Bono's latest venture

BONO AND BOBBY SHRIVER LAUNCH PRODUCT RED TO HARNESS POWER OF THE WORLD’S ICONIC BRANDS TO FIGHT AIDS IN AFRICA

American Express, Converse, Gap and Giorgio Armani announce first RED products
to generate revenue stream for the Global Fund


26 January, 2006 –Today, at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Bono and Bobby Shriver announced Product RED, an economic initiative designed to deliver a sustainable flow of private sector money to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. It is the first time that the world’s leading companies have made a commitment to channel a portion of profits from sales of specially–designed products to the Global Fund to support AIDS programmes in Africa with a focus on women and children.

RED presents a new and profitable way of doing business by harnessing the partners’ brand-building expertise while generating a new income stream for the Global Fund. International brands including American Express (founding partner), Converse, Gap and Giorgio Armani are the launch partners. They have designed products that will take on the RED mark and will be available from 1st March 2006.

Bobby Shriver, Chief Executive Officer of Product RED said, “This is a long term initiative designed for sustainability. RED partners expect that they will broaden their own customer base and increase loyalty in a manner that delivers a sustainable revenue stream to both the company and the Global Fund.”

Shriver continued, “It’s incredible to have the marketing brilliance of these companies behind the AIDS emergency.”

Currently, the private sector contributes less than 1% of the Global Fund’s resource needs. RED believes this initiative will start a new income stream into the Fund.

"RED is a 21st century idea. 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. I think doing the RED thing, doing good, will turn out to be good business for them," said Bono.



How Funding Works

A portion of profits from the sale of RED products will support Global Fund-financed programmes which positively impact the lives of women and children affected by HIV/AIDS in Africa. These include programmes in countries such as Rwanda, which has a proven track record and ambitious targets. For example, in the past two years, Rwanda has increased the number of people receiving treatments for HIV/AIDS ten-fold.

Each programme highlighted by RED will be selected based on the following Global Fund criteria:

Focus:
• The grant’s activities are related to HIV/AIDS treatment, care and prevention and focus on women and children in Africa

Performance:
• The programme is performing well as evidenced by progress reports and a mid-programme performance review

Reporting:
• The programme’s principal recipient is providing progress reports and making disbursement requests to the Global Fund on time
• The Global Fund Secretariat has been approving disbursement requests, based on Local Fund Agent (professional consultants’) recommendations to the Secretariat


“Product RED is a breakthrough in corporate and consumer engagement for the greatest global crisis of our time – the HIV/AIDS pandemic,” said Professor Richard Feachem, Executive Director, the Global Fund. “RED can make a substantial contribution to financing the massive scale up of prevention, testing, treatment and care that are desperately needed in Africa.”

President Nelson Mandela added, “We must all come together in supporting the Global Fund and the fight against AIDS. RED carries the promise of capturing the world’s attention to do just that and I applaud RED and its partners for their vision and commitment.”




RED Products

American Express has developed a credit card that offers free annual membership and a minimum of 1% on all eligible spend is paid directly to The Global Fund on the Cardmember’s behalf. Spending above £5000 per year will generate an increase of 1.25% on all spending above that amount. An extra £5 will be given to The Global Fund if Cardmembers make their first purchase on the Card within the first month. There will also be a number of added benefits for American Express RED Cardmembers including unique ‘experiences’, hand picked discounts and access to entertainment and retail events. The Card will be available from March 2006.

The inaugural Converse RED Collection is the Chuck Taylor All Star mudcloth shoe designed by UK designer Giles Deacon. Converse was inspired by Nakunte Diarra, a renowned mudcloth artist and storyteller since the 1950’s who originates from Mali, to fully understand the art, symbolism and technique of Bogolanfini, a mud-dyed cloth of the Bamana people of Mali. Bogolanfini is a living art form, constantly changing, reflecting new inspirations, while paying homage to the past. Artists use techniques passed down through generations and motifs, which express the individual style and creativity of the artist, are based on well-known geometric patterns. Bogolanfini is an essential part of the Bamana people’s lives, marking major life transitions, marriage, birth, excision and death. The Converse RED mudcloth shoe is an original work of art created to combine fashion and social consciousness to celebrate and preserve African culture and creativity.
The Chuck Taylor All Star mudcloth shoe is available in one-of-a-kind mudcloth options available March 2006 in select specialty stores in the United Kingdom and the United States and world-wide on converse.com.

Gap is developing a special collection of items to be sold initially in the UK and US. The first piece of the collection to debut is a t-shirt, the most iconic of Gap’s items. The 100% African-made vintage-style t-shirt will come in red, as well as a range of colours for both men and women, and will be available in UK stores in Spring 2006.

An enhanced collection will be launched in Fall 2006 – again rooted in classic Gap items, but featuring special details inspired by RED.


Giorgio Armani's first RED product will be a pair of Emporio Armani Sunglasses (Style EA 9285/s). The striking metal wraparound sunglasses are designed with a single lens available in green, rose, blue, smoke grey, grey and brown, all embossed with the Emporio Armani RED logo. The forked arms, available in shades of ruthenium, gunmetal and light gold, are superimposed on the lens with a futuristic feel. The Emporio Armani RED Sunglasses will be available from April in all Emporio Armani stores and in select specialty eyewear stores and department stores worldwide.

Giorgio Armani will present a complete Emporio Armani RED capsule collection for women and men, including clothing, accessories, fragrances, watches, eyewear and jewellery later in 2006.





For images from today’s press conference visit www.swiss-image.ch/webwef/INDEX.htm
For product images and more information on RED visit www.joinred.com
For more information on the Global Fund visit www.theglobalfund.org