A great testimony to successful cause-related marketing comes to us from a retail chain, Calico Corners. Here's what Jan Jessup, Director of Communications, has to say about their unique fund raising and marketing campaign.
"Since Calico Cooks! was first published in 1999, Calico Corners has donated more than $240,000 from cookbook sales to Susan G. Komen for the Cure to fund breast cancer research. The previous year, one of our store managers, Jill Sewell, died at age 46 of breast cancer. When Jill's cancer was first diagnosed, she was in the midst of buying her first house. Not knowing what the future would bring, she wondered if she should go through with the purchase. Jill shared those worries with a counselor at the Susan G. Komen organization in Dallas, Texas. The counselor responded with two pointed questions. "Well, Jill, are you planning to live? Or are you planning to die?"
"Jill immediately decided to buy the house. She loved being there, even though it was only for a year or so. After Jill's death, all of us wanted to do something meaningful in her memory, and we decided to publish a cookbook to raise money for breast cancer research. This cause is close to many of us at Calico Corners and ALL of the profits from the sale of this cookbook are donated to continued research."
"When we made the decision to publish a cookbook, we knew that it had to be as professional as our sales associates and as beautiful as our fabrics. We found an excellent partner in FRP, who shared our vision for what this cookbook could be. We held a "Call for Recipes" and employees contributed more than 500 favorites. The best 200 were published in the cookbook. And although the recipes were not professionally kitchen-tested at FRP, the knowledgeable food editors did review and rewrite them as needed, for consistency and quality. They clarified instructions and checked for missing ingredients (the leavening agent?). We thought the book should reflect our expertise in home decorating, so there are dozens of design tips sprinkled throughout, wherever there was sufficient white space on the page. We included color photos from our catalog as the chapter openers. Calico Cooks is a great buy for just $15. This cookbook is in its Fifth Printing and has sold more than 40,000 copies. Our employees are proud of it and sell it enthusiastically, as their favorite recipes are found there!"
Jan Jessup / CalicoCorners / 203 Gale Lane, Kennett Square, PA 19348 / (610) 444-9700, ext. 262(610) 444-1221 fax mailto:jjessup@calicocorners.com
Do you know of a worthy non-profit that you could partner with to raise money and build your brand?
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