Over the past decade, healthcare corporate/cause alliances have moved from the "nice to have" status to becoming an essential cornerstone of today's corporate marketing and social responsibility platforms. In fact, IEG reported that 2012 corporate cause sponsorship spending rose 1.2% to $1.7B, up from $816M in 2002.

The vital role cause plays is evidenced by a number of studies, such as:

· The 2012 Edelman Good Purpose Study found that 87% of global consumers believe that business needs to place at least equal weight on society’s interests as on business’ interests.

· A 2010 PR Week/Barkley survey found that 97% of business executives believe cause partnership to be a valid strategy.

·And 75% of brands report that they were engaging in cause marketing, up from 58% in 2009.

In the August PRSA Healthcare SIG session, Mollye Rhea will provide an update on cause alliance trends and share examples of how top health-related nonprofit and corporate marketers are leveraging cause in their communications platforms. Participants will learn a variety of strategies for leveraging cause to advance marketing and communications goals, and engage key audiences for specific program goals and long-term brand loyalty.

Speaker:
Mollye Rhea, president and founder, For Momentum, a cause marketing agency