Introduction
In the early 1980s American Express Co. tried out a new marketing concept
to increase the use of their card and the cards acceptance at retail outlets (Anderson
1996). For every purchase, a consumer made using an American Express card,
American Express Co. would make a donation to charity. First, American Express Co.
used this marketing practice in San Francisco, and following the success of that
campaign, the company later developed a national campaign that benefited the
renovation of Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty. American Express Co. had hit
upon a marketing concept so innovative they were able to copyright the term they
developed to describe it: Cause Related Marketing (CRM).