When thinking about the association between the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) and businesses, there are broadly two schools of thought. The first camp claims that the role of businesses is to make profit and fulfil organizational objectives, and by itself, it offers value to society in terms of job creation and contribution to economic development. The second school of thought focuses on the much-touted Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and the commitment of businesses to contribute to the welfare of society. The debate goes on.
This connotation is even more interesting and brings forth a number of questions in the context of marketing and SDGs. If we consider marketing as a function or a subset, I wonder whether it makes sense to relate SDGs to marketing objectives. A closely associated jargon that connects marketing to concepts such as SDG or CSR is Cause Marketing. Cause Marketing is often referred to as a strategy of aligning the marketing objectives to a worthy social cause. There are brands that align themselves with a social cause and contribute either by promoting a cause such as protecting the environment or by donating a part of the revenue to a social cause. The academic research is also not unanimous in correlating cause related marketing to significant marketing outcomes such as sales or margins. The impact of cause-related marketing is towards long-term brand building efforts, even that too under certain conditions.
I believe that connecting a brand’s marketing efforts with SDG makes sense only if there is an alignment of the brand's values with the selected goal. For this, the cause should be carefully chosen, and consumers should feel that it connects with the brand's values. This means that brands should first have clarity on what their values are, which is often reflected in the brand's personality. Secondly, the consumer should feel strongly about the cause that a brand particularly champions. A stationery brand contributing a part of the price to undereducated children might make sense for the consumer. A women’s cosmetic brand championing breast cancer awareness will always be relevant to the target consumer group. A men’s clothing brand championing the cause of an endangered animal, which is also the brand’s name, might have little relevance to the consumer (in my opinion) unless he is a conservationist.
All this cause-related marketing involves a cost that has to be borne by the consumer. So, unless the value of the cause justifies the additional cost, consumers may not be enthused by this strategy. The strategy also calls for a long-term commitment and a realizable and measurable outcome either in terms of impact or awareness. So, this alignment of SDG with the brand cannot be a short-term burst of philanthropy but rather a long-term investment of resources, which may or may not have an impact on the financial performance of the brand.
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