Cause-Related Sports Marketing

To fight with increased competition and consumer recognition and loyalty, companies are continuously striving to differentiate themselves from others. As a result, many companies are turning to the use of cause-related marketing (CRM) as promotional tool. Though in an article of Pharr and Lough (2012) social marketing programs were identified significantly more important than cause-related marketing in the sector of cause-related sports marketing,cause-related marketing (CRM) is performing as subsumed under corporate social responsibility (CSR). CRM has changed itself over the years and includes a wide range of activities from simple agreements to donate a percentage of the purchase price for a particular item toa charity for a specific project, to longer, more complex arrangements. CRM actually began quite recently, in
Cause related marketing, dedicated to the community or to promoting social issues which create corporate tie-ins with nonprofit organizations and charities. Recent research reveals just how popular cause marketing is with consumers, and what the future holds for this booming industry.According to marketing research firm Mintel, cause-related marketing (CRM) “is when companies partner with charitable organizations to help non-profits better achieve their goals. Cause-related marketing is attached to a media campaign, with money generated for the cause through the sale of products.”According to the Cause Marketing Forum, an organization that brings business and causes together and develops best practices, recently found in a survey that two-thirds of "America's leading nonprofits engaged in cause marketing expect to form more business alliances in 2012." Webb and Mohr (1998) view cause-related marketingas communication tool that can be used for different goals of a profit