Campaign: Beardston
Company: Smith Brothers
Nonprofit Partner: The Jimmy Fund
Launch Date: October 24, 2013
Campaign:
Smith Brothers is banking on the resemblance between the original Smith Brothers and the bearded Red Sox World Series team paying off for a cause.
Even the World Series isn’t immune to the power of cause marketing. Smith Brothers has issued a challenge to the city of Boston to rename itself “Beardston” for the duration of the 2013 World Series. Playing off the resemblance between the bearded Red Sox and the original Smith Brothers, the brand will donate 25% of profits during the World Series to the Jimmy Fund benefitting Boston’s world-renowned Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. Leaving no pun left unturned, Boston.com reports a Smith Brothers’ senior vice president commenting, “Just like the Red Sox, our products have been attacking green monsters in one form or another for decades.”
Our Take:
It’s a bit of a stretch, but we’ll give Smith Brothers props for attempting to creatively capitalize on the World Series and including a Boston-based cause in their efforts. Perhaps including a donation for every time the ‘Beardston’ meme was retweeted or reposted may have helped the effort spread a bit wider than it appears to have done thus far.
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