CSR - A marketing tool? : A case study of ICA's and Lindex's Pink Ribbon campaign

Abstract: Purpose: The purpose of this thesis is to investigate how a CSR strategy can be used as a marketing tool by analyzing ICA‘s and Lindex‘s marketing approach within the Pink Ribbon campaign. Background: The concept of CSR has become more and more common in business practices and customers today almost expect companies to be socially responsible. Even though CSR is very important for companies, it has historically not been a very lucrative approach for them to involve in these activities. However there are ways of combining the social responsibility with earning profits. The concept of CRM is a very effective tool for earning a profit while at the same time being socially responsible. In Sweden one of the biggest and most well known CSR activities is the Pink Ribbon campaign. Could this campaign be utilized to market a company and how would this then be done? Method: The research approach for the thesis was that of a multiple case study with qualitative data collection concerning the Pink Ribbon campaign. To put the campaign into perspective two companies were chosen and they were investigated in terms of their marketing approach and CSR approach. The empirical findings consisted of a number of interviews with managers at different levels within the companies ICA and Lindex. Conclusion: Our findings suggest that CSR within the context of the Pink Ribbon campaign works well as a marketing tool. The companies have utilized the campaign to gain a better reputation as well as getting a boost in sales because of it. This is in essence what marketing is all about and by using CSR in the form of CRM you also involve the customers in the process.