Partnering for a Better World

[Editor's Note: David Hessekiel is the co-author, with Philip Kotler and Nancy Lee, of the new book, "Good Works!: Marketing and Corporate Initiatives that Build a Better World … and the Bottom Line." Here, he talks a little about cause marketing and its impact on the nonprofit world.]

When I started out in this field 12 years ago, there was a tremendous division in the corporate world between those who were engaged in corporate social responsibility and those in cause marketing. Caricaturing a bit to make the point, people in corporate social responsibility were policy wonks focused on policy issues (e.g., environment, labor, governance) and were quite disconnected from operating business concerns. Cause marketers were seen as very promotionally driven marketers motivated to create short-term tie-ins with nonprofits to drive sales and publicity.