Thinking It Through: Best Practices for Launching a Cause Initiative

For other companies wishing to launch a similar cause initiative to the Start! Program that addresses adult inactivity with a multifaceted integrated communications program, Robyn Landry, executive vice president of communications for the American Heart Association has these two points to offer:

•    Partner your company with an agency that has a strong background and expertise in cause marketing. “If this is something that’s new to [the company], it’s great to have an agency partner like Cohn to help [plot] the strategic elements of it.”

•    Focus on what you can do in-house: “Think about what your organization’s strengths are—what you need complemented from an agency standpoint. [For instance], we have a lot of staff who are great at media pitching, so a good bulk of the pitching for the Start! launch was done by our staff on site here in Dallas; we also have a communications person in New York.”

Contact: Robyn Landry, robyn.landry@heart.org