Chicago Tribune - October 13, 2006
Mike Hughlett and Sandra Jones, Tribune staff reporters

Wait, what's with the Motorola phone guy hanging with the A-List from People magazine?

Welcome to the latest twist on the celebrity-industrial complex: "Product Red."

Bono has created his own brand and harnessed the marketing power of some of the world's most recognized companies, all to fight AIDS in Africa.

A share of proceeds from goods associated with Product Red, including a blazing-red version of Motorola's popular Razr phone, go to Bono's charity.

It's quite a departure from the Vietnam era, when rock stars and other celebrities railed against the war and an establishment that included corporate America. Today's entertainment elite is doing the opposite. Celebrities are using the power and reach of consumer companies not as symbols of what's wrong with society, but as tools to reach the youth culture to achieve their goals.

"In the 1960s there was a sense that by fighting those causes you put yourself up against the evil empire of the big corporation," said Robert Thompson, professor of popular culture at Syracuse University.

"That separation has dissolved. What Bono has done is take the righteousness and idealism of the old days and decided that to be effective you've got to play the game by the rules of big corporate America. Instead of protesting and going against the grain of the big corporations, you simply join in."

The strategy was on full display as the U2 frontman came to town for the U.S. launch of Product Red, shooting video to be aired Friday on Winfrey's TV show. Bono and Winfrey stopped by the Gap and Motorola stores on North Michigan Avenue where they were greeted by throngs of media and fans.

The key to Product Red is that it's not just a cause, it's a brand. Combining style with an altruistic message gives immediate status to a product especially when it's endorsed by stars.

Besides Motorola, three other companies, American Express, Armani and Converse, have joined Product Red, which debuted in January in the United Kingdom. A sixth firm, Apple Computer, is expected to join Friday with a Product Red-branded iPod.

It's nothing new to see celebrities raise money for a favorite cause. And corporations have been engaged in do-good marketing for years.

But a shift in the public consciousness in the years after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks has opened the door for a new kind of marketing, experts say.

"This is really a fresh approach in using celebrity power by harnessing the corporation. This takes the game to a new level," said Allen Adamson, a New York-based managing director for Landor Associates, a brand-consulting firm.

The way Bono tells it, Product Red enlists corporations like Motorola to essentially work for people who normally couldn't even afford their products.

"What's clever about this is getting the best and brightest of corporate America working for the world's poor. That's the thought that overwhelms me, that the people that I've met dying in Lesotho now have the best and brightest people working for them," said Bono, who spoke to reporters on Michigan Avenue and later had a private chat with President Bush aboard Air Force One at O'Hare International Airport.

The Gap store will feature a Red line, including red T-shirts with such slogans as "Desi(red) and "Admi(red)." The Motorola store will sell red Razrs.

The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria gets a cut of every Product Red good or service sold. For instance, Schaumburg-based Motorola and the phone networks, including Chicago-based U.S. Cellular, that will sell the red Razr will each kick in $8.50 per phone sold.

The wireless carriers and Motorola say most of their Product Red contribution comes from profit they would usually keep. But even if they're not making big money on Project Red, they are burnishing their images, which helps overall sales.

"We wouldn't do this if we didn't sell phones," said Motorola's Garriques, who added that Product Red's cause was important, too.

Cause marketing got its first major push in the early 1980s when American Express linked use of its credit card to funding the renovation of the Statue of Liberty. The practice has gained steam: This month is breast cancer awareness month, with companies from Hershey's to Kitchen-Aid selling products in pink.

Celebrities have jumped into the fray. In 1982, actor Paul Newman created a food line and began donating profits to charities. More recently, champion cyclist and cancer survivor Lance Armstrong teamed with Nike Inc. to sell over 50 million yellow wristbands to raise money for cancer research.

A number of consumers are won over by cause marketing. Typically, 23 percent to 28 percent of shoppers respond to campaigns that direct a portion of their purchasing dollars to a cause, according to America's Research Group, based in Charleston, S.C.

What sets Product Red apart as a cause campaign, aside from its star power, is the involvement of so many prestigious brands and products.

Motorola and its brethren make stuff that's wildly popular with consumers, said Richard Feachem, The Global Fund's executive director.

"It's win-win-win," he said, referring to consumers, firms and the fight against AIDS. "That's why [Product Red] is sustainable."

Since January, the project has raised $10 million. Feachem said he sees Product Red eventually generating at least $500 million annually. "Wait for the [Product] Red car. We don't have it yet, but we will."

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mhughlett@tribune.com

smjones@tribune.com
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