Cause-Related Marketing and Philanthropy at Times of Crisis and Increasing Digitisation

The current chapter is a longitudinal study, which sheds light on social partnerships between non-profit organisations and multinational retail corporations at times of severe economic, health and societal crisis. At the same time, it explores the potential utilisation of digital technology at the intersection of cause-related marketing and philanthropy. The study draws on repeated interviews in two organisations (with the President of the Board, the Communication and PR manager of the Cyprus Anti-Cancer Society (CAS) and the Team Manager of Communications at Lidl Cyprus) over a period of seven years. During the pandemic, technology played an important role since it enabled social partnerships to remain successful and CAS to remain committed to charitable giving. Lidl’s brand and reputation have been enhanced, whereby, the retailer is able to measure this success through metrics and analytics in a systematic and institutionalized manner. Also, digitization opens up new dimensions and measurable results to cause-related marketing.