3 Lessons from Men’s Wearhouse National Suit Drive
Men’s Wearhouse’s 4th annual National Suit Drive, a charitable event bringing in professional clothes for donation to designated local charities that help get people back to work, officially kicked off Aug. 2nd as models clad only in underwear and a tie took to the sidewalks outside the company’s stores to attract attention and generate donations. There’s a lot to like about this event, besides the fact it helps out some folks who really need help. It’s a publicity stunt, event marketing and charitable giving all wrapped into one, offering some great lessons for companies of all sizes and budgets. Here are my top 5 ideas for replicating the best of this event for your organization.
1. Logical Ties.
No pun intended, honest. That Men’s Wearhouse would support charities that get working wardrobes to those who need them to get jobs makes perfect sense. I often talk to students about advice from Sunny Kobe Cook, who founded Sleep Country USA and pioneered a long-running charitable giving program they had to donate used mattresses to charities that refurbished them for battered women’s shelters. Not only was it supporting a worthy cause, Sleep Country’s mattress program took care of a customer problem — what to do with the old mattress? It removed a potential barrier to a new purchase. Sleep Country USA’s charity program now supports foster kids and includes a Pajama Bowl fundraiser.
Sunny once talked about having spoken at some business conference or another where she spoke to the owner of a closet system company. They’d followed her example and created a charitable program to coordinate clothing donations. They brought donation bags and the charity’s receipts with them, encouraged customers to sort through their clothes for pieces to donate while everything was piled on the bed to give them access to the closet, handed the customer a receipt before leaving and took care of delivering the donation on the customers’ behalves. The customer had work to do while the crew was installing the new system. They could feel good about supporting a local charity. And the new closet systems looked even more impressive with fewer items stored there! Smart!
2. Integrated into the Business.
Sunny advocated building charitable giving right into the business plan rather than writing donation checks. Why not write checks? What’s the first thing most of us cut when we have less money? Charitable giving. Just ask any nonprofit in any category how their donations have been going in the down economy. The mattress program was low-impact for Sleep Country just as the clothing donations were for the closet system company. Trucks left the warehouse full of huge and heavy boxes. They came back empty except for collapsed cardboard for recycling. The charities regularly picked up the donations at the company’s warehouse. The cost to the business? A bit of extra fuel and some square footage of warehouse space.
Not every company has trucks and warehouses to leverage in its charitable marketing program, but almost any sized company can find the logical ties and activity that engages customers, employees or both for a greater good. Countless companies organize teams for fundraising walks. Employees recruit friends and family to join them. The company prints tee-shirts emblazoned with their logo and the walk’s name and gives them to everyone walking. If the group stays together, they’ll be tough to miss as the shirts are read by other walkers and bystanders.
Corporate teams have been helping build houses for Habitat for Humanity nearly since the charity began. Big companies sponsor houses. Little ones can organize work crews as team off-sites. Brand building, team building and charitable marketing all at once.
3. Visual Impact.
This is the best part of Men’s Wearhouse’s program in my mind.
As you can see from this publicity image from the company, a key component of the National Suit Drive is the models working the sidewalks outside the stores. It’s tough to ignore a guy in his underwear, shoes and a tie on the sidewalk downtown. You can imagine all the people snapping pictures on cell phones, posting them all over the Internet and the conversations in the coffee shops and cafes all over town. Wednesday’s Seattle Times print edition had a photo on the front page of the local section. It’s that coveted word of mouth in action.
Years ago, when McDonald’s introduced McCafe, they did local market stunts with teams placing blocks of ice in public squares. Inside the blocks were frozen reusable McDonald’s coffee cups and inside those coupons to try the new coffees. Another stunt that got noticed on the street, got people talking and garnered traditional press coverage. If the people walking and driving by can’t help but notice, word of what you’re doing is likely to spread.
What ideas do you have?
