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Consumers respond more positively to marketing efforts, like celebrity endorsements and sponsorships, when the image of the sponsoring company or brand is compatible with the celebrity or sponsored event. *The authors explore the concept of compatibility within a cause-related marketing context. The results of an experiment confirm the role of sponsor/cause compatibility for the creation of positive consumer perceptions of the donor, and highlight the importance of individual characteristics that affect perceptions of the cause and its compatibility with a donor. Theoretical and strategic implications and future research directions are discussed.

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As with most academic libraries, declining reference transactions has been a concern at Illinois Wesleyan University’s Ames Library. After grappling with the problem unsuccessfully, librarians sought input from students on how to address this issue. Collaborating with a professor in the Business Administration Department, a two-class series focusing on real-world marketing issues took on the challenge of how best to promote reference services to students. Student-generated surveys and marketing ideas proved useful for making changes to the library’s reference services and for publicizing the service, resulting in an increase in reference transactions between students and librarians.

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