Cause-related Marketing - Relevance and Application in British Cancer Charities (ePub)

Diploma Thesis from the year 2002 in the subject Business economics - Offline Marketing and Online Marketing, grade: 1,0 (A), University of Cambridge (Ashcroft International Business School - Marketing Department), language: English, abstract: Cause-related marketing (CRM) has become a widely discussed topic as well as an increasingly important marketing technique. In this paper, the subject is analysed not from the usual perspective of companies, but from the charities' point of view, focusing on the example of British cancer charities.

The study shows that cause-related marketing has developed in context of a changing business environment and growing customer demand. Its relevance is highlighted with regard to consumer behaviour theories, introducing CRM as an innovative and promising marketing tool.

From the fierce competition in today's market-place for charities and the changing attitude of donors, emerges the need for new charity marketing techniques. CRM is already widely used in the marketing of cancer-related organisations, as show various examples outlined in the text. However, the potential is not yet fully exploited and some substantial problems remain, especially in terms of company cooperation and missing empirical data.

As a result of the investigation, cancer charities are recommended to extend their CRM activities, to prepare for the arising tasks internally and to communicate their programmes openly to the public. Additionally, extensive future research is suggested to gain more knowledge about the effects of cause-related marketing.


This study comprises comprehensive material from secondary sources, such as books, articles and reports, along with extensive Internet research. Complementary, an in-depth interview provides insight into the work of Cancer Research UK.
The findings of this paper are of special interest for charities and companies alike, as well as for marketing students and lecturers.


Key words: cancer charities, cause-related marketing, charities, charity marketing, donations.