論煙草行業(yè)公益營銷策略

摘要:煙草企業(yè)通過公益營銷活動來努力履行自己的企業(yè)社會責任。然而，由于煙草行業(yè)的特殊性，公益營銷的結(jié)果總不盡如人意。其原因在于其所應(yīng)用的公益營銷策略缺少可持續(xù)性、系統(tǒng)性、公眾的認可及參與以及品牌與公益之間的一致性。因此，要想成功，煙草企業(yè)就必須真心公益，選取與自身品牌有關(guān)聯(lián)性的公益項目，建立長遠關(guān)系，并增加公眾參與度。從一些例子分析中也印證了這一點。

關(guān)鍵詞:公益營銷;煙草行業(yè);企業(yè);社會責任

中圖分類號:F20 文獻標志碼:A 文章編號:1673-291X(2010)10-0159-02

收稿日期:2010-02-18

作者簡介:高妙永(1978-)，女，福建廈門人，講師，碩士研究生，從事商務(wù)英語研究。

一、Tobacco Cause Marketing under Influence of WHO FCTC

1.Current Status of Tobacco Marketing.Recently， the regulation for tobacco marketing has become much sterner while tobacco marketers try hard to make their marketing strategy diversified. The tobacco industry’s marketing net is made up of many strands of advertising， sponsorship and public relations strategies， all of which work together to promote and reinforce tobacco use (WHO 2).

There is no doubt that advertising is considered as the most effective and efficient way to promote products or services. The advertising strategy of tobacco includes direct advertising and indirect advertising. Since the tobacco advertising ban was implemented， indirect advertising has become the most promising way to promote tobacco. Instead of openly urging consumers to use a tobacco product， direct advertising uses brand names， corporate names， trademarks， emblems or other distinctive features of tobacco products to draw the public’s attention without naming the product specifically (WHO 5). Furthermore， smoking also permeates movies. The scenes of tobacco use in movies also help a lot in marketing. By doing so， this strategy is able to create a positive image in front of publics.

“Sponsorship of sports， entertainment and cultural events is another widespread form that promotes tobacco use as socially acceptable and tobacco companies as legitimate members of the community” (WHO 6). Unlike philanthropy， money spent on sponsorship is a business expense， not a donation， and is expected to show a return on investment. For instance， Marlboro is quite famous for its sponsorship of motor racing， starting from 1972 with its sponsorship of Formula One teams BRM and Iso Marlboro-Ford. Unfortunately， sponsorship will be completely illegal in the European Union in 2011.

2. Significance of Cause Marketing in Tobacco Industry.Studies have shown that eighty-six percent of consumers are more likely to buy a product associated with a cause or issue， and that eighty-six percent of consumers have a more positive image of a company they believe is doing something to make the world a better place (Joe Marconi 4).

Cause marketing succeeds when customers are aware of the brands and companies. There is an old saying that customer is king. One good comment from a customer is better than hundreds of words of praise from the company itself. That is exactly what cause marketing will bring. The company would establish a good image through cause marketing programs， and there is absolutely no doubt that if a company earns a good name， it will gain a relative advantage among competition， especially in tobacco industry.

Moreover， tobacco is bought as a result of habitual behavior. That is to say， once long-term firm relationships with consumers are established， they will be loyal to the company， and the brand. Cause marketing is the very strategy used to build up the strong emotional connections between brands and consumers.

二、Current Problems in Tobacco Cause Marketing

1. Social Responsibility Disapproved by Customers.One of the most urgent problems is that tobacco corporate social responsibility is not universally acknowledged. Cause marketing has long been seen as a sign of corporate social responsibility. “Corporate social responsibility is crucial to the tobacco industry for restoring its damaged reputation， improving employee morale and maintaining and increasing the value of company stock (WHO 16)”. However， this tobacco corporate social responsibility has been disputed. For one thing， tobacco is a real danger to one’s health. With the increase of health conception， people are attaching more and more importance to smoking-control， which has become a great challenge to tobacco sales. For another thing， tobacco is a legal commodity， which means tobacco companies would make every effort to boost sales and make profits. It is really an embarrassing situation that tobacco companies continually undermine the public’s health by selling cigarettes， while performing their corporate social responsibility to return to the society through various ways including cause marketing(Tang Yizhi 73). Under this circumstance， the public will definitely cast an eye of criticism at cause marketing in tobacco industry. Thus， it is impossible to win customer’s approval， let alone sales.

2.Absence of Sustainability and Systemization.One phenomenon which exists extensively is that most of cause marketing campaigns in tobacco industry lack sustainability and systemization. They merely carry out the program on the spur of the moment， rather than on the base of good preparation and rational arrangement.

Sustainability claims that the whole cause marketing program should be sustainable and long-term instead of one-off. Lots of tobacco companies support many of these programs just in the first year alone， when they have high emotions. Usually， this will probably result in a waste of money and time while the public do not remember what they have done. Systemization means that cause marketing should be done by steps not by leaps. Before starting a new cause marketing program， objectives must be very clearly stated. Within doing so， a scientific and systemized plan is needed. In the follow-up stage， perseverance is the key， or else it would be considered as doing good out of self-interest instead of the society. The absence of sustainability and systemization will inevitably lead to failure of cause marketing and result in a backfire.

三、Win-Win Solutions

1. More about Public Good， Less about Company Profit.Tobacco companies are often regarded as a wolf in sheep’s clothing in that those companies do good out of seeking quick success and instant benefits rather than long-term relationships. Certainly， cause marketing is based on marketing， which aims to maximise a company’s profits. But cause marketing is beyond marketing. Therefore， there is a desperate need to find an equilibrium point of welfare to society and company profits. The best way out is to show more care about public good， and less about company profits through solid action.

Programs should be of sincerity and transparency， which will suggest toconsumers that the donations will indeed make a difference to the cause， not just the company (Jocelyne Daw 67). One excellent example is British American Tobacco (BAT)， a leading global tobacco company. In global markets， BAT has launched campaigns of reducing the smoking behavior among teenagers. By contributing funds to the programs held by charitable institutions and health organization， they declare that teenagers should be non-smokers. It is an interesting phenomenon that a tobacco company discourages the public from smoking. Through all this effort BAT has exerted， a more positive image of the brand has been created and acknowledged by consumers.

2.Sustainable and Systematic Development in Tobacco Cause Marketing.In view of the fact that cause marketing program is usually time limited， immediate profits-driven， sustainable and systematic development strategy is absolutely necessary.

It is quite true to say that “Long-term efforts help attract and build long-term relationships with customers (Anish K. Verrghese 122).” Taking the famous tobacco brand Li Qun as an example. “Li Qun Sunshine Realizes Your Dream” project began in 2001， and it is a large scale activity of public service held by Zhejiang Tobacco and mainstream media， by means of donations to schools to help those poor students who perform well both academically and morally to realize their dreams， to establish kindly and friendly friendships and social moralities， and to build up a socialist spiritual civilization and promote coordinated social development. The slogan of the project is that where there is pursuit， there is sunshine. In the past seven years， “Li Qun Sunshine Realize Your Dream” project has contributed 22.2 million yuan and successfully helped more than 4，800 poor students realize their university dream. Today， what Li Qun cause marketing has achieved is not only improved social welfare， but also a perfect brand. It is the very long-term perseverance of Li Qun that brings great success.

Works Cited:

[1]Anish， K. Verrghese. Partnerships and Cause Related Marketing: Building brands for the future. The ICFAI Journal of Brand

Management， 2006， Vol. 3， No. 1. Panjagutta，Hyderabad: ICFAI University Press.

[2]Jocelyne， Daw. Cause Marketing for Nonprofits， Partner for Purpose， Passion， and Profits. New Jersey: John WileySons， Inc， 2006.

[3]Joe， Marconi. Cause Marketing， Build Your Image and Bottom Line through Socially Responsible Partnerships， Programs， and

Events. New York: Dearborn Trade Publishing， a Kaplan Professional Company， 2002.

[4]Karen， M. F. and Russ， A. P. Cause Related Marketing and Corporate Philanthropy in the Privately Held Enterprise. Journal of

Business Ethics， 1998， 17:1529-1539.

[5]Marc Gobé. Citizen Brand: 10 Commandments for Transforming Brand Culture in a Consumer Democracy. New York: Allworth Press，

2002.

[6]Philip， Kotler and Nancy， Lee. Corporate Social Responsibility， Doing the Most Good for Your Company and Your Cause. New

Jersey: John WileySons， Inc， 2005.

[7]Seymour H. Fine. Marketing the Public Sector: Promoting the Cause of Public and Nonprofit Agencies. New Jersey: Transaction

Publishers， 1992.

[8]Wei Tan. The Effects of Taxes and Advertising Restrictions on the Market Structure of the U.S.Cigarette Market. Review of Industrial

Organization(2006)28:231-251

On Cause Marketing in Tobacco Industry

GAO Miao-yong

(Foreign Languages School of Jimei University，Xiamen361021， China)

Abstract: Tobacco companies continue every effort on performing corporate social responsibility by cause marketing campaign. However， many campaigns have failed due to the particularity of tobacco industry. The reason may be the application of cause marketing without sustainability， systemization， public approval and participation， and consistency between company and cause. Therefore， keys for success include giving from heart， selecting the relevant cause， long-term campaigns and obtaining public participation. Some case analysis can also be used to support the point of view.

Key words: cause marketing;tobacco industry;enterprise social responsibility

[責任編輯 安世友]