Motorola RED

The (Product) RED campaign works to bring the fight against AIDS in Africa to mainstream America. Corporate heavyweights like Converse, Gap, Giorgio Armani, American Express and Motorola joined the global initiative and produced an array of merchandise featuring the parenthetical logo. Sales from (Product) RED benefit Global Fund-financed AIDS programs.

WalkerGroup (New York), in collaboration with the Motorola design team, created a “pop-up” store on Chicago’s iconic Michigan Avenue for Motorola’s (Moto)Red cell phones. The single-level, 1000-square-foot space received first place in the 2006 ISP/VM+SD International Store Design Competition for a specialty store with a sales area under 1500 square feet.

“We have created an immersive environment within a retail shell that showcases not only the stunning (Product)RED merchandise, but also the powerful message that underpins the campaign,” says Randall Ng, managing director of WalkerGroup.

Mimicking the logo’s brackets, designers created convex-shaped walls out of fabric panels from Moss Inc. (Belfast, Maine). The structured fabrics draw attention to the RAZR phones and other Motorola (RED) accessories elevated on red and white pedestal displays. Signature parenthetical statements of the campaign, such as “Desi(red)” and “Inspi(red)” are screenprinted in chunky white letters along one curved wall, while the other side presents the campaign’s manifesto. A crisp white floor with illuminated plexiglass boxes by DNS Display Industries Inc. (Concord, Ont.) showcase other (Product) RED merchandise.

The store’s red-tinted glass entrance stood tall on Michigan Avenue for two weeks.

Client: Motorola, Libertyville, Ill. – Guto Andrade; Elena Limbert

Design/Architect: WalkerGroup, New York – Randall Ng, principal; Julio George, project executive; Steve Kitezh, director, colors and materials; Noboru Ota, senior designer

General Contractor: Shawmut Design & Construction, New York

Outside Design Consultants: Rex Electric, Addison Ill.

Intelligent Lighting Creations Inc., Skokie, Ill.

Mike Casale, Chicago (lighting)

Contract Flooring Service Inc., Tampa, Fla.

TOR Construction Co. Inc., South Elgin, Ill. (carpentry)

Bobbe & Co., Burr Ridge, Ill. (painting)

Impression Cleaning Services, Elmhurst, Ill.

Audio/Video: Ovation In-Store, Maspeth, N.Y.

Vinyl Graphics: Pico Chicago, Round Lake Beach, Ill.

Fabric Tension Structures: Moss, Belfast, Maine

Plexiglass Lightboxes: DNS Display Industries Inc., Concord, Ont.

Flooring: Shaw Carpets Inc., Dalton, Ga.

Architectural Systems Inc., New York

Photography: Jeffery Lau, Jamaica, N.Y.