A Cry for Innovation

The folks over at InfluxInsights posted an alarming POV of the (RED) Campaign championed by Bono.  As you may know “(RED) was created by Bono and Bobby Shriver, Chairman of DATA to raise awareness and money for The Global Fund by teaming up with the world’s most iconic brands to produce (PRODUCT)^RED branded products. A percentage of each (PRODUCT)^RED product sold is given to The Global Fund. The money helps women and children affected by HIV/AIDS in Africa.”

The meat of the Influx Insights article is as follows:

“As of January 2007, RED has delivered over $11.3 million to the Global Fund and had estimated a further $10 million would be added when holiday sales were accounted for.

The US launch was helped by a PR launch that leveraged Oprah to the max and massive advertising campaigns from Gap and Motorola. This has driven consumer awareness of the brand to 20%.

RED’s goal is to expand the product offering and to expand the concept into other non-English speaking markets.

The critical challenge for RED is to stay top of mind.

It needs more PR spikes of news to sustain interest, as the Alexa traffic data below shows.

It will be tough job as we move into full election mode in the US and as there?s been a recent shift in interest away from Africa and towards the environment and global warming.

RED needs to develop two prongs to its campaign:

1. Rapidly bring new partners into the mix- Their advertising and promotion will help drive awareness

2. Clearly communicate what its efforts to date have achieved in Africa- To validate the brand’s mission and to continue to educate the consumer about the issue which the product ads aren’t doing.

They have a YouTube channel, which is smart move, but of all the films they have up, only Bono’s message for World Aids Day, has a significant view count.

Perhaps RED needs to reach out to obtain some user generated content, or ask a broad group of creatives to donate their time to create some compelling messaging for the brand.”

Somewhere in all of this there is a lesson or two for for most of us.  It’s interesting to me that, with all the power behind (RED) — and I do mean the kind of power we would love and ache to have in support of our various causes — only $20 million and change seems to have been raised so far.  Wouldn’t you die to have Oprah, Bono, American Express, Converse, Apple, Gap, Armani, and others of this caliber behind you?

And yet, only $20 million. 

Some may say that it’s only the beginning of a the brand.  True enough.  But there’s a need for more, for the next leap forward. And what next? Bobby Shriver puts forth his answer:

“The big challenge we face is sustainability. Everywhere we go, people ask what our plans are for making this venture sustainable. Every time we answer “continuing innovation in products, continuing innovative campaigns to inform people that the (RED) embrace means money for medicine in Africa and continuing innovation with new product partners and their integration into the (RED) marketing system.”  

It’s the same challenge we all face, to be fresh, innovative, new, effective, real, authentic.

We are a community in desperate need for innovation.  To try new things.  To see with a new perspective.  To risk.  One organization I work with has a directive to try at least one new big thing each month.  That’s 12 a year.  Maybe one or two will hit it big and propel the organization to a new stratosphere in funding. Do that over the period of 5 or 10 years and the rest is history. 

I think this is how we change as fundraisers, as marketers, as organizations and as people. 

Tags: Branding for Nonprofits, Communications, Direct Response, General Fundraising, Media, Nonprofit, youtube