Will Bono's Red make charity cool?

[ALIASd]

Will Bono's Red Make Charity Cool?

June 19, 2006

By Jim Edwards
Brandweek

NEW YORK -- Motorola, The Gap, Emporio Armani, Nike's Converse and American Express will jointly launch a new brand in the U.S. covering a range of their products in conjunction with U2 singer Bono in the fall.

A portion of the sales of the brand, Red, will benefit The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria.

The launch combines two unusual elements: It features a range of differing companies employing the same brand; and although it benefits a charity, it is a for-profit effort, so companies will have an incentive to make Red products (and the aid they generate) permanent.

Previous corporate charity efforts have sometimes required all sales from a brand to go to charity, and therefore the programs are temporary by necessity.

"When we originally went out to the companies, they said, 'We want to give you all the profits,' and we said, 'No," explained Len Short, chief marketing officer for Red in Los Angeles.

"If you keep the profits it becomes a business for you and it will sustain."

The question remains: Will Red become a significant, permanent brand for Africa, where most of the money is expected to go, or just another corporate-giving afterthought?

"Does Red have an opportunity with younger people? I'd say yes it does, and a disproportionately greater opportunity with teens and late 20s than with [that cohort from previous generations]," said J. Walker Smith, president of Yankelovich in Chapel Hill, N.C.

The effort will be an ambitious one. According to Short:

http://www.brandweek.com/bw/news/rec..._id=1002690133

[aimster]

Considering I'm already a regular patron at Gap... and I'm a HUGE U2 fan... I will definitely be checking this out.