Working for Tomorrow, Today: How a Proactive Approach to Communications Can Benefit a Cause-related Campaign

The holiday season means different things to different people. To some, it means celebrating with family and friends. To others, it means camping outside of Best Buy at 2 a.m. on Black Friday. Though people observe different traditions throughout the holiday season, one tradition in particular is recognized and loved by all: When the weather gets cold, Coca-Cola begins to run television advertisements featuring adorable polar bears frolicking in the snow with the Beach Boys’ “Little Saint Nick” playing merrily in the background.

Though the image of a family of polar bears befriending a colony of penguins is endearing, if not wildly inaccurate, the sad reality is that climate change is threatening the survival of the species by contributing to habitat loss and food shortage. In an effort to expand CSR endeavors, Coca-Cola partnered with the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) in a campaign to save the animal behind the company’s beloved mascot. For the Arctic Home campaign, Coca-Cola launched limited-eddition packaging that included a code that buyers could text in order to make a $1 donation that the company would match. The Arctic Home campaign was Coca-Cola’s most successful endeavor yet and helped raise over $2 million for WWF in the first year alone.

Why was the Arctic Home campaign so successful? The answer lies in the company’s communications strategy. Though the campaign was launched in response to the growing threat being faced by polar bears, Coca-Cola employed a proactive rather than reactive approach to communications in order to tell the story of the cause. At the time the Arctic Home Campaign was launched, the use of social media in communications campaigns was not as common of a practice as it is today. To raise awareness and support for the Arctic Home campaign, Coca-Cola relied mainly on the power of third-party partnerships and stakeholder involvement, as well as the traditional media. By partnering with WWF, Coca-Cola gained credibility for the Arctic Home campaign and expanded its reach to audiences that the company may not have been reaching previously. In addition, the campaign’s call to action was low-risk and simple to execute, so stakeholders were eager to get involved and support Arctic Home’s cause.

Coca-Cola’s Arctic Home campaign is just one example of how a cause-related campaign can benefit from a proactive communications strategy. A proactive communications strategy involves analyzing the current market environment, understanding target audiences, and anticipating needs and trends. When developing a cause-related campaign, especially one centered on issues such as sustainability and environmental protection, it is beneficial to the image and reputation of the sponsoring organization to adopt a proactive rather than reactive approach to communication. This is because the reactive approach to communication is geared more towards crisis management or reputation recovery. On the other hand, a proactive communication strategy can help an organization gain media traction and appear more authentic and reputable to stakeholders and the media. Furthermore, applying a proactive strategy to platforms other than social media can help an organization communicate its story effectively to a large audience. Harnessing the power of third-party partnerships as Coca-Cola did can help an organization’s campaign reach more people. A carefully selected third-party partner can also lend credibility and an authentic voice to the organization and its communications activities. Community involvement, public events, media relations, printed materials, and press releases can also be helpful traditional media tools for telling an organization’s story.

By adopting a proactive communications strategy, an organization can raise awareness for its cause-related campaign and achieve greater participation from stakeholders and the media. The elements of a proactive strategy lend authenticity and credibility to an organization’s communications activities, and tactics such as seeking third-party relationships and utilizing traditional media tools can help an organization effectively tell its story to a large audience.