(03-09-2007) Bono's financial campaign slams financial assessment - IOL*

[HelloAngel]

Bono's financial campaign slams financial assessment


Sources close to rock star Bono's charity campaign Red are slamming media reports claiming the organisation has spent more on marketing than raising funds.

The high-profile campaign raises money for the Global Fund to Fights Aids in Africa by selling red products such as iPods, clothing and mobile phones.

US advertising trade magazine Advertising Age reported the campaign "raised a meagre $18m (€13.6m)" despite a "marketing outlay by Gap, Apple and Motorola (which) has been enormous - with some estimates as high as $100m (€76m)".

A source close to the campaign slams the report, telling the New York Daily News: "First of all, Red didn't launch products until mid-October (2006). And they raised $25m (€19m).

"Before that, the fund had taken in about $5m (€3.8m) over a four-year period. Before that, they had one T-shirt out and a pair of sunglasses. And on marketing, Bono's Red campaign didn't spend anything.

"The companies they work with spent a few million each. The $100m (€76m) is a phantom number Ad Age pulled out of thin air. It's off by tens of millions of dollars."

But Red director Bobby Shriver has put a positive spin on the controversy: "This can only help us all stay focused on the fact that 5,500 Africans are still dying needlessly of AIDS every day."

© Thomas Crosbie Media, 2007.
http://breakingnews.iol.ie/entertainment/story.asp?j=212764396&p=zyz765yxz

 

[Jamila]

I'm glad that (RED) is answering the questions that I feel have been unfairly launched against the initiative.

Every business model needs time to grow, especially a socially responsible one, and (RED) is too young to be so highly scrutinized by the media.


Sometimes I wonder if they don't have their own underlying agendas against that famous rock star.


KUDOS TO BONO AND (RED)!

 

[Vincent Vega]

I don't think it was an agenda against Bono, but rather the old credo that a negative news is better than a positive.

The whole article was so biased and inaccurate that you can't consider that a journalistic piece of work.

 

[JCOSTER]

I can't believe that there are people that do not want to see this venture successful.

 

[U2FanPeter]

forclosu(RED)

 

[Jamila]

Here is Bobby Shriver's response to the attack on (RED):

http://www.joinred.com/ad_age.asp


Letter to the Editor
Advertising Age



Dear Mr. Bloom,


I want to clarify a number of issues from the article on March 4th by your writer Mya Frazier "Costly RED Campaign Reaps Meager $18 million."


It has been a year since the launch of (PRODUCT) RED in the UK – a brand launch designed to get people used to the idea of an entirely new "fund raising" model; a brand launch that entered the market slowly with a small product offering at the time. It was designed to build over time. It built up to a full product offering and launch in the US on October 13th, 2006. So we’ve been in business really for only five months.


Your article says that $18 million and soon to be $25 million (when we have completed our most recent accounting) is a "meager" amount. It's five times the amount given to the Global Fund by the private sector in four years.


Second, your writer suggested that the $25 million is meager compared to the marketing money spent. Because (RED) is explicitly NOT a charity, we encourage our partners to go about their business including their marketing. This sells the products; the products generate the $25 million.


In addition, this marketing would have been spent anyway, on other product lines. It never would have been (nor will it ever be) given to the Global Fund. We were able to divert existing marketing dollars for (RED). The companies have erected signs in stores and billboards across America saying that AIDS in Africa is a serious global problem. What is the value of that communication? Your writer never tells us. A phenomenal benefit is that Gap, Apple, Sprint and other sales people are meeting Americans and explaining that 5,500 Africans dying daily of AIDS is preventable. What is the value of this?


The only substantial point in your article is the notion that people will stop contributing to charity because they’ve purchased (RED) products. There is actual data showing that when people become aware of crises, they give more money rather than less. Your writer doesn’t mention that data. We believe (RED) will lead to more rather than less giving.


(RED) is one of the choices people can make to fight the biggest healthcare crisis in human history.


Yours,

Bobby Shriver
CEO
(RED)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

Doesn't sound like Bobby liked this article either.


We all know that anytime that a newspaper headline has the word "Bono" in it, that newspaper will probably sell more newspapers and get more attention to it.


If this wasn't a quick side kick at Bono, I don't know what else it was. The worst thing about it is that it is the People of Africa who could suffer from the negative press from this article.


Which is why Bobby answered the article back so quickly - to stop the negative press.

 

[doctorwho]

Most people in the media are complete morons. I have very little respect for critics, sports writers and especially those who write "headliner" stories, such as this. Often, very little background research is done (at least movie critics are often very familiar with movies, styles of filming, stars, plots, etc.) and the articles are written from a very biased perspective.

One could have written this article in a very different fashion - i.e., "In just 5 months since the full RED product line launched, an astounding $25M has been raised for charity. This is 5x the amount given to the Global Fund by the private sector in four years! The RED line, thanks to extensive marketing by Apple, Gap and others, is proving a valuable success. Not only does it raise valuable funds, but helps teach people about the horrid AIDS crisis in Africa and around the world." But of course, such a positive article doesn't sell papers. Greedy bastards - and these are the same folk that complain about U2 having some "tax shelters"... So that makes them hypocrites as well. I wonder how these people sleep at night.

 

[Carek1230]

Kudos to Bobby Shriver. Well said in his letter. Too bad he had to do such a thing, but hopefully this will quiet those who are so overly curious.

 

[Teta040]

Well...#1 sign that a campaign is actually working and having a major effect: people start to get scared of it and its effectiveness. EDUN never came under fire like this. A little flak, but not like this. Bono must be hitting the powers that be where it hurts....AMEN!

 

[Lally1011]

The article was written for one reason only: to attract attention.

It suceeded.

Mya specializes writing for the advertising industry so I think she knows what she's getting into when she puts out an article like this. And she'll probably point the finger at someone else when it comes to validating the numbers.

That's business...there are so many ways to state earnings and expense. It's all a matter of perspective.