Charity; A Commercial Trend?

Kindness and charitable support in everyday tasks is becoming a much more supported movement. With YouTube hits showing a large volume of interest in acts of kindness videos, such as this (picture below) unusual note left on a car window;

(image from youtube.com)

The Newspaper headlines are starting to not only write about usual scandal and depression but telling the public human kindness and honesty is still thriving. The headline below shows the Metro’s highly emotive emphasis on the team work behind saving the person squashed under a London bus, so much so, the attention is least of all on the flattened victim.

The corporate world has caught up with this trend by becoming more inclined to boast about the charities they support in order to cater to another USP. These brands are trying to boost their image by selling the impression that they are giving back to the community. The customer is more willing to spend extra when the product they are buying isn’t just for their own benefit.

‘Even though people want to be charitable or ethical, they are often too lazy, too cash-strapped or too short of time to turn this belief into action. So they look to retailers and brands to do the good work for them’

May 2015, Mintel

According to Mintel’s research, the main reasons the customer shall donate to these charitable features with 40% of customers claim they want to make a difference in other’s lives. This is closely followed at 35% by personal association the customer has to the charity. However the smallest percentage with only 20% of the interviewers admitted it made them feel better about themselves.

Many customers are wise to the moneymaking and profile boosting side to giving to charity through other brands. The customer wants to know the how the money is being spent to see how genuine the brand is to the charity. Many companies use the charities as an extra expenditure at checkout, but research shows the customer is put off by this lack of personal touch.

'We see that increasingly people appreciate the link between the ethical action taken by their retailers and the retail brand itself.'

Mintel

Vision Express is one of the largest optical stores on the UK highstreet, and announced last year their partnerships with six eye-care related charities. This not only gives the brand an image of a caring nature but shall help them to stand out on the eyewear market. The lack of evidence in their support makes the charitable quality dubious, especially as six charities are a huge number to work with if they are trying to create true results.

(image from Luxottica.com)

Luxottica are well known to hold a strong relationship with OneSight, a charity which provides vision care on a global scale. Each year they support the charity by providing volunteers from each element of the company to try to achieve the OneSight goals. This is a great example of a company doing something much more than just providing money for credit and holds a sense of honesty through the proof of their collaborative work.