Barkley/PR Week Cause Roundtable

For several years now, Barkley has sponsored the annual PRWeek cause survey.  As a part of that sponsorship, we also host the Barkley/PRWeek Cause Roundtable. This year’s roundtable was last Friday, and it was another great conversation about cause.  This year’s topic focused the ROI of cause branding, particularly in the current economy.

Participants included our own Mike Swenson; Liz Cahill, VP of marketing, Lee Jeans; Randall Chinchilla, external relations manager, hair care, Procter & Gamble, (oversees the Pantene Beautiful Lengths program); Susan Druchak, director of Teen Safety driving program, Allstate Foundation; David Hessekiel, founder and president, Cause Marketing Forum; Christopher Mann, associate manager of integrated marketing, New Balance; Susan Puflea, EVP and director of the Change practice, GolinHarris; Jessiah Styles, director of cause related marketing, Big Brothers, Big Sisters; Michael Trese, VP of external affairs and strategic philanthropy, L’Oreal Paris; and Cynthia Walsh, VP of marketing, Self magazine.

I applaud these folks for their continued support of cause branding, and I applaud their companies for continuing to lead in this important area of society.  The roundtable discussion, as well as our annual survey results, will be part of the coverage of the annual Barkley/PRWeek Cause Survey, published in the October 27 issue of PRWeek.