On Friday, Apple fans across the US were queuing up to get their hands on the new iPhone. In SOHO, the first through the doors wasn’t just any disciple of the Cult of Mac. It was indy film director Spike Lee followed by supporters of Keep a Child Alive, a charity devoted to providing anti-retroviral drugs to children in Africa.

The perfectly orchestrated act of PR was not the work of the masterminds in Apple’s marketing department. It was the creation of New York-based agency Anomaly. For 72 hours, volunteers from Keep a Child Alive and Anomaly camped out to save the first precious five spots and be the first to buy the iPhones. After toiling through literally 90 degree weather and thundershowers, their efforts were rewarded.

On Friday at 6:00 p.m. as the doors to the Apple SOHO store opened, Lee and 4 volunteers from Anomaly and Keep a Child Alive were the first in line to purchase 10 iPhones for charity and receive valuable public relations and awareness (including this blog post).

The interesting thing about this Keep a Child Alive campaign isn’t the celebrity endorsement or the actual purchase of the first 10 iPhones at Apple SOHO. It’s the subversive act of using Apple’s beloved iPhone launch for a greater good.

Apple is a very tight-lipped organization. It has an atmosphere where, as one New York Times reporter observed, even the janitors sign a non-disclosure agreement. The iPhone launch was planned for months without any thought of social responsibility or a possible mention of its greenness, both of which have been recently in question. By camping out in front of the store for three days, Keep a Child Alive put Apple in a precarious position. If the company supported the volunteers, it would look that much less self-involved. If it didn’t, it would seem cold and possibly socially irresponsible.

Over the three days, I was in contact with both people from Anomaly and Keep a Child Alive. Even though volunteers were offered $5,000 for their seats in line, they guarded their territory. The Apple store provided water, work space, press support and ultimately helped recruit Spike Lee. It also allowed Anomaly and Keep a Child Alive to film the purchase of each iPhone, which are now up for auction on the Keep a Child Alive website.

Importantly, Anomaly didn’t execute the PR event through Apple corporate in a co-branded display of good will. It found a very visual but non-confrontational way to make the brand support the cause. It worked because in today’s economy, brands like Apple cannot afford to look cold and uncaring. This demonstrates a valuable strategy when considering how to approach brands of interest when addressing a green campaign.

While Apple’s involvement may end with Friday’s event, Keep a Child Alive’s goal doesn’t. The phone purchased by Spike Lee is being auctioned now in a package which includes a jawbone headset, two free domestic round-trip airline tickets on Virgin Airlines, two VIP tickets to the Black Ball and a celebrity voice message. Final bids will be July 6th and the phone will be presented by Alicia Keys at the Black Ball on October 25th in New York City. Proceeds from the package will go to Keep a Child Alive.

You may be wondering why the endorsement for an AIDS charity on a blog like Green Options. The answer is simple. Sustainability and being green requires a holistic approach to life. Seemingly unconnected social issues like the AIDS pandemic have a critical environmental side.

According to the UNEP’s Environmental Times AIDS poses unforeseen threats to Africa’s natural resources:

The Africa Biodiversity Collaborative Group2 envisages additional impacts, including over-use of natural resources such as medicinal plants, timber for coffins, and wildlife for food; loss of traditional knowledge of sustainable land and resource management practices; and loss of human capacity for natural resource management in government, non-governmental organisations, academic institutions, communities, donor organisations, and the private sector.

As we look to the longer term, the impact on natural resources will only be compounded by the natural social consequences of having a generation of orphans who have been left on their own or aging grandparents and often are unable to go to school. By providing affordable anti-retrovirals, Keep a Child Alive is trying to reduce future impact. The next step in the campaign is to continue to raise awareness with different groups.

If you are interested in bidding on the iPhone package or donating to Keep a Child Alive, links can be found below.

iPhone Auction for Keep a Child Alive

Video of Spike Lee purchasing Apple SOHO's first iPhone

Keep a Child Alive

Environmental Times

Anomaly