Bono Reaches Across Retailers To Launch 'Red'

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, cmo for Red in Los...