Cause Marketing: Cause Marketing is the art of combining your commercial brand with a non-profit issue. Cause marketing campaigns have years of history and range from relatively superficial tactical partnerships, to long-term, strategic alliances that penetrate deeply into business and nonprofit organizations.

In 2008, businesses and schools in British Columbia, CA took a stand against bullying with the city’s first “Pink Shirt Day.” It began as a grassroots effort to show solidarity for a fellow student who was bullied for wearing a pink shirt, and was picked up by a Canadian politician who saw its potential to raise awareness. Now in its second year, Pink Shirt Day is getting a lot of attention.

One shopping center is getting involved. Metropolis at Metrotown is holding its own Pink Day this month. The shopping center is selling pink T-shirts for $10, with proceeds going to LOVE BC, a local anti-violence charity. Shoppers who wear the pink shirts on February 28th will have a chance to win a $1000 mall gift card, and the event is taking advantage of new media with a Facebook group and a YouTube “Pink Day Shout Out” contest.

Pink Day, however, doesn’t seem to be affiliated with Pink Shirt Day, and takes place several days after the larger event. This might be a small misstep in a great marketing idea. What do you think? Is it better to hold a solo event for an important issue, or to get involved with an existing non-profit?

Exchange Tower in Ontario, CA found that it was losing food court customers to nearby eateries on hot summer days. To combat this trend last summer, the center came up with a clever promotion that succeeded at bringing in a lot of attention.

The “Bean Out to Lunch Lately?” promotion offered shoppers a reward for their lunchtime loyalty. Small packages with jellybeans and a printed “passport” were handed out to visitors. The passport was a stamp card for food court retailers. If shoppers ate at six different food retailers over a three week period and got their passports stamped to prove it, they’d receive a free ice cream treat to fight the heat, and they’d automatically be entered into a $500 draw.

As an added bonus, the cards could be registered online for a daily $50 draw. Exchange Tower saw great results from this – a 73% increase in website traffic, and a 36% redemption rate for the passport.

It seems like there’s a world record being set for just anything and everything these days. Recently we’ve covered plans for the most simultaneous star jumps and the largest shoe tower. Now a number of Canadian malls, including Guildford Town Centre, are working together to set the record for Most Children Reading with an Adult. Malls across the country are inviting shoppers to bring their kids in to be read to, an activity that’s shown to have great benefits for children. It’s all part of celebrating Family Literacy Day.

These events draw a lot of media attention, so it might be worthwhile to brainstorm ideas for a world record your mall could set. The record doesn’t have to exist already, so be creative. You can set records for a single location or multiple locations, so consider a joint effort. Any ideas coming to you yet?

The first couple months after Christmas are usually pretty dull for shopping centers and their retailers. They’re filled with long, slow weeks with little to break them up but post-Christmas sales and sidewalk sales and break-up-the-monotany sales.

Sherway Gardens, in Ontario, Canada, brightens up the post-holiday blues with it’s annual Winter Antiques Sale. The bargains are a little more one-of-a-kind, and shoppers lured by Depression-chic will find vintage clothes and decor to fuel their overactive imaginations. It’s the biggest winter antiques show in Toronto, Ontario, and it’s been running for 15 years with no signs of slowing down.

How is your shopping center handing the post-Christmas lull? Are you preparing for any special events that will get deal-hungry shoppers back to the mall?

Cause Marketing: Cause Marketing is the art of combining your commercial brand with a non-profit issue. Cause marketing campaigns have years of history and range from relatively superficial tactical partnerships, to long-term, strategic alliances that penetrate deeply into business and nonprofit organizations.

White Oaks Mall in Ontario, CA, held a fun online event this month with its Treasures of Hope auction. Visitors to the mall’s website could bid on their choice of 116 gift cards and packages from the mall and its retailers, with all proceeds going to the Children’s Aid Society of London and Middlesex.

The auction is well planned – each retailer makes a small contribution of a gift card or two to the cause. Shoppers bid on the items, and generally get a good deal on a gift card or item. Each bid also grants a chance in a draw for a $500 draw, and the winner of each item valued at over $50 gets a bonus gift card to the mall’s food court. Everyone wins, especially the Children’s Aid Society. The auction brought in over $7500 for the charity.