Komen Controversy's Lessons For Sponsors
Posted: 2/3/2012 11:14:34 AM by
Jim Andrews | with 1 comments
This blog post was written prior to Susan G. Komen for the Cure reversing its decision to stop providing funds to Planned Parenthood. Nevertheless, the advice to sponsors and the example of Yoplait’s response remain relevant to sponsors who find themselves caught in the middle of controversy.
Having enjoyed many years of a productive partnership with Susan G. Komen for the Cure, the organization’s corporate partners are no doubt feeling blindsided by this week’s firestorm over SGK’s decision to no longer provide funding to Planned Parenthood.
If there is one thing those sponsors can be grateful for, it’s that this is taking place now and not right before Breast Cancer Awareness Month in October when the bulk of SGK-related cause marketing takes place.
But those sponsors have many decisions to make, both immediately and long-term. Right now, they must respond to consumers who are asking questions about these companies’ relationships with SGK. But what should they say?
Not much. The best course of action in the short term is to let consumers have their say. Take a look at how Yoplait has dedicated its Facebook page to soliciting feedback from consumers about how it should continue its fight against breast cancer.
This is critically important for Yoplait. The yogurt brand is so associated with SGK through its long-running Save Lids to Save Lives campaign that when you do a Google search for Yoplait, the cause’s partner page comes up fifth. In the long run, General Mills will have to make a big decision about its SGK partnership.
Yoplait is doing the three things that all of SGK’s corporate partners should do.
- Acknowledge the story, don’t ignore it. Yoplait does this masterfully in the introductory language on its Facebook page without mentioning SGK or Planned Parenthood but still making it obvious what this is all about.
- Allow consumers and other stakeholders to have their say through social media.
- Don’t make a knee-jerk decision about the whether to continue the partnership.
The big question of whether to retain or cut ties with SGK requires a thoughtful process that takes into account the desires of consumers (which will need to be fully researched and not simply based on Facebook and Twitter comments) and a cost/benefit analysis of choosing either path.
This needs to be done soon, but after the dust has settled and the true worth of an SGK partnership can be assessed. We all have our assumptions about whether the value of properties like Race for the Cure and the pink ribbon product campaigns will be diminished because of this week’s news, but there is no reason to jump to conclusions when so much is at stake.
SGK’s corporate partners should not make a decision because they are feeling outside pressure to do so, and certainly not because of the political views of their leadership.
If only others had not made that mistake.
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Filed under: cause marketing, nonprofit, social media, backlash