Overview
There’s no denying people like to buy from socially conscious companies because when choosing between two products or services of equal quality and price, social purpose frequently tips the scale. But how can we be sure customers know you care? Two words: cause marketing. It serves as an important differentiator, elevates consumer perception and unites internal stakeholders—increasing positive sentiment and sales.
At Hiebing, we have a proven track record of creating cause campaigns that bring brands closer to their customers. We’ll work with you to uncover an ownable cause organically aligned with your brand’s values, connect you with a reputable partner to help support it, and build out the appropriate tactics to motivate and move your target.
For the last 30 years, Culver’s has been able to serve its signature ButterBurgers and Fresh Frozen Custard thanks to the cattle ranches of the Great Plains, the dairy farms of Wisconsin and the farm families all across America. Most guests, however, aren’t aware of the dedication and hard work required to produce farm-fresh ingredients—or that we’ll need the next generation of agriculture leaders to grow significantly more food to feed our growing population.
We saw an opportunity for Culver’s to change that by supporting agricultural education efforts that encourage smart farming. With that, the Thank You Farmers Project was born.
We help Culver’s drive participation through a variety of annual cause initiatives that engage guests at the restaurant and strengthen their connection with the brand, including system-wide fundraisers, educational corn mazes and a social content series featuring agricultural influencers.
Together with guests across the country, Culver’s has donated more than $1.7 million to agricultural education efforts in the first five years of the program. And we know the project is resonating. Consumer recognition of Culver’s charitable efforts has consistently increased year-over-year, as have sales.
Fiskars, a global leader in the garden industry, enlisted our help to create a cause marketing program to help elevate affinity for its lawn and garden line of products. Shortly after, Project Orange Thumb was born, a community garden initiative that provides groups across the U.S. and Canada with the grants, tools and materials they need to create beautiful, productive community garden spaces.
Several years into the program, we also helped Fiskars create an editorial board that could leverage gardening experts’ credibility and audiences to expand the visibility of the campaign. We vetted over 50 influential garden writers and bloggers in order to select seven influencers for the project’s editorial board. The board members’ role was to share news of the program—and the 30 grants up for grabs—with their followers.
Project Orange Thumb received more than 400 applications, which our team helped narrow to 30. We then orchestrated synchronized pitching in 30 local markets, generating stories about how each recipient would put the Project Orange Thumb grant to use. Next up was the creation of an infographic to live on the website and supplement media relations efforts, helping reporters explain the workings of community gardens in a vibrant way.
At the end of the campaign, we exceeded all established goals, including driving more applications than ever before. Our editorial board published 11 blog posts and 63 social posts, pulling in 1.3 million impressions. Targeted media relations efforts brought in 127 print, online and social media hits and 33 million impressions. Average time spend on the infographic page was 1.5 minutes. And most importantly, Fiskars helped dozens of communities reach their goals for collaboration, neighborhood beautification and, in some cases, healthy, sustainable food sources.