After Christmas, Halloween is the second biggest consumer holiday. And just as there are many cause marketing promotions on store shelves and at the register during the holiday season, Halloween has become as much about helping good causes as it is about jack-o-lanterns and trick-or-treating.
Here’s a round-up of some of the popular cause marketing promotions this October.
THE WALKING DEAD AND AMERICAN RED CROSS
As a big fan of the television show The Walking Dead this one is a cause marketing dream (or nightmare?)! The zombie series has teamed up with the American Red Cross to get people to give blood. The cool thing is that when you schedule an appointment you can enter a contest to win a visit to the set of The Walking Dead. For fans like me giving blood to visit the set is a no-brainer!
BETTER HOMES & GARDENS AND REBUILDING TOGETHER
Again this year, you can download pumpkin stencils from Better Homes & Gardens. For each downloaded stencil, BH&G will donate $2 (up to $5,000) to Rebuilding Together, which for 25 years has been providing critical repairs and renovations for low-income homeowners across the United States.
CHIPOTLE AND FARM AID
Costumes have been a part of Halloween since Roman times. These days businesses will reward you and a cause for wearing yours. When you wear your costume to Mexican grill chain Chipotle on Halloween night they’ll sell you a burrito for just two bucks. In turn, the money raised, up to one million dollars, will benefit The Chipotle Cultivate Foundation and Farm Aid, two non-profit organizations working to keep farmers on the land and practicing sustainable farming.
Check out this great Halloween video from Chipotle on their annual Halloween event, aptly called Boorito.
TRICK-OR-TREAT FOR BIG CATS AND NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC
Everyone knows about Trick-or-Treat for UNICEF. It seems like it’s been around almost as long as Halloween itself! Over 60 years, UNICEF has raised millions of dollars with its signature orange collection boxes. You still have time to order your free boxes to raise money for UNICEF, but another option is make your own box and Trick-or-Treat for Big Cats, a program sponsored by National Geographic to save these endangered animals. Monies raised from the program will support a number of initiatives, such as livestock enclosures that will prevent the sparks that ignite conflict between people and big cats.
YOUR DENTIST & LOCAL CAUSES
This is a great example of hyper-local cause marketing. Dentists are buying back candy from kids in exchange for prizes, incentives and contests. In turn, dentists are donating the candy to homeless shelters, food banks and Operation Gratitude, which ships candy to the troops overseas. You can donate knowing your Kit Kats, Swedish Fish and Sour Patch Kids will go to people for whom candy is not an everyday pleasure. And I’m sure your dentist will remember to include a few toothbrushes!
