Cause marketing can be tricky.
You need to make sure the cause you are supporting aligns with your branding and that the two come together for a win-win. This is even more important if you are just one
Molson M, which is a craftsman version of Molson Beer brewed and sold in Canada, is conducting a cause marketing campaign that seems to get that balance right. Its massive Liquid Art campaign, which consists of outdoor advertising, video ads (see below) and a social media components, centers around the idea that beer making is an art, and like other art forms, it can be mastered.
“Every Medium Has Its Master”
Watch the video to get the gist of it, but of course they position Molson M as a master crafted beer.
MolsonM has agreed to donate $1 for every tweet that contains the hashtag #MolsonM_Art to the Canadian Art Foundation. They will donate up to $20K, according to their Twitter account. They also are painting a mural in Toronto at King and Church around a billboard of the Liquid Art creative. The mural contains all the Twitter handles of people who have Tweeted the hashtag.
The campaign was launched from its @MolsonM Twitter account, which didn’t exist before the campaign but now has over 1K followers. The Molson M Facebook page has over 15K connections.
The benefits of this campaign is that it connects Molson M with a community interested in art which would resonate with the concept of craftsman beer. They may also come to learn that Molson M’s craftsman beer is very different from the mainstream Molson Coors products. By connecting the brand to the artisan sensibility it has the potential to work to build Molson M some real value. Moreover, by tying to a venerable and respected arts organization in Canada, each person who participants know that he or she has benefitted a worthy charitable organization.
The campaign will continue for a few more weeks (May 2012) and the mural will come down sometime at the end of June.
What do you think about campaigns like this that take advantage of advertising, PR, and social media while adding a cause marketing component? What works for you and what doesn’t?
