Big Tickets and Big Rewards for a Cause

As cause marketing becomes more prevalent, sometimes you need to up the ante to grab the attention of consumers and potential donors. You could say two recent cause initiatives are going "all in" by promoting big ticket items and offering substantial rewards.

Threadless has partnered with the U.S. Fund for UNICEF to launch "Good Shirts," a line of shirts from which 100 percent of the profits go to the cause. This doesn't sound unusual until you learn that for a mere $300,000, buyers can get a t-shirt emblazoned with an army green airplane and fund a UNICEF charter flight from Denmark to Kenya to transport critical supplies to those in need. You might say it's a new twist on the cause marketing BOGO (buy one, give one) trend. Not to worry if this is out of your budget because Threadless is also selling t-shirts in a range of prices that support a variety of needs – from $18.57 for a shirt that will provide three insecticide-treated mosquito nets to a $1,939.96 shirt that funds a 42-square meter tent to provide a temporary school in a drought-stricken area.

It's not always about big spending, sometimes it's about big rewards, too. The new "Flipflop Wines Give the Gift of Giving" promotion is offering one lucky sweepstakes winner and three guests the chance to fly to an international location and volunteer alongside Soles4Souls, a charity that provides shoes to those in need. It's a coveted prize, but all consumers will be winners in this promotion because for every bottle of wine sold, Soles4Souls will donate a pair of shoes to someone who needs them.

Threadless may never sell its $300,000 t-shirt and only a handful of people will experience Flipflop Wine's grand prize. But by creatively engaging consumers, both campaigns have already achieved their first objective, which is to draw attention to these programs, their social needs and their nonprofit partners.

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