Cause v. Purpose

What is the difference between cause and purpose marketing? Never really gave much thought to this until it was brought up in class and it is important to be able to distinguish between the two. Cause marketing is more of a company deciding out of the blue to donate to a charity for whatever reason to help boost sales. Purpose marketing deals with a cause that is already "baked in" to what the company is all about. In the article Cause v. Purpose by Max Lenderman, Traction found that a majority of people support brands with a cause attached. Those same people are realizing that everybody is starting to do it which raises the question of the authenticity of it. Are those companies supporting different causes just to push their product? Or do they truly support something for the long run. As a consumer, it is always important to be aware of the different tactics businesses may use to draw you in.

Here is a different view point of a cause v. purpose related example. Steven Rinella is an avid outdoorsmen who hunts and fishes for a living by producing a television show on the sportsmens channel called meat eater and is also a writer who has published a number of books. Rinella is an advocate for raising the awareness of hunting and its importance to conservation and is a strong supporter of the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership (TRCP). The TRCP is a powerful group whose main purpose is to protect critial habitat and our public lands. Although Rinella is not a brand, he is in some regards a spokesman for the hunting community who believes in a cause that is directly related to everything he does in his show and writings.