CRM’s campaigns in Malaysia and (2) examine the impact of cause-proximity on consumers’ response to CRM in Malaysia. This study employed an experimental method; a 1X2 between subjects factorial design. The results showed that causeproximity has significant impact on CRM evaluation. More specifically, the findings revealed that CRM campaign links to a local cause produces more favorable response among the Malaysian consumers as compared with CRM links with an international cause.