In my last post, I took a rather critical look at cause marketing. Afterward, I e-mailed business women Jean Thompson with some questions about her own experience with cause marketing. As the owner of Seattle Chocolates, Jean developed a new product, “Survivor Chick,” and donated 100 percent of profits to breast cancer charities.

Here’s Jean’s response:

“I didn’t know anything about cause marketing [when I started], and still don’t know too much! The Chick line was developed to market chocolate to women in a fun way that I didn’t see anyone else doing at that time. It was an empowerment and permission to eat chocolate message. The Survivor Chick came along a couple of years into the line, and was the first cause-related chocolate we offered.”

Of course, cause marketing wasn’t a magic marketing fix. The new line, Jean says, presented her with new challenges:

“The Survivor Chick was picked up by quite a few customers, including 7-11 in its first year during the month of October (breast cancer awareness month) and we were thrilled! Then we learned that it was an “in and out” seasonal item just for October.

“This was disappointing because of course, women fight cancer and scientists search for its cure every month of the year, not just October. That was a distribution challenge that we have tried to combat with some marketing and packaging solutions. Specifically, our Extreme bar now gives 100% of its profits to cancer research, with a subtle pink bow on the back of the bar only — so no one sees it as a “seasonal” item and it will enjoy distribution year round.”

Naturally, Jean found the whole cause marketing experience rewarding:

“I enjoyed getting started in the cause marketing by partnering with someone who had done all the research on the organizations and even served on many of their boards (Athena Partners). We now give to other organizations, too, but it helped us get targeted and up-to-speed very quickly to have that help.”

Sound off about your own cause marketing opinions in the comments section.