Cause-related marketing — an interpretive structural model approach

ABSTRACT Cause-related marketing has the capability to generate strong brand evaluations and brings to managers a set of very complex decisions. Cause-related marketing very closely concerns society and its problems and consumers (in terms of product/service offer and the seeking of their support for various campaigns) and the company (with its various objectives that demand simultaneous attention). Although this marketing strategy has been used for more than 30 years there’s still a lack of clarity regarding the level of importance of various factors that affect success of a cause-related marketing campaign. In this study, the aim was to determine driving and dependence power of certain significant factors over each other to ascertain the approach with which these factors must be considered during campaign development For this purpose, ISM technique was employed to determine interrelationships between factors and, later on, the hierarchy that lies in their relations.