I came across this article on the New York Times and thought it was an interesting approach to giving - along the same line as knowing your donors and getting involved with things about which they are already passionate.

Product (RED) is developing a digital music sservice, which is scheduled to launch in the fall.  For $5/week, customers will receive three new pieces of exclusive music or audio content from some of industry’s biggest acts: U2, Bob Dylan, Elvis Costello, Elton John, Emmylou Harris and Deathcab for Cutie.

While (RED) remains controversial for some, I applaud their approach because while I opened this post with an air of scholarliness - I was just perusing the New York Times and stumbled across this article - in truth, I found it on @U2 while I was looking for more information on rumored track called “The Cedars of Lebanon” on U2’s upcoming new album.

I’m a perfect example: find out what people are already excited about and get involved.

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“Clearly CSR has arrived,” stated the Economist in a recent special report on Corporate Social Responsibility. The report shows that in today’s business world, CSR - now another tool used to add value to the customer experience - is no longer a question of “to do, or not to do,” but rather, “how?”

The most recent corporation to answer this question was Dell. They’ve teamed up with Bill Gates and Bono to introduce a line of (Product) RED consumer computing hardware that will compete directly with Apple’s recently debuted Mac Air.

This partnership creates shared value among the participating organizations:

1. Dell hopes to win new customers and retain old by giving them the warm-and-fuzzy value-add they demand, and

2.The Global Fund/(Product) RED receives funding to further realize their organizational goals

It will be interesting to see whether this strategic offer from Dell is compelling enough to persuade laptop buyers to purchase “socially good” product rather than the technolocially-superior, and aesthetically-pleasing Apple product (excuse my bias - I’ve been a mac fanatic since I got my first PowerBook three years ago). Was it a good marketing move? Will the revenues deliver the value they promise? When it comes to spending $2,000, consumers may choose to spend for the better hardware and save their giving for a separate occasion.

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