Product (RED)
Bono's (RED) brand has arrived in full force, with Apple, GAP, Emporio Armani, Motorola, Converse and American Express each unfurling their various campaigns. Branding a single color is always a slightly problematic challenge—with a color that is as aggressive and rich in culturally specific meanings, I'm curious how (RED) will fare as a global brand and business model. After all, red is good luck in China, mourning in South Africa, conservatism to many in the US... the color of love but also of violence, of power but also of danger, of politics and debt and conflict. People respond physically to red—it has been shown to raise blood pressure... This is not a neutral color, but then this is by no means a neutral effort.As a brand, (RED) is doing two unusual things: 1) involving multiple companies, each with their own distinct identity, in employing the same dictated brand and 2) implementing this as a for-profit, longterm business effort rather than a straightforward charity (each company has made a five year commitment). But then, rules are being broken all over the place—Bono, as guest editor of the Independent, has already turned the British press on its head (what major American publication would allow its cover, design and content to be so thoroughly hijacked?). If this whole thing works (which it seems like it's going to), its likely a campaign that future advertising and design students will study. I'm finding it interesting to watch.
More info:
(RED) official site
BrandWeek article: Will Bono's Red Make Charity Cool?
BBC article: Independent goes Red as Bono edits
(RED) on MySpace (the nicest MySpace page I've ever seen!)
posted by kate at 11:57 PM
2 Comments:
Hi Kate, really enjoying this blog - thought I'd raise a point of interest - seeing as I am South African and still living in this beautiful country! I would not say red is the colour of mourning over here - it may be that AIDS ribbons are red, and many people wear those all the time, not only at funerals etc. We have a few political parties with red as their 'CI', most notably SACP and affiliated trade unions, and along with the Right wing AWB, they each have their own history of struggle and violence. Lastly, red is one of the colours in our flag - and I'd like to think the colour has a generally positive connotation.
Anyhow, good on Bono for commandeering my favourite colour for his campaign, the motive for which is still a little murky.
Hi Jason, thanks for the comment! Well, I'll tell you where I got that info -- my research came up with all these websites claiming that red is the color of mourning in South Africa:
a
b
c
d
e
etc.
Maybe that's some antiquated color code that is no longer used (like the strict language of flowers). But anyway, the general point, which your comment underlines, is that red is a bit of a complicated color. Personally, I like red and I think Bono's campaign is great! I was just musing on the concept of color identity.
Cheers,
Kate
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