It’s not often that the words “nonprofit” and “donations”
are associated with digital ad spend, but a startup called Givewith – which is
50% owned by CBS Corp. – is trying to change that.
Last week, the startup introduced a product that
automatically donates to an advertiser’s nonprofit of choice each time a person
clicks or views a digital ad. Givewith’s technology is meant to appeal to
companies looking to attract *younger* socially conscious consumers who, in
increasing numbers, care about corporations’ values and are skeptical of overt
marketing ploys.
In addition to handling the creative, media buying and
measurement of campaigns’ effectiveness, Givewith’s algorithm will help
advertisers choose the nonprofits that will be most impactful on key metrics,
such as sales and brand sentiment. Further, the Company will help businesses
calculate the impact of nonprofit partnerships and donations on various social
governance scores. The Wall Street
Journal article linked below goes through an exemplary campaign Givewith
recently completed with Dell in partnership with Waterkeeper Alliance, a clean
water nonprofit, which resulted in an 85% improvement in Dell’s brand
favorability and 66% increase in intent to purchase a Dell product.
It’s clearly a smart move for Givewith to combine an
advertising product with a mechanism to improve social good, but I have mixed
feelings about the idea that brands are only supporting certain nonprofits solely
for the sake of appearances and increasing sales. Business is business, and I
don’t expect any companies to be truly altruistic in their CSR initiatives –
nor can I really take issue with any effort that helps fund nonprofits’
important work – but it does make me question how much I can trust the
authenticity of “corporate values” pages on company websites. What causes do
these companies actually support? What (and who) should I believe?
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