According to a recent post on the Cone blog (which I discovered through the truly awesome Selfish Giving blog run by Joe Waters), recent Duke University research suggests that Cause/Green Marketing is being given lower priority by marketers as the economy goes sour. 

According to the survey, “marketing that is ‘beneficial for society’ or that minimizes the impact on the environment” ranked slightly below three other more pressing priorities, including developing consumer insights, sharing marketing knowledge and preparing for crises. 

I suppose that’s one way to look at it; after all, once the economy starts to suffer, one of the first things (tragically) that businesses tend to cut is their marketing spending. And certainly, it’s important to know your customer, and to be prepped for whatever crisis may arise.

But one of the interesting things I’ve observed about this economy is that, with less discretionary income, consumers are starting to make more careful choices about what they buy. Sure, they’re looking for stuff that’s cheaper, but they’re also looking for stuff that’s better - and they’re looking for products that have that “warm, fuzzy” appeal to them. The green products, the organic and fairly traded products, the brands that do more in the community. So why ease up on that during an economic downturn when it could be one of your brand’s most powerful assets? As the post points out:

Cause continues to be a value-add that differentiates companies and brands and, as a quote in Ad Age explains, cause marketing “is still what will get the news…  Your coupon isn’t something reporters or the ‘Today’ show are going to want to talk about.” 

To read the whole post, visit the Cone Blog.