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).