BACKGROUND

On April 14,2010 Sherry Browne. Brand manager for Post-it brand product at 3M Canada Company (3M), need to determine how to further activate 3Ms coporate sponsorhip relationship with the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation. The goal of the 2009 Post-it marketing plan had been to exceed sales and income targets and to strengthesn the brand by creating a strong integrated marketing communications plan, focusing on marketing plans that drove retail business growth. SO, for marketing plan 2010, Browne need to ensure that the mature Post-it brand continued to meet the five-year planof increased sales and growth The previous Vice President of Consumer and Office, Chip Allan, aware that 3Ms U.S counterpart was utilizing a cause-related marketing stategy with a weelknown breast cancer charity. He encouraged the brand to align with social cause through product donations & sponsorship.

TEORY
Cause-related marketing was defined as a business strategy that helps organization stand for a social issue to gain significant bottom line & social impacts while making an emotional and relevant connection to stakeholdesrs, by building brand equity, cultivating trust, enhancing reputation, improving society and positively influence stakeholder, integrating community relations, human resources and marketing.

3M CANADA COMPANY
3M was established in 1951 in Canada. 3M was fundamentally a science-based company that produced thousand of imaginative products and was a leader in score of markets, from health care and highway safety to office products and abrasives and adhesives.3M operations in more than 60 countries. Some of 3Ms product are Post-it, Scotch, Scotch-brite, Nexcare, etc. Becoming a coporate sponsor fit with 3Ms value and culture. 3Ms value included being commited to community giving and being proud to support the communities where its employee lived and worked. 3M focused its giving strategy to include education, health, human services and the arts. The companys four main values is providing an attractive return through sustained wuality growth, satisfing customers, respecting the social, and creating a company employees were proud to be part of. The U.S 3M company had many cause-related marketing initiatives, such as its coporate sponsorship of Susan G.Komen for the cure, the worlds largest breast cancer charity (headquarter in Dallas, Texas). Allan and 3M wanted to mitigate the risk of being seen as participating in pink washing, the phenomenon of a corporation creating an alliance with a charitable cause more for theintention of boosting its sales and corporate image and less for the intention of helping a worthwhile cause.Allan and team had two candidat 1

non profit, The Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation (CBCF) and Rethink Breast Cancer

The Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation (CBCF) Established in 1986, the CBCF was the leading national volunteer-based organization in Canada dedicated to creating a future without breast cancer. The CBCF work to fund, support, advocate for relevant and innovative research, meaningful education, early diagnosis & effective treatment for those living with breats cancer. The CBCFs strategic focus was to make a positive impact on th elives of those most affected by breast cancer, such as by increasing knowledge about breast cancer risk reduction & treatment, by improving womens quality life. Rethink Breast Cancer (RBC) Rethink Breast Cancer was national volunteer-driven registered charity with an enterprising bold and entrepreneurial approach. RBC provide innovative breast cancer support progrmas, educations, and research to help young people who were concerned about and affected by breast cancer.RBC used creative and unconventional ways debunk breast cancer myths, transform attitudes & reach women and men who felt unaffected by the breast cancer cause. Finally, 3M decide to partner with CBCF because CBCF had a relationship with the Susan G. Komen Foundation which was aligned with the 3M counterpart in US, many of 3Ms retailers were already corporate sponsors of CBCF, CBCFs organizational culture closely with 3Ms, and CBCF had a strategy in place or building ling-term relationship with its partners. After choosing CBCF as a partner, 3M signed a corporate sponsorship agreement and CBCF required all its corporate sponsor to prominently display in their product packaging the amount of the donation and their relationship with CBCF. Organization that supported the foundation were not required to change their production process to create a pink product. For example, 3M specifically created pink product to demontsrate their support and engage their customer, each product had a pink ribbon predominantly displayed on the product itself. But, when a company customized the product, additonal cost were incurred.

INTEGRATED MARKETING CAMPAIGN : PROJECT RUNWAY CANADA (2009)

In the fall of 2008, Sherry Brownes overall goal was to develop a marketing communicationsplan for 2009 that would meet the following goals : - Engage the target consumer with the Post-it brand - Send consumer to the retailer for products beyond what they used in the office - Demonstrate the innovation - Active the partnership with the CBCF 2

Browne was passionate about supporting the CBCF and wanted the foundation to benefit from the Project Runway Canada marketing campaign. After brainstorming, Browne had developed the idea to create an integrated plan that centered on an eposodic challege on Project Runway Canada (PRC), a Canadian reality TV series where aspiring fashion designer completed for a chance to enter into the fashion industry. Browne pleased with this idea and began develop her marketing plan, they are public relations, a web presence, in store displays, a consumer contest, philanthropic support, employee, and customer engagement, and new product development. To meet the PRCs objectives, Browne uses two strategies. First, drive profitable business growth by increasing sales in the retail channel through consumer promotional activity. Second, strengthen the Post-it brand by developing a multitactic, integrated marketing communications plan that would reach a wider base of consumers. The result is that PRC campaing had been success, not only did the campaign increase Post-it note sales, it also increased awareness and raised money for the CBCF. The preassure was that Browne need to ensure that the mature Post-it brand continued to meet the five-year planof increased sales and growth. So, for marketing plan 2010, Browne began brainstorming with some question, such as : what could Browne plan for 2010 that would be new and ecxciting? What ner products could she develop that would grow the brand? Could these products also benefit CBCF? Were consumer and retailers becoming pinked out? Should Browne integrated her plan and bring it to an overall corporate level?What brand in the 3M portfolio would be better fit than those used in the past? How could the coporate strategy integrated the relationship with CBCF and the cause? Etc.