ABSTRACT
In the early 1980s after a series of associations with local nonprofit causes (e.g., the Dallas Ballet, Mount Vernon), Jerry Walsh, the executive vice president of worldwide marketing and communications for American Express, was looking for a cause upon which to build a national campaign. Looking at the Statue of Liberty, which was being prepared for restoration, he realized that she was “arguably the most universally compelling cause to Americans” (Alden, 2009b). So, in 1983, American Express offered to donate 1 cent for each credit card transaction and $1 for each new credit card account opened toward the effort to restore the Statue of Liberty. Jeff Atlas, the lead creative director on the campaign, knew that the communication of this alliance needed to carefully balance the relationship between American Express and the Statue. To avoid cynical reactions on the part of the consumers, the emphasis in the advertising needed to be more on helping the statue’s renovations and less on the use of or benefit to American Express cards (Alden, 2009a). The program raised $1.7 million of the $87 million restoration and the press coverage has been estimated at worth 10 times that amount. New card applications increased 45%, and in the first month alone card use increased 28% (Alden, 2009b). Jerry Walsh coined the term “cause-related marketing,” defining it not as philanthropy, but “marketing through an artful association with a charitable cause” (Alden, 2009b).
