The Relationship between CSR and Brand Knowledge : How Social Philanthropic CSR Influences Brand Awareness and Brand Image

In today’s society, managers face the challenge of satisfying social and environmental needs beyond the corporate sphere. This endeavor is known as CSR - Corporate Social Responsibility and can create a competitive advantage for companies. Hence more and more global brands include CSR in their business strategy to distinguish themselves from others. For this reason, the purpose of this research is to investigate how an engagement in CSR can shape consumers’ brand perceptions.In order to gain insights into the relationship between social philanthropic CSR and brand awareness as well as brand image, a qualitative approach is pursued. More specifically, two focus groups were conducted in order to explore these phenomena and describe their potential outcomes.Our research findings indicate that a brand’s social philanthropic CSR campaign can create some negative thoughts among consumers, but they will most likely appreciate the brand’s social engagement if executed in the right way. Positive evaluations of the brand can be enhanced when consumers perceive a connection between the brand and the supported cause. Besides this, the brand’s engagement should fulfill a need in the eyes of consumers. Concerning the area of brand awareness, the research findings indicate that the brand standing behind the social initiative is recognized by its identities. However, the study revealed that this area deserves further attention from research, as there is much more to investigate.Validerat; 20130620 (global_studentproject_submitter