Abstract

The purpose of cause-related marketing is to capitalize on a firm’s social engagement initiatives to achieve a positive return on a firm’s social investment. This article discusses two strategic perspectives of cause-related marketing and their impact on a firm’s decision making regarding campaign development. The instrumental dominant logic of cause-related marketing focuses on attracting customers’ attention in order to generate sales. The relational dominant logic of cause-related marketing focuses on building relationships with the target stakeholders through the enhancement of a firm’s legitimacy. The combination of these two types of logic gives rise to four types of cause-related marketing: altruistic, commercial, social, and integrative. This paper uses the qualitative method to explore a firm’s marketing decision choices regarding campaign-related decision dimensions – campaign duration, geographical scope, cause selection, and implementation strategy – for each type of cause-related marketing. The finding provides theoretical, managerial, and public policy implications.