Image from Google Image
I care about a sweet little girl named Janeth who lives in Tanzania. I’ve never met her, I’ve never even been to Tanzania. But I sponsor her through Compassion International, a worldwide child sponsorship organization. I send money to Janeth each month that makes sure she has food, clothing, medicine, and an education. I love Compassion and I believe in the non-profit’s mission.
My co-worker Maggie is passionate about Save the Children, which helps children in the United States and around the world, much like Compassion. She co-founded a branch in her hometown, and she loves that she has been able to raise money and awareness for people who need it. Through Save the Children, Maggie feels like she is actually making an impact.
One of my sorority sisters, Maritza, is dedicated to Relay for Life. In high school one of her closest friends died of cancer, so she feels that by investing her time in Relay for life, she can carry on his legacy.
My friend Henry cares about the Children’s Miracle Network because it’s his fraternity’s philanthropy. He loves kids and loves that the Children’s Miracle Network helps sick children locally. Henry believes that the organization gives kids a second chance. He also appreciates that 100 percent of proceeds raised goes directly to the children, and not to fund the organization’s overhead costs.
Image from Google Image
See, it’s true. Everyone really does care about something. Did you catch the common thread? Each of my friends care about their particular cause because they care about who it benefits and they feel that their involvement in the above organizations matters. Each of us feel like we’re making a difference.
In her blog post, “People care more about causes than brands,” Mahsa Tousi discusses exactly what the title denotes. That people will engage in and believe in your brand if they first believe in your cause. Clearly, given the above examples, this rings true. Not one of the people I spoke with said that they cared about a particular organization because they liked the company logo, or mantra, or packaging, or t-shirt. No. The people I talked to care about other people–they care about the cause!
Why do people care about the cause? Because we’re emotional beings. We feel love, hurt, pain. We’re empathetic. We don’t have to experience something to feel the emotions of those who have. Emotional branding is about tapping into the core of who we already are.
What cause are you passionate about? What organization are you a part of? What do you think people care more about–causes or brands?
{This post is part of a series pertaining to an Integrated Marketing Communications class at Elon University.}
Blair,
I love reading your blog. It is so easy to read and highlights really what is important, the key concepts. I feel like I could share your blog with a friend who is not a marketing major, and they would totally grasp the material.
I like how you started off this post with sharing your non-profit of choice, expanding on to your friends’, and then touching on emotional branding. Your psychological approach of “we feel love, hurt, pain” is such a simple way of reiterating how human beings are emotional, and that it is okay! The concept of empathy I think is a really powerful point when one is trying to define emotional branding. Whether it is an organization wearing the customer’s shoes, and by doing so, fulfilling his or her needs with an experience, OR you donating to the sweet girl in Africa because you are so blessed here at Elon and cannot imagine what it would be like to be without clothes, food, and medical care.
Empathy. I like it.
Thanks for your comment, Ashley!
I totally agree with you regarding the importance of empathy. I think empathy is a choice that we must make on a daily basis as humans, and a choice that brands have to make as well. Brands that are willing to walk in the shoes of their consumers are going to go far!
xo,
B
Blair,
Your post really embodied a lot about what we talked about today in class. I really enjoyed hearing the personal reasons your friends chose the social cause of choice. I, too, in my post stated that all of my researched resulted in students feeling the need to care for a certain cause because of a personal connection. The personal connection, as we said in class, is what gets people to care so much. We are in a “me” generation as we all know and when we can link it back to us then it makes us feel good. As you said everyone is passionate about a cause because of the emotion it brings. Using your personal social cause as an example you probably feel good after you donate and you know you are doing your part in helping this child get the necessities that you never had to worry about. It is the feeling students and people in general get when they watch a sad ad or see a sad poster. I think you really reacted well to the prompt and I enjoyed reading about your personal emotions regarding social causes!
Hey girl! Thanks for your comment.
I totally agree about the importance of a personal connection to a cause. If my heart strings aren’t pulled, neither are my purse strings!