Organisation: Product Red

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Analysis and commentary by Echo Research.

The launch of "Bono's Red Revolution"(FT, 28/1) at the World Economic Forum in Davos last week, referred not to the creation of a stable of Red branded products and services from some of the world's most "iconic companies"(Bobby Shriver - Red, ABC Money 28/1), nor even to the initiative to hand over a proportion of their sales to the Global Fund, to further its fight against endemic diseases in the world's poorer nations.

The 'revolutionary' aspect of Red's launch was the dramatic embrace given to a new order of global brand marketing based around "conscience consumerism"(Telegraph, 28/1) or "ethical shopping"(Independent, 27/1). Red's appeal would be to those "people who think about their spending power"(Bono - Scotsman, 27/1), or those who wanted "commerce for a cause"(Amercian Express, Easier, 27/1). Equally radical was the chosen method of promoting the Red message: big budget advertising campaigns to be replaced by "good public relations and word of mouth"(Brand Republic, 26/1).

The biggest surprise for some, however, was Bono's apparent transformation from fervant ethical campaigner into a "[Red] card-carrying capitalist"(Telegraph, 27/1), with well defined sense of market savvy. Red, he asserted, must be financially viable, this " was not altruism"(Independent, 29/1), but "hard commerce"(bbc.co.uk, 26/1).