Cause And Effect Have you ever heard of cause-related marketing? Maybe it's time you looked into it.

Now, I fully concede that I am a marketing geek. I love how I make my living, so much so that I can single-handedly induce narcolepsy when I get going about the latest, greatest campaign I've seen or participated in. And my top "pet" marketing discipline is cause-related marketing, or CRM.

CRM is the mutually beneficial convergence of a business's ideals and objectives with a charity: The charity receives money, promotion and/or in-kind donations from a business, and the business associates itself with a cause that resonates with its customers, builds brand awareness and contributes in a socially responsible way. American Express started the CRM movement in 1984 when it donated a portion of customer purchases to restore the Statue of Liberty. The campaign earned $1.7 million in just a few months, and a new facet of marketing was born. More recently, Maxwell House worked with Habitat for Humanity in the "Build a Home America" program. Maxwell House made cash contributions and provided volunteer labor to build 100 homes nationwide in 100 weeks.

If you have any doubt about the power of CRM, consider the following compelling statistics from a 1999 Cone/Roper report: 61 percent of consumers agree that CRM should be a standard business practice, and 65 percent say they'd be likely to switch brands or retailers to one associated with a good cause, when price and quality are equal. "[CRM experts say] cause-related marketing was once considered a 'nice-to-do,' but it's now a 'have-to-do,' " says Diana Kimbrell, owner of Kimbrell & Co., a Sausalito, California, CRM firm. "There's so much competition between products and services out there, socially conscious consumers are going to choose the companies that best represent their own social feelings. Companies have gotten wise to this and realized the best way to build brand loyalty is through an emotional connection-and that can be done by aligning with a cause."