Corporations Love to Think Pink

The color has become an iconic brand symbol for breast cancer, and major companies continue to jump on the bandwagon

by Reena Jana

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Once associated generically with baby girls' booties and Barbie dolls, pale pink has increasingly come to represent a specific brand: awareness of breast cancer. It began in 1992, when Estee Lauder (EL) cosmetic counters first gave away loops of pink ribbon to raise awareness of the disease that the American Cancer Society estimates will kill 40,970 women in 2006. Since then, the pink ribbon has given way to myriad pink products, developed by everyone from Pioneer to Ford Motor (F).

During October, Breast Cancer Awareness Month, major corporations sell rose-colored goods to help raise awareness and funds for the disease. Many of the products seem incongruous: poker sets, vacuum cleaners, even martini glasses (although some studies have shown that alcohol consumption can increase the risk of developing the disease).

But the broad range of corporations involved shows how successful the "color as brand symbol" strategy can be. It is questionable whether a traditional brand using the strategy would be as successful, but the number of companies willing to introduce a special pink edition of its widget in support of curing breast cancer is almost limitless.

PINK PRODUCTS EVERYWHERE.

"Companies have pressure to jump on the pink bandwagon. To not have a pink product during Breast Cancer Awareness Month could suggest a company doesn't care about the disease," observes Martyn Tipping, president of branding-strategy firm Tipping Sprung. "Plus, it's a great way to send out extra press releases and gain publicity."

This season, there's a pink external 6G hard drive from Seagate (SGX) that will benefit the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation. Delta Airlines is flying a pink plane to raise awareness for the Breast Cancer Research Foundation—and is selling pink lemonade to raise money for the organization on domestic flights. And Campbell Soup (CPB) has produced special-edition cans of condensed tomato and chicken noodle soups, trading in its iconic red-and-white label for pink-and-white (with a pink ribbon symbol, too) this October.

As a marketing strategy, thinking pink allows companies to recast themselves as socially responsible corporations dedicated to women's health (and female consumers), or simply to increase brand awareness with mentions in media roundups of fund-raising products during Breast Cancer Awareness Month.

A "WIN-WIN CONCEPT."

The original Estee Lauder ribbons riffed on the grassroots, yellow-ribbon campaign to remember Americans who were taken hostage in Iran in 1979-80. It was a strategy repeated in a grassroots peach-colored ribbon campaign to increase breast cancer awareness in the 1980s. While there is no single owner of the pink ribbon symbol, the Breast Cancer Research Foundation owns the specific style of pink ribbon that appears on its logo, as does the Komen Foundation.

The success of the pink campaign is easy to understand: It's a perennial win-win concept. Breast cancer patients and researchers can benefit from the funds raised. Consumers can engage in feel-good shopping. And, from a business standpoint, some companies even see a surge in sales or orders.

Campbell Soup, for example, saw a full 100% increase in orders of its tomato and chicken noodle soups from the Kroger grocery store chain during the pink promotion. As Advertising Age reports, Kroger usually purchases 3.5 million cans to sell in October. This year, the first for the pink cans, Kroger ordered 7 million. Campbell will in turn donate $250,000 to the Komen Foundation—about 3.5 cents per can.

The funds raised for breast cancer non-profits have been significant. The Komen Foundation saw more than $30 million raised in 2005 from the sales of pink products by companies that pledged donations or a percentage of revenues.