Young People Buy Products Tied to Social Causes, but Doubt Their Value

Companies that create meaningful marketing partnerships with charities improve their ability to attract young customers,

according to a new survey of 13-to-25-year-olds.

But the research also found that many young people are skeptical about whether such marketing ventures make any difference to the charitable causes they support.

In the survey of 1,800 young people, released by Cone Inc. and AMP Insights, two Boston marketing companies, 89 percent said they are likely to switch from one company’s brand to another if the second brand is associated with a good cause.

However, 70 percent of the respondents said that companies are not doing enough to support the causes young people care about.

And while 70 percent also said they had purchased products that supported a social or environmental cause in the past year, only 24 percent of those who responded to the survey said they believe such purchases make a difference to society.

The survey was conducted with some of the oldest members of the so-called millennial generation, the estimated 78 million people born from 1979 to 2001, to determine how and to what degree their consumer behavior is shaped by corporations’ charitable marketing efforts.

Caring About Causes

Despite the skepticism young people express about corporate efforts to help social causes, 69 percent of those polled said that a company’s commitment to a social or environmental cause is “important” or “very important” in helping them decide where to shop, and 79 percent say they want to work for a company that cares about its contributions to society.

For that reason, companies and charities should seek to expand their marketing efforts as a new generation of consumers enters adulthood — and they should do a better job of letting those consumers know what they are accomplishing, not just what cause they stand for, says Julia Kivistik, Cone’s vice president of cause branding.

Charities should seek out relationships with companies that are a good fit with their charitable missions, not just those who want to reach new, younger customers, she adds.

Companies and charities that can accomplish such partnerships stand to build relationships with younger consumers who could become long-term, loyal customers and donors as they move through adulthood, says Carol Cone, head of the company bearing her name.

“Companies need to provide hands-on, cause-related experiences and then clearly and consistently share related societal impacts,” she says.

But many companies have been slow to recognize this need, Ms. Cone says. Some, however, such as T-Mobile and Aldo Shoes, have created marketing partnerships with charities aimed at young adults and teenagers.

T-Mobile, for instance, has created a program called Huddle Up, in which employees volunteer to work with charities such as City Year and the Afterschool Alliance to create and improve facilities for after-school programs.

The company has promoted the program heavily among its young customers and sees the partnership as a way to engage and attract younger workers.

Aldo, meanwhile, has raised more than $1-million for Youth AIDS by selling necklace-style tags, primarily to young people, in its stores nationwide. The campaign has won endorsements from young celebrities such as Christina Aguilera and Avril Lavigne.

Such marketing deals have been growing in popularity.

Americans will spend $1.34-billion on products promoted through such marketing arrangements this year, according to the IEG Sponsorship Report, which tracks event and sports marketing. That figure represents a 14.5-percent increase over the estimated $1.17-billion spent in response to charity marketing deals in 2005 and is more than 11 times greater than the $120-million spent in 1990.

Customer preferences for companies that take part in charitable efforts are not confined to the millennial generation. Another 2004 survey by Cone found that when price and quality are equal, 86 percent of American adults will buy products and services from a company that supports a worthy cause over one that does not. Nearly 9 in 10 customers, or 89 percent, said that nonprofit groups and companies should work together to support charitable causes.

Still, Ms. Kivistik says, companies and charities have an unusual opportunity to engage young people as they begin shaping their choices of what they will buy and what causes they want to support.

“They are a powerful group and they are an exciting group,” Ms. Kivistik says. “They really want to change the world. They want to be part of something bigger than themselves.”

Charities and companies, she says, need to help younger consumers realize those aspirations and overcome feelings of powerlessness in working to make things better. Sixty-three percent of respondents in the survey said they had volunteered for a social or environmental cause, but only 45 percent said they believe their efforts will make a difference.

“You need to make sure you engage them with some kind of hands-on experience and also clearly and quickly communicate how you are helping,” Ms. Kivistik says. “They have so much information at their fingertips that you have to be very intentional and deliberate about that.”

A free summary of the “2006 Cone Millennial Cause Study” can be obtained by calling Kiva Star at Cone at (617) 939-8335, or Alison Bacon at AMP at (617) 837-8163.