Introduction: In recent years marketing campaigns and promotions are becoming more visible to Indian consumers on the large.

Consumers are becoming more concerned about the corporate social responsibility and firms even are trying to find out the consumer perception about the brand from such cause related marketing efforts. Cause related marketing is becoming an increasing form of promotions in the present marketing discipline. In the previous decades such causes and events were only expected from TATA and BIRLAS in India but the scenario is changing with a huge demand. The present witness to such issues are recent 12 billion steel project POSCO struck in the middle or VEDANTA project which failed to understand the importance of cause related marketing shift in Indian consumerist society. In recent years it is proved that establishing partnership with a cause in India has proved beneficial for the long term productivity and customer patronage for the brand. Further these campaigns are certainly affecting favorable consumer buying behavior towards the brand. So it is of most importance to find out whether such cause related marketing efforts are driving Indian consumers favorable buying decisions and patronage towards the brands. It has become extremely difficult for the marketers to differentiate their products and services from the others in the market place. Many people argue that Unique Selling Proposition (USP) is an outdated concept now. People now-a-days look for something extra in addition to the distinctive features in a product. If this extra can do something good for the society, this would be like icing on the cake. This platform whereby you unify a cause with the profit, can act as a strong differentiator. Cause related marketing is the medium through which you can do the same. It is more than buzz words today. While the issue of obligation and commitment to society beyond business has risen to prominence among management circles as well as the wider public, it is still a nascent subject among stakeholders. Cause-related marketing can positively differentiate a company from its competitors. Though a few big Indian companies practice CRM (Cause related marketing), the extent to which it is done is unsatisfactory. There has been growing awareness among the academic institutions as well towards cause related marketing and Corporate social responsibility as a subject to sensitize the future managers of this nation to the societal needs besides generating profits for their organizations with increased efficiency.

Research methodology:
Lists of the companies which are thought of as to be sampled for collecting data for the project are as follows: Hindustan Unilever Limited Procter & Gamble ITC Limited ICICI Bank Infosys Colgate Palmolive Pvt limited ConAgra Foods

Research Objective: Purpose:

To examine whether cause related marketing attributes effect consumer perception about the brand and favorable buying decisions towards the brands. To empirically test the hypothesized relationship between cause related marketing with consumer perception towards the brand and favorable buying behavior.

H1:
To empirically test the hypothesized relationship between cause related marketing with consumer perception towards the brand and favorable buying behavior.

Data collection tools:

Structured questionnaire Closed ended questions

Sampling Design:
Sample Size: 100 Sample Type: Convenience Sampling Sampling Unit: Students Unit of analysis : Students

Scope of study:
Location : Bangalore Population: Bangalore Source : Primary Data

Analysis Design: Regression analysis: Linear , Multiple Independent T- Test Cross Tabulation