Cause Related Marketing Versus Corporate Social Responsibility: A Modern Marketing War

Cause-related marketing is an established and successful marketing communication technique aimed at creating a more loyal consumer base and producing a competitive advantage. It is a good source of 'giving back' to the community and making a large social impact. Cause-related marketing has been getting an exceptional space in the core of marketing strategies due to the fact that cause-driven consumerism has become a trend, and it is the consumers that end up humanizing one another on why their brand (and their identity with that brand) is more socially responsible than the other. But to what degree is "Doing Good" setting a standard for Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)? How far can CSR activities (that is, the outcome of a company's social accountability and a norm to be followed by every company) lead over cause-related marketing strategies? The present paper is an exploratory study and portrays an association and comparison of the corporate social responsibility activities and cause-related marketing strategies in the light of the Indian scenario.