To What Extent Company Image Improves through Cause-Related Marketing An Evidence from Food Industry

Abstract

For the past two decades increasing effort has been given to investigating the influence of cause-related marketing (CRM) activities on consumers' attitudes and behaviours. Because consumers may react differently to companies that operate in the same industry with similar CRM applications, the understanding of the requirements of a successful CRM application is crucial. This study aims to investigate to what extent the company image would improve for a company after applying a CRM campaign. It is suggested that the magnitude of company image improvement would be influenced by: (1) company trustworthiness; (2) the type of CRM campaign (being either a strategic or a tactical campaign). To test the hypotheses, Repeated Measures MANCOVA was used with a sample of 600 respondents in Istanbul, Turkey. The results show that only the type of CRM campaign improves the company image and surprisingly tactical CRM campaign results in more image improvement than does strategic CRM campaign.