Correspondence: Demetris Vrontis, University of Nicosia, 46 Makedonitissas Avenue, PO Box 24005, 1700, Nicosia, Cyprus. E-mail: vrontis.d@unic.ac.cy

¹is an assistant professor of Marketing. She holds a BSc in Business Administration, a Post-Graduate Diploma in Marketing Management, an MBA in Marketing and a Doctorate in Professional Studies in Societal Marketing. Her research interests are in Societal Marketing, Corporate Social Responsibility, Corporate Philanthropy and Cause-Related Marketing. Her research work has been published in numerous international conference proceedings and journals. She is actively involved in many charitable organizations in Cyprus, and holds the position of President in one of them.

²is an associate professor and Head of the marketing department at the School of Business Administration at the University of Nicosia in Cyprus. She holds a PhD in Management from Keele University. Dr Papasolomou has contributed papers to a number of international conferences and journals such as the JMM, JBM, JPBM and JMC. She has also contributed chapters and case studies to academic books. She was the Chair for the 10th and 14th International Conference on Corporate and Marketing Communications hosted in 2005 and 2009, respectively. She is an associate editor for the EuroMed Journal of Business.

³is the dean of the School of Business at the University of Nicosia in Cyprus. Professor Vrontis is Founding Editor of the EuroMed Journal of Business and an editorial/advisory board member of well-established academic and scientific marketing- and business-related journals. Professor Vrontis is the President of the EuroMed Research Business Institute (EMRBI) and the Chairman of the EuroMed Academy of Business (EMAB) and the EuroMed Research Centre (EuRec). His prime research interests are related to international marketing, marketing planning and branding areas, which he has widely published on in 10 books, over 60 refereed journal articles, and chapters in books by other researchers. He has also presented his research work at conferences around the world.

Received 9 January 2009; Revised 9 January 2009; Published online 18 September 2009.

Abstract

An increasing number of corporations are realizing the benefits that can be derived from cause-related marketing (CRM) and are therefore adopting it as a marketing tool to achieve their marketing objectives, by demonstrating a commitment to improving the quality of life in the communities in which they operate. This aim of this paper is to identify the level of consumer knowledge with regard to the involvement of companies in CRM, and examines the value and importance of CRM in enhancing the corporate image of Cypriot businesses. The research methodology focuses primarily on a survey of 820 people and on personal interviews with the marketing managers of two companies that use CRM in Cyprus and a third company that is actively involved in intensive corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities but not CRM. The results of this research indicate that the majority of consumers expect corporations to be actively involved in activities of CSR, one of which is CRM.