9 posts tagged “uberveritas”

Since wiki entries can change at a moment's notice and improvement of content by collaboration are their strengths, I wanted to document the original material that I submitted for Wikipedia's article on Cause Marketing.  As you can see, there is much work to be done still.  Here it is minus the Wikipedia-like formatting and internal Wikipedia links:

Cause marketing or cause-related marketing refers to a type of marketing involving the cooperative efforts of a "for profit" business and a non-profit organization for mutual benefit. The term is sometimes also used to refer to the marketing efforts of social and other charitable causes generally. Cause marketing differs from corporate giving (philanthropy) as the latter generally involves a specific donation that is tax deductible, while cause marketing is a marketing relationship generally not based on a donation.

History

The creation of the term "cause-related marketing" is attributed to American Express, and it was coined to describe efforts to support locally based charitable causes in a way that also promoted business. The term was then used to describe the marketing campaign led by American Express in 1983 for the Statue of Liberty Restoration project.^[1] The terms "cause-related marketing" and "cause marketing" continued to grown in usage since that time. In more recent years the term has come to describe a wider variety of marketing initiatives based on the cooperative efforts of business and charitable causes.

Background

According to a report published by onPhilanthropy^[2], cause marketing sponsorship by American businesses is rising at a dramatic rate. Citing an IEG, Inc. study, $1.11 billion was spent in 2005, an estimated $1.34 billion will be spent in 2006, and the number is expected to rise further in 2007.

Cause-related marketing is a powerful marketing tool that business and nonprofit organizations are increasingly leveraging. According to the Cone Millennial Cause Study in 2006^[3], 89% of Americans (aged 13 to 25) would switch from one brand to another brand of a comparable product (and price) if the latter brand was associated with "good cause". The same study also indicated that a significant percentage surveyed would prefer to work for a company that was considered socially responsible. This can be linked to the increase in workplace giving programs. Earlier studies by Cone indicate an upward trend in the number of Americans who associate their own buying habits with cause marketing as well as an expectation that companies to be "good corporate citizens"^[4]. These studies also show a substantial increase from just before to just after the September 11, 2001 attacks.

Numerous other studies^[5] have also been conducted to show that cause-related marketing has helped to increase a company's profits. For example, in the cause marketing campaign by American Express (to which the term "cause marketing" is attributed), the company saw a 17% increase in new users and a 28% increase in card usage.

Benefits

The possible benefits of cause marketing for nonprofit organizations include an increased ability to promote the nonprofit organization's cause via the greater financial resources of a business, and an increased ability to reach possible supporters through a company's customer base. The possible benefits of cause marketing for business include positive public relations, improved customer relations, and additional marketing opportunities.

Online Cause Marketing

Although originally a marketing strategy that occurred offline, cause marketing has been conducted more and more through online channels in the last decade. This is due in part to the increasing percentage of households with internet connections. As with other types of marketing campaigns, companies can leverage online marketing channels along with other offline channels such as print and media. (Sometimes referred to as integrated marketing).

Online Charity Auctions

In recent years, online auctions have been used in cause marketing strategies using a number of different online auction platforms. eBay provides a dedicated charity program, eBay Giving Works, that allows online auction sellers to donate a percentage of their sales to a nonprofit orgranization. Businesses and nonprofit organizations can also use the program for cause marketing and nonprofit fundraising programs. This and other online auction platforms like, cMarkets, have been used to conduct a wide range of cause marketing campaigns, like the auctioning of the celebrity-autographed Harley by Jay Leno in 2005.^[6][7]

Types of cause marketing

Cause marketing can take on many forms, including:

• Product, service, or transaction specific
• Promotion of a common message
• Product licensing, endorsements, and certifications
• Local partnerships
• Employee service programs

Examples

• One example of cause-marketing would be the partnership of Yoplait's "Save Lids to Save Lives" campaign in support of the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation. The company packages specific products with a pink lid that consumers turn in, and in turn Yoplait donates 10 cents for each lid.

• An example of a nonprofit certification of a product (business) includes the American Heart Association's stamp of approval on Cheerios, the popular breakfast cereal.

• Launched in early 2006, Product Red^[8] is an example of one the largest cause-related marketing campaigns to date given the number of companies and organizations involved as participants as well as its reach worldwide. It is also an example of a cause marketing campaign that is also a brand on its own. Product Red was created to supportThe Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis & Malaria (aka "The Global Fund") and includes companies such as Apple Computer, Motorola, Giorgio Armani, and The Gap as participants.

See also

• Corporate image
• Foundation (charity)
• List of marketing topics
• Marketing
• Non-profit organization
• Philanthropy
• Public relations

References

1. ^ http://media.wiley.com/product_data/excerpt/09/04717175/0471717509.pdf
2. ^ http://www.onphilanthropy.com/site/News2?page=NewsArticle&id=6863
3. ^ http://www.csrwire.com/PressRelease.php?id=6641
4. ^ http://www.thinkbeforeyoupink.org/PDF/ConeCorpCitizen.pdf
5. ^ http://www.causemarketingforum.com/page.asp?ID=345
6. ^ http://www.causemarketingforum.com/directory_detail.asp?ID=76
7. ^ http://www.auctionbytes.com/cab/abu/y205/m11/abu0154/s05
8. ^ http://www.joinred.com/default.asp

External links

• Cone Corporate Citizenship Studies
• List of Noted Organizations and Foundations promoting Business-Nonprofit Partnerships

I've been working on reading "Think and Grow Rich" by Napoleon Hill over the last few weeks.  For those who don't know, this is a classic text in the field of motivational literature.  And those who are familiar with Napoleon Hill, you probably understand the role that he has in this field.

Napoleon Hill is to motivational literature what Monty Python is to humor.  Regardless one's taste or fondness of either, each play a seminal role in their fields.  Many, maybe even a majority of successful comedians, recognize tremednous inspiration from the Monty Python troop.  The same is true for many self-help, motivational authors of Napoleon Hill.

Personally, I find much of it useful and motivating.  As I am in the process of developing and codifying a philosophy of success for myself, it has been useful reviewing some of the classic works.  And this is something that I may place on the internet in the future in case it's of use to others.

And while I've enjoyed reading "Think and Grow Rich" and I agree with much that is written, there are some key areas where I disagree with Napoleon Hill.  Unfortunately for me, he passed on several decades ago, and I won't have the pleasure of discussing my thoughts with him.  Probably one of the main things that I disagreed with is the role that Napoleon Hill gives educated, namely that he doesn't give it much of a role at all.  Sadly, he seems to view education in the same unfortunate way that many people do today.  For example, I have to lament that too many people view college education in the way that they view job training.  Once upon a time, people realized that education was more than training for a career.  The role of the humanities in education today is not one of sufficient respect.

Be that as it may, Napoleon Hill seemed to have a solid grasp of some important aspects of success.  Born of a study of thousands of individuals over roughly a couple of dozen years (something he monotonously reminds of far too many times), he developed a philosophy from studying successful people.  The entire text of "Think and Grow Rich" can be read online.  "Think and Grow Rich" centers on "13 Principles of Success, which are:

1. Desire
2. Faith
3. Auto-suggestion
4. Specialized Knowledge
5. Imagination
6. Organized Planning
7. Decision
8. Persistence
9. The Master Mind
10. The Mystery of Sex Transmutation
11. The Subconscious Mind
12. The Brain
13. The Sixth Sense"
    
    
    
     

Pyramid_community

 An illustration of my view of levels of online community.  I see relevance to thinking in these terms in a "Web 2.0 World" that doesn't always distinguish between the types of user interaction with sites and with other people.  Sometimes, or perhaps often, discussion about virtual communities is too imprecise.  In such cases, usually technology is set as a high point of discussion and simple user-to-user interaction is treated as community.  In reality, strong, vibrant virtual communities generally takes a long time to develop.  And while the technology might hinder such, it doesn't on other hand create it.

Maybe I am just incredibly "picky" when it comes to my expecations for information on the web on any topic of interest to me.  Or perhaps there really is a deficiency in the information available on cause-related marketing. 

While I hate to sound negative on a topic so close and dear to my heart, I've been rather unimpressed with the information I am led to when Googling this topic.  That isn't to say there aren't some interesting sites and helpful articles, but I've hit the "back" button quite often too. 

Among the things I've found were a couple of sites that seemed very talented at keyword spamming (and somehow Google still lists them), a site that thinks it has the rights to the concept itself, and even one study from a highly reputable university that didn't even get close to a correct defintion of cause marketing.  The latter was truly disconcerting since I had high hopes after reading the first paragraph or two.

This is a topic that is receiving more and more attention.  Some good information is out there, just not well presented or noticeable in the search engines.  At the same time, I get the impression that a lot of people may still be wondering what to say about cause marketing even though they realize the power that it has. 

My disappointment (and irritation with a few of the sites) has led me towards "stepping up" a project I've been working on which is to start my own site about this topic.  So I'm planning to launch my Cause Marketing Review site shortly before or after the holidays.  I'm not 100% settled on the name.  It is my hope that in the future, whenver any of us search on this topic, we'll have some more adequate choices for resources without resorting to page 173 whether or not it is something I produce.  

We each do our part to add a little piece for the benefit of humanity.  No one needs to be everything for everyone.  At least this is how I look at the world. 

The "ultimate truth" about the state of the web today is that there are far more questions than answers, more speculation than insight, and more postering than real understanding.  Which isn't to say that no one knows anything.  But I am saying that I think those who claim to be "in the know" on almost every aspect of the internet today, tend to know less than they claim.

Why?  Because this little thing we call the internet is a living, breathing "organism" on its own.  And if history has taught us anything, we should have figured out by now that what the internet looks like tomorrow will be far more than the sum of its designed parts. 

Now that I survived the "election time period", I've again immersed myself into trying to continue to understand various aspects of living and conducting business in the internet age.  A few of my thoughts are recorded over at netknowledge.blogspot.com.  (By the way, I find it to be truly ironic that what I have on Vox is far better indexed by Google than anything I have on the blog I just mentioned.  Blogspot is owned by Google, for those who didn't know.)  My most recent journey has taken me from search engine optimization and internet marketing, generally, to some more specific topics like cause-marketing via the internet and on Web 2.0.  For the time being, I causually slip in Web 2.0 because I'm going to pretend that I am convinved it's a worthy topic on its own.  More candidly, I would say "the jury is still out" on that one. 

But I get to say what I want and even contradict myself tomorrow.  I like to think that it's the beauty of the way I think - an opinion today doesn't matter tomorrow.  And the fact that I'm one of the only ones reading my blog on a daily basis at the moment, means that it's not likely anyone is going to call me on any BS that I post.  Thought sometimes the conversations I almost seem to have with myself by blogging here can be quite entertaining on a personal level.

Sidetracked.  Going back to my original statement, I would say that there are many illustrations.  But for those who would like to find an illustration that is easy to follow (due to sheer volume and attention given to the topic), you need not look further than the discussions of Web 2.0.  Is it real?  Is there substance to it?  Do 5 people gathered around a table at a Starbucks even know what the other is talking about when they mention web 2.0?  Probably not.  It's like saying "God" or "spirituality" and then expecting that everyone is thinking of the same entity or concept.

Is Web 2.0 simply a re-packaged set of marketing terms?  (Every once in a while, the soft drink makers will come up with a new design for bottles and cans.  Did the formula for the cola change?). 

The truth is probably somewhere in the middle.  But looking at the most current (and past) discussions of Web 2.0 is a good illustration of what I like to think of as the "ulimate truth of the web today".  The fact is, people haven't even agreed on what they are talking about, let alone agree on where technology is headed. 

But that's the beauty of it.  Once again I hear myself saying, life would be boring if we all agreed with each other.  I have my own ideas about the internet, current and future.  But the last thing I want is for everyone to agree with me.  And I have my own secret little projects that I think will label me an innovator, but who's to say that what I think is right or real?

The ultimate truth about almost anything is that people are different; people have their own ideas; people will sometimes get along and sometimes they won't; some people are right, some people are wrong, and most spend time in each group.  In regards to technology and the internet, the truth is that concepts come and go, so do companies, so does technology itself.  One startup succeeds and another fails.  This has happened many times in the past, it probably happened somewhere today, and the future will be the same.

But we keep striving to discuss, innovate, build, and grow.  Passion for life and humanity will fuel even greater things.  So whether we're discussing technology, the internet, web 2.0, or anything else, it's the conversation itself that contains the greatest reward.  One of the ultimate truths of life is that life is in the journey and the conversation along the way. 

According to Google News, at this moment the "ultimate truth" is about God and the Pope's Address at Latern University.  At least it was in Italy roughly two hours ago.

His address given at Latern University on the 25th of October, 2006, (and I guess it was translated and posted two hours ago?) was titled "God Is the Ultimate Truth to Whom All Reason Naturally Tends".

And just to warn anyone reading this before the demise of blogs or the internet in general - should it actually happen - the rest of this has nothing to do with the Pope's address.

It is really interesting to me just how much a statement like that might resonate with a good percentage of those who consider themselves to be religious, while meaning different things to different people.  Define God - you can get a wide variety of answers.  Define Reason - many different responses again.  "Ultimate truth" and "naturally tends", more of the same thing.  I can't count the possible permutations of all the combinations and answers.  And, I think that's a very good thing.

That's the beauty of the differences in people, culture, history, experience, and language.  It produces different ideas and makes the world a much more interesting place.  I happen to think that most of the time I wouldn't agree with the statement that the Pope made, but I think it's fun to think about at the same time.  Actually, I think it's one of those statements that says nothing and everything at the same time (see my previous post). 

As interesting as the title of the Pope's address is, I think there's a certain danger in the statement too.  I think we should generally be careful of making absolute statements.  But that's besides the point (that was an after thought that followed the 2.8 seconds of solid contemplation).  If I have a point, I think its interesting to think about statements about ultimate truth where the variety of the definition of the terms leads to many possibilies in defining the concept.

Now what if I were to say that Uberveritas is the ultimate truth to whom all attention naturally tends.

So what's this blog about anyway?

I thought I would answer that question for my audience - all 1.5 of you :-)

This blog is about:

1) Nothing

2) Everything

3) The ultimate truth

What is the ultimate truth?  For the answer to that see # 1 and # 2 above.  So the uberveritas blog is about the ultimate truth which is nothing and everything.  Frankly I think that personal conceptions about ultimate truth say more about the person considering the idea than any ideas themselves.  The ultimate truth is about each and every person.  I least that's what I think today.  So for me, it becomes about whatever I think and feel at the moment.  I don't have an agenda, at least not one that I know of.

And, I really just like the name :-)

For those of you who managed to find this post - and since I'm not "advertising it"  .....

Do you think that Vox or MySpace is better?  And why?

So I had a random thought that I would do a Google search on "ultimate truth" which is what Uberveritas means (Latin and German combined).  It was a sudden moment of curiosity, or it was an excuse not to work on other things ;-)

The following is some of what I found on the first page (and Google being Google it will probably change by morning):

-  The first result was for a Geocities page labeled "The Illusion & The Ultimate Truth".  It belong to a young man in India by the first name of Vivek (which immediately reminded me of Vivek Oberoi, currently one of the most famous actors in Bollywood).  The 2003 page that showed up in the search (I'm impressed) pertained to the "beauty of mathematics). 

-  The second result for "ultimate truth" was another Geocities page.  Do they have a corner on the "ultimate truth market"?  Or does a higher breed of human being get drawn to Geocities?   It might be good but there was a lot of text and I was too tired to read.

-  The third result pertained to a 9/11, and I completely skipped it.

-  The fourth result was really interesting:  "Koran-The Ultimate Truth".  When I clicked it, I found that the page stated that "[t]he purpose of this article is to show and logically analyse the various contradictions in the "Holy" Koran.

-  Later was a Blogger article with an Ohio man answering the question of whether or not there is an ultimate truth.

Interesting.  The first page was dominated by results for "ultimate truth" covering mathematics, philosophy, and religion.  I guess that's about what I should have expected. 

Funny that I wasn't listed.  I guess Google didn't realize that's what "uberveritas" was supposed to me.  Well, at least we see that their incredible search algorithms have some limitations.