Cincinnati, OH -- (SBWIRE) -- 11/18/2010 -- Whether your cause is green, pink or any other color of the rainbow, an experts panel at the U.S. Direct Marketing Association’s (DMA) annual meeting revealed that the trend toward cause marketing is the next step in engaging customers and increasing loyalty.

Authenticity was the key word during the panel discussion. The consensus tip was that if the cause is not authentic to the brand, integrating it into the brand’s marketing will fail.

The DMA provided attendees at its recent annual meeting in San Francisco a glimpse of what’s on the horizon in cause marketing by assembling the representatives of successful programs for a panel titled “Loyalty Leaders Tell All: Harnessing the Power of Cause Marketing.” COLLOQUY’s Managing Partner Kelly Hlavinka chaired the DMA panel discussion.

Panelists included:

• Morley Ivers, Corporate Advisor (formerly Chief Rewards Officer) at RecycleBank and Chief Operating Officer at DailyFeats, a company that focuses on applying a rewards model to incent people to “Do Good and Check It In”;

• Erin DeRuggiero, Co-Founder & CMO of Social Reality, a digital cause-marketing consultancy, participating on behalf of her client Seventh Generation;

• Asha Patel, Manager of Dividend Miles Partnerships at US Airways;

• Candice Troupe, Senior Director of Marketing for LoyaltyOne and the AIR MILES Reward Program, Canada’s premier coalition loyalty program.

The experts said that any loyalty program that doesn’t have some aspect of cause-related marketing is behind the times, but cautioned that any cause program must align with the sponsoring business and be useful to customers. The panelists shared their belief that cause marketing must be at the core of what brands are doing and must recognize that customers want brands to do more than just sell products.

Some other highlights from the DMA panel discussion:

• RecycleBank, the green rewards program that motivates people to take environmental actions, serves more than 100 communities in the United States and five boroughs in the United Kingdom;

• My Planet - AIR MILES Reward Program’s cause-marketing initiative – analyzed data to identify millions of members with strong devotion to green, to tailor education, purchases and redemption options for them;

• Through Miles of Hope, US Airways frequent-flyer members have donated over 700,000,000 miles to worthy causes such as the American Red Cross and Make-A-Wish Foundation. The miles equal more than 15,000 flights;

• Around 25,000 influential Seventh Generation Nation members, signed on to create “virtual crawlers” through the company’s Million Baby Crawl program to raise awareness for tougher legislation around toxicity in household products;

• DailyFeats has more than 150 daily tasks for people to take positive actions and to learn about different ways to better themselves, their world and the lives of people in their social networks.

Download the new white paper of the DMA panel discussion on cause marketing, free of charge, at http://www.colloquy.com/loyaltyleaders.

“We’re at an inflection point where it’s more important than ever to have some element of cause marketing invested with our very best customers,” said COLLOQUY’s Kelly Hlavinka. The importance of local communities and personal relationships are ever-increasing and cause marketing is a great way to align your brand with the values of your customers.”

About COLLOQUY
COLLOQUY® comprises a collection of publishing, education and research resources devoted to the global loyalty-marketing industry. Owned by LoyaltyOne, COLLOQUY has served the loyalty-marketing industry since 1990 with over 40,000 global subscribers to its magazine and http://www.colloquy.com the most comprehensive loyalty web site in the world. COLLOQUY’s research division develops research studies and white papers including industry-specific reports, sizing studies and insights into the drivers of consumer behavior. COLLOQUY also provides educational services through workshops, webinars and speeches at events throughout the world and is a loyalty-marketing partner of both the Direct Marketing Association and the Canadian Marketing Association and a content provider to the American Marketing Association. COLLOQUY also operates the COLLOQUY Network, a global consortium of practitioners certified in COLLOQUY’s proprietary methodology. COLLOQUY magazine subscriptions are available at no cost to qualified persons at http://www.colloquy.com or by calling 513.248.9184.

Download the New White Paper of the DMA Panel Discussion on Cause Marketing Today
http://www.colloquy.com/loyaltyleaders