Dream Fitness are a gym in the West Sussex coastal town of Bognor Regis and have been in business since 2013. They have recently faced challenges in their marketplace such as the introduction of a new competitor which has caused them to consider adapting their marketing strategy in order to more deeply embed themselves into the community.
The purpose of this study was to examine the effectiveness of implementing a cause-related marketing approach into the business as well as how this can impact Dream Fitness’s brand equity. From these findings, recommendations have been made to Dream Fitness as to how they can integrate the findings of this research to benefit their business.
The data instrument used to collect the data was a focus group which allowed for detailed qualitative data to be gathered. The findings were adapted into a thematic index from which the findings could be withdrawn and analysed.
The core findings of this research suggest that there is little trust associated with larger organisations when it comes to their cause-related marketing activities, however this improves where strong ethics and cause-related efforts are integrated strongly into the brand culture. The most effective methods of promoting cause-related marketing are via social media and events which demonstrate that a large amount of effort has been put into raising funds for the cause. The research also found that although the participants cared about brands associating themselves with causes, they could not recall any charitable efforts of any brands which they are loyal to suggesting that cause-related marketing does not increase brand loyalty.
The recommendations which have been made to Dream Fitness are to use their staff to promote their CRM activity, ensure that effort is demonstrated in their efforts, to promote cause-related activity through social media and events, to embed cause-related marketing into the brand and to build strategic alliances.