Motorola appoints Mother as it joins fight against Aids

by Sarah Woods, Brand Republic 16-May-06, 09:00

LONDON - Motorola has become the latest firm to join U2 singer Bono's Red campaign, in an attempt to raise hundreds of millions of dollars to fight Aids in Africa, and it has appointed Mother to handle the advertising to back the push.

Motorola, which joins Gap and American Express in the campaign, has unveiled the first in a brand new portfolio of mobile handsets, created to help Africa, in the shape of a Red version of its slimline SLVR model.

Mother will work on a campaign to promote Motorola's links with Bono's Red campaign, and it is backing the marketing effort with an estimated £10m budget, which will include press and TV activity later this year.

Launched by co-founders Bono and Bobby Shriver at the World Economic Forum in January, Red is designed to deliver a flow of money to the Global Fund to fight Aids.

Motorola mobile phone users can now contribute with each call, text and download and the retailers will donate £10 from the sale of each £149 handset into the fund.

In a demonstration of support, mobile operators and retailers from across the UK, such as BT Mobile, Carphone Warehouse, Fresh, O2, Orange, Tesco Mobile, T-Mobile, Virgin Mobile and Vodafone, have all united behind this drive.

Mobile operators will donate a further 5% of the monthly phone bill of each consumer using the Red phone to the fund.

Bono said: "It's an amazing thing that these companies are doing -- lending their creativity and financial firepower to the Global Fund's fight against Aids in Africa, the greatest health crisis in 600 years."

Ron Garriques, president of Motorola Mobile Devices, said: "We're literally placing in people's hands an opportunity to help find a solution.

"With every call, every text and every download, consumers will be able to make a difference in the fight against Aids in Africa every day."

Bono is publicising his effort today, while he edits a special issue of The Independent as part of the Red campaign.

Gap and American Express's involvement with the product helped to improve perception of their brands, according to a survey earlier this month.

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