August 6, 2009 - The Dawn brand by Proctor & Gamble has a long tradition of supporting wildlife rescue and animal rehabilitation, and is now running a multi-channel cause campaign through October which combines video advertising, packaging, shopper participation, a microsite, and a Facebook Page.

As you can see from the video above, the packaging visuals include a duck, seal, or a penguin. For $1 to be donated to the Marine Mammal Center and the International Bird Rescue Research Center (up to $500k), shoppers have to take a special code printed on four different Dawn brands, then activate their donation online at Dawnsaveswildlife.com.

Secondly, P&G is utilizing a Facebook Page for what appears to be a permanent presence related to its cause of choice: http://www.facebook.com/dawnsaveswildlife

Facebook Pages are an excellent means for brands and nonprofits to establish an interaction home, right in the popular social networking site. However, it's worth noting that for brands to build credibility, fans, and word of mouth over the long term, a cause effort shouldn't resemble a campaign which have by popular understanding, a beginning and end date. In line with this best practice, Dawn has taken the right approach by minimalizing the visibility of their brand name and focusing the messaging on actions: Teach, Experience, and Create. The Page's name is "Everyday Wildlife Champions."

Brandweek quoted P&G home care rep Susan Baba saying, “One of our top take-home lessons is to keep the line between branding and cause clear. While Dawn is the driving factor behind the program’s success, it is ultimately the passion for wildlife conservation that drives the consumer. It’s important for brands to view these programs as organic, with momentum built by consumer passion.” Baba also added that Dawn is looking to position its microsite as “the authoritative Facebook page for environmental cause, support and discussion forum.”

The Dawnsaveswildlife.com site includes a donation counter, which as of this article's publication, tallies up $19,829 which can also be broken down into individual U.S. and Canadian states through an interactive map.

A fine effort indeed.