296 #2 – Buying for a Good Cause

Over the summer, I was in need of some comfy flats and narrowed my options down to two brands: TOMS or Vans. Both brands are roughly in the same price range, and offer a variety of different styles and colours to choose from. After trying to decide which one to buy, I realized that TOMS had a unique aspect that set it apart from other shoe brands: charity. As Angela clearly identified,

“One of their primary goals is to provide footwear for underprivileged children; however, their ultimate goal is still to make profit.”

The TOMS One for One Movement is a highly effective marketing strategy because it has ingeniously aligned the company with a charity. By simply donating a pair of shoes for each pair sold, TOMS has provided a way for consumers to feel good about buying their brand.

While TOMS is one example of a brand whose products have become extremely popular thanks to its charity initiatives, other brands such as Dawn, a company that produces dishwashing detergents, have been doing something similar long before TOMS was around. Their Dawn Saves Wildlife commercial showed animals that were caught in oil spills. They were then cleaned up using Dawn soap and transformed into extremely adorable and happy animals. By buying Dawn soap, consumers could feel like they were helping out these unfortunate animals, which also gives the brand a competitive advantage over other dish soaps.