Social responsibility is the new norm for brands. Customers who visit your website and see your marketing materials want to know that you’re doing more than just selling a product or service. Brands that share a consumer’s desire to make the world a better place, and in turn support a worthwhile cause, are the ones who shine. Want to take your cause marketing a step further? With digital printing, you can showcase cause marketing efforts on your product label directly. The result? Not only will you immediately engage your audience in the initiative, but you can also #OwnTheShelf among your competitors.

Amarula removes notorious elephant from its labels to highlight a declining population

In 2017, Amarula, the best-selling South African cream liqueur, announced they would be removing the renowned elephant symbol from their packaging for World Elephant Day on Aug. 12, in solidarity of the war against poaching.

The African elephant plays a crucial and symbolic role in the creation and spirit of the cream liqueur. Once a year, elephants begin their journey to feast on the sun-ripened fruit of the Marula trees, which grow across the plains of Africa. This signifies to local communities the fruit is ready to be hand-harvested and ultimately turned into Amarula.

In partnership with conservation group WildlifeDIRECT, Amarula launched their cause marketing campaign, titled “Don’t Let Them Disappear,” to raise awareness about the ongoing struggle in protecting the declining African elephant population.

In addition to printing their labels without their brand’s notary elephant, Amarula further added a tag to their bottles to explain the campaign to consumers. It read:

“Let’s make the ivory trade disappear, not our elephants. Africa’s elephants are disappearing at an alarming rate. Because of ivory poaching. To highlight this we’ve taken the elephant off our bottle. When you buy this bottle, you’re contributing to Amarula’s efforts to stop Africa’s elephants from disappearing. Together, we can make the ivory trade disappear. #DontLetThemDisappear”

 

 

The results – There were 2M landing page views, unique visitors on the microsite spent an astounding 10:43 seconds and US sales increased by 139%.

 

 

Cause marketing creates meaningful interactions with millennials

One of the demographics most inclined to engage with cause marketing is millennials. This generation was born in a child-centric, tech-heavy world where information and research are readily at their fingertips. By being so technologically connected, global boundaries are non-existent to this group. Millennials are civic-minded, socially aware and are driven to make the world a better place.

This generation is set to dominate the consumer landscape, and cause marketing is a tactic bound to draw their attention. Millennials demand meaningful connections; they want to make a difference and bring about change. For these reasons, they seek out brands and consumer experiences that make an authentic difference as well.

They’re drawn to brands that understand them and care about what they care about; they choose brands that contribute to a better world. They’re opposed to being part of global problems, and resonate best with brands who are also on their level.

Cause marketing can be a powerful way to tap into the buying power of this generation. Brands aligning themselves with meaningful causes and showcasing authenticity can easily transform their marketing and product labels into compelling stories of their positive impact on the world. These are the brands millennials will be proud to purchase from.

Cause marketing brings benefits to both parties

Not all brands will be able to launch campaigns as vast as Amarula, but you can take part on a smaller scale. If you’re looking to tap into cause marketing, consider building a landing page where consumers can submit ideas or artwork related to your cause. You can also set also set up a social media campaign to encourage users to share your specific campaign hashtag. You can also contribute a percentage of sales to your campaign.

Regardless of the tactic(s) you choose, cause marketing remains incredibly influential and beneficial to both you and your non-profit partner. The key is they engage your audience and use the product label to catch their attention and bring the campaign to life.

Companies that run cause marketing campaigns often see an increase in engagement with the brand, in sales, and the causes they partner with secure crucial funding as well. It’s a win-win situation as the causes and communities benefit with both recognition and funding.

Look to Lorpon for showcasing cause marketing on your labels

In addition to brilliant colour, our HP Indigo digital printing has the opportunity to transform a client’s artwork into a living entity with the use of variable content. This provides the possibility of making every label unique by adding different images, photos, text and mosaic graphics to engage the consumer. In addition, with digital label printing information can be easily added, edited or removed, and colours can be quickly corrected and controlled from print run to run. These are all processes that would take extra days and dollars using traditional analogue offset or flexo printing.

With the right technology in play, digital printing provides consistent, high-resolution and an incredible capacity for customization and personalization. It’s a powerful tool that enables you to connect your cause marketing with customers directly on the product itself, regardless of your batch size.

If you’re interested in owning the shelf by showcasing cause marketing on your product labels, contact our team at Lorpon Labels. We specialize in innovative packaging that will elevate your brand and sell more of your product. We have thousands of label and single-serve packaging options at your disposal – and, together, our team will help you choose the one that gets real results for your brand.

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