The (RED) Campaign: Social Marketing Applied to Donor BehaviorThis is a featured page

When Bono and Bobby Shriver, Chair of Debt AIDS Trade Africa (DATA) teamed up in 2006 to launch the (RED) campaign, many doubted whether they could have much impact. To date they have raised $25 million for HIV/Aids treatment and prevention in Africa through the ,,Global Fund, a United Nations led HIV/Aids program. How did they do it? The concept is quite simple. Companies sign up to supply Product (RED) merchandise, consumers purchase these brands instead of other brands, money from the sale is donated to the (RED) campaign, and this money is passed onto African governments to purchase HIV/Aids treatment and prevention services for at risk or infected populations. It’s one thing for a company to become a sponsor, but how do you convince the public to buy a product that is helping people with problems that are so far removed from their own lives? Social marketing played a big role in this process. Faced with donor fatigue from governments in the West and a generally apathetic audience, Bono and Shriver set out to tackle the problem from the top down – by changing “donor behavior”. Africa is far away from most people’s hearts and minds. According to research conducted by Kennedy & Radley in the U.K. on attitudes to charitable giving, this is one of the key barriers to someone making the decision to donate. Borrowing from Fishbein’s the Theory of Reasoned Action, the authors conclude that the level of people’s charity depends on their personal experience with an issue and the strength of their integration into social groups – if both are strong the pull to “do the right thing” and not deviate from social norms will be the key behavioral determinants. The (RED) campaign is bringing Africa closer to people’s hearts and minds and is therefore fulfilling the “personal experience” quotient in the donor behavioral change initiative. They are also creating community through the “joinred.com” website – which makes it cool to give. The site’s main product is belonging. Here people can become (RED) members, view and buy the latest (RED) products, contribute to the (RED) blog, and join (RED) events live or on-line. Team (RED) has even added its own unique language, around the notion of “red” – as a member you can qualify for cards that elevate you to the status of “Ado(red)”, “Admi(red) or “Treasu(red)”. Who wouldn’t want to belong to a movement that features the world’s most powerful figures in entertainment, politics, sports, and literature? Product (RED) may have moved one step closer to answering this along with the “why and how” of donor behavior.


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