(POWERFUL) Cause. (POWERFUL) Brand
Go to www.join(red).com, click on Manifesto, and you’ll read that “(RED) is not a charity, it’s simply a business model.” I agree. It’s a terrific business model. (RED) is also a terrific example of what makes for a powerful brand. Why? First and foremost, the most powerful brands on the planet are based on ideas that are simple to understand. (RED) products save lives. What could be simpler than that?
Buy (RED) branded products and you’ll help eradicate AIDS in Africa. More than this, when you pull out your (RED) American Express Card, your (RED) iPod Nano, your (RED) Motorola cell phone, when you don (RED) Converse sneakers or an item of (RED) Gap or Armani Exhange clothing, you’ll be recognized as someone who supports this incredible initiative. People want to get credit for supporting good causes. (RED) allows them to do so in a practical and very meaningful way. Second, when a brand is based on a simple idea, it leads to brilliant branding ? the things that convey what a brand stands for. (RED) branding is brilliant. Start with the name. It’s a color. What could be simpler than that? The brilliance was in imbuing this color with emotion. Giving the word red, itself, a topspin. Colors have been associated with brands for eons, but not in the way it’s been achieved with (RED). Along those lines, wrapping (RED) in the warm “embrace” of the parentheses makes the name iconic, gives it personality beyond the name. Then, there’s the actual color, which serves to emotionally connect the idea to everything associated with the (RED) brand, from advertising to products.
The speed at which (RED) has taken off is proof of its inherent power as a brand and the brilliance of its branding. (RED) has created an instant community, one of the most difficult things to achieve in brand building. The fact that companies are “embracing” a brand not their own is also huge. The Gap has done a particularly good job aligning with (RED), most notably with the folks who model the (PRODUCT) Red Gap clothing in its beautifully produced advertising spreads. While most of the people and companies teaming with (RED) are inherently cool, or hot, this only adds to the desire to take part. Driving the AIDS message into the mainstream mindset through commerce is as brilliant as the branding. While pink and yellow have done a good job in branding causes, Bono and Bobby Shriver in creating (RED) have taken color as a branding tool to an even higher level. They’ve turned (RED) into a money making business model that benefits both the companies that sign on and, more importantly, those suffering the ravages of AIDS. They’ve done it by adhering brilliantly to the most basic laws of building a powerful brand. More power to them. Let’s save more lives.