'Twas the Season for Cause Marketing

Retailers embraced their favorite causes throughout the holiday season, hosting campaigns to benefit both national charities and local food banks.Among national charities, The Salvation Army remained high on retailer gift lists. In addition to the bell-ringing Red Kettle fundraisers deployed outside stores operated by Delhaize America, Kmart, Kroger, ShopRite, Wal-Mart, Walgreens and other chains, several retailers conducted special promotions. Among them:Ahold USA's Giant (Carlisle), Tops and Martin's chains collected $78,000 through a "Hope for the Holidays" campaign in which customers made donations via tearpad coupons at checkout. The chains also donated $40,000 worth of toys to Salvation Army locations in New York.&nbspTarget Corp., which banned the Red Kettle bell ringers in 2004 (due to its corporate policy prohibiting solicitation), hosted a co-branded Angel Giving Tree program online and sold special-edition items to collect donations. (See Related Articles.) The partnership kicked off with a much-publicized Thanksgiving stunt by magician David Blaine, who escaped shackles while suspended 50 feet above New York City's Times Square to escort 100 children on a Target-funded shopping spree. &nbspWal-Mart also held an online Red Kettle program and pledged to match up to $1 million in donations.The U.S. Marine Corps' Toys for Tots program also received strong holiday support, with circular features and donation bins in such retailers as Big Lots and Winn-Dixie. Activity included: Meijer partnered with PepsiCo to donate 50 cents from every combined purchase of Pepsi-Cola and Frito-Lay products (up to $150,000).&nbspToys "R" Us and Babies "R" Us recruited actress Brooke Shields as spokesperson for a Million Toy Drive, which has raised more than $3 million since Nov. 3. (The chains kicked in $1 million.) Select Toys "R" Us locations also hosted kid-friendly "ABCs of Charitable Giving" sessions taught by celebrity moms such as Shields, Jennie Garth and Maria Celeste Arraras that featured shopping excursions to benefit the drive.&nbspIn addition to Toys for Tots, Best Buy supported the Toys for Teens campaign it helped launch by donating proceeds from Nickelodeon DVDs and plush toys. (See "Marketing at Best Buy.")St. Jude Children's Research Hospital partnered with retailers including 7-Eleven, AutoZone, CVS, Dollar General, Kmart, Sears and Target for its "Thanks and Giving" program, in which shoppers add a donation of $1 or more to their purchase. Exclusive support included:CVS sold Thanks & Giving: All Year Round, a book by actress and St. Jude national outreach director Marlo Thomas, on its web site.&nbspTarget merchandised a Jones Soda Dessert Pack of pie-filling flavors, aiming to raise $50,000 for St. Jude.&nbsp7-Eleven donated $3 from the sale of St. Jude-branded plush bears.Elsewhere, retailers contributed to local food banks by donating meals and encouraging customer support. Activity included: Delhaize America's Food Lion again participated in the "Shopping for Second Harvest" campaign from America's Second Harvest Network, wherein shoppers purchase prepared food boxes for $4.99 and donate them to local food banks.&nbspSupervalu banners partnered with Food for All on a point-of-sale program in which shoppers bought donation coupons of $1, $3 or $5 at checkout to benefit a local food bank. &nbspSafeway conducted nearly 40 food drives nationwide, pledging to donate more than 1.8 million meals.&nbspShopRite's "Check Out Hunger" program offered $1, $3 or $5 donation coupons for local food banks. The retailer also supported the Salvation Army Angel Giving Tree in circulars.Retailers also supported a variety of other causes, including:Barnes & Noble collected donations for community youth organizations through its annual book drive. (See Retail Holiday Roundup" in Related Articles.)&nbsp Kmart activated a partnership with Boys & Girls Clubs of America by holding a "KartWheels for Kids" toy drive from Nov. 19 to Dec. 20. Shoppers donated new toys for distribution to needy kids.&nbspKohl's continued its annual Kohl's Cares for Kids campaign, generating donations through the sale of Dr. Seuss plush toys and books. &nbspGolub Corp.'s Price Chopper donated T.M.X. Elmos to three children's health facilities in New York and Connecticut. (The Fisher-Price toy was one of the hottest-selling items of the season.)

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