ProHipHop: Hip Hop Marketing & Business News

Buddylube Promotes: Lil Kim, Wyclef Jean & LL Cool J

With a name like Buddylube you've got to be good!

And they seem to be doing okay with a wide range of online promotions for numerous artists including Lil Kim and Wyclef Jean as well as LL Cool J.

Given the notoriously homophobic nature of the hip hop scene across the board from gangsters to conscious rappers to so many fans and bloggers, it's probably a good thing that the name Buddylube doesn't appear in this promotion for LL's Workout Challenge.

Krystle Coleman Launches Midori Star Media

Freelance publicist Krystle Coleman has launched Midori Star Media.

Celeb Publicist Pam Pinnock Releases Father Fracture

Pam Pinnock - The Father Fracture

Celebrity publicist Pam Pinnock, whose clients have included Jay-Z and Ludacris, has written a memoir titled The Father Fracture focused on the effects of her father's abusive treatment and the relationships that followed.  The book is being released in October because October is National Domestic Violence Awareness Month.

Best of luck to Ms. Pinnock in what is no doubt a difficult process of self-revelation.

Agencies: Soul Pitch Media, PrGirlAngel, Viva La Rock, Celebrity Nightlife Publicity, aLine media

Soul Pitch Media has signed Mixcast.tv as a client.

A new Ft. Lauderdale-based agency called PrGirlAngel recently launched with a focus on Urban and Caribbean musicians.

Viva La Rock, a "cutting-edge experiential marketing and creative resource agency for entertainment companies and youth-driven brands", also recently launched connecting bands and brands such as Heineken and Gym Class Heroes.

Warren G signed as a client with Celebrity Nightlife Publicity.

aLine media Public Relations has been retained to market will.i.am's i.am Antik Collection.

Alloy Access Launches w/Focus on Urban Marketing

Alloy Media + Marketing has combined its "multicultural media services and placement division", American Multicultural Marketing, with its "strategic marketing and promotional services arm", AMP Urban to create Alloy Access described as:
the first full service company specializing in developing lifestyle relevant strategies and media outreach that appeal to the passions, interests and attitudes that drive the purchase decisions of the rising Hispanic, African American and Urban consumer segments. Offering a wide range of proprietary services including consumer insights, strategic planning, experiential programming and media buying, research and placement services.

Alloy Access is off to a strong start with:
Heineken, Rockport, the National Association of Hispanic Publications (NAHP), Soft Sheen-Carson, BlockSavvy and MTV3 as premier partners of the newly formed division. The team has been responsible for creative development and execution of such successful recent campaigns as the AXE Black Filmmaker’s Series and Heineken’s Red Star Soul program. With the establishment of an exclusive partnership with the NAHP, Alloy Access now serves as the largest provider of multicultural newspaper advertising planning and placement services in the country.

The press release also mentions that a report on the "New Urban Consumer" will be released later this month.  I'm hoping to get more on that soon and will follow up.

Official Site:
Alloy Access

Susan Blond, Inc. Celebrates 20th Anniversary

Susan Blond, Inc. 20th Anniversary

Susan Blond, publicist to the superstars, held a 20th anniversary party for her firm last month and the result is the above video full of famous people extolling Susan's virtues.  Although her website is exceptionally uninformative, the video leads one to believe that many of the following are or were her clients: Ice T, Lil Jon, Cam'ron, Ecko Unltd, The Game.

You can add Miri Ben-Ari and Usher to the list as well.

On an oddly related note, apparently 5WPR has been picking up domains related to other agencies, like susanblondpr.com, and directing them to 5WPR's site.  Though the Gawker dweeb describes this move as "iChicanery and e-backstabbing" in a feeble attempt to spice it up, it's just basic online biz tactics that may or may not be truly productive.

Clicking through to susanblondpr.com one sees that they aren't redirecting the domain to 5WPR's website but are actually using domain masking which is pretty darn dumb considering what they're trying to accomplish.  What the right hand giveth...

Kim Ellis & KE Consulting Celebrate One Year Anniversary

Kim Ellis, FABO & Dutchess

Kim Ellis, of Atlanta's KE Consulting & Marketing Solutions, recently celebrated the one year anniversary of the founding of KE Consulting at the Tupac Amaru Shakur Foundation for the Arts.

Xtaci (duo), Princess, Mac Bre Z & Bandana

Special celebrity guests included FABO, The Outlawz, Grand Hustle Artists Xtaci, Alfamega and AK of P$C, Crime Mob, Diamond & Princess of Crime Mob, Khia, Bohagon, Mac Bre Z, Konvict Music Artist Rock City, Ike Dirty, The Eastside Boys, JT Money, Flava of Love's Own Shay "Buckeey" Johnson, G-Dinero, US Records Artist One Chance, Lil Chuckee, Mason Dixie, Willie Joe, Citty AKA Da Cookieman and Bigga Rankin.

Princess & Kim Ellis

For more information:
KE Consulting & Marketing Solutions
KE Consulting at MySpace

(Photos Courtesy KE Consulting & Marketing Solutions)

BarriorRBK Site Brings Latin3 A W3 Award

Congratulations to Latin3 for winning a W3 award for their BarrioRBK site.

Official sites:
Latin3
BarrioRBK

Previous ProHipHop coverage:
BarrioRBK Nets Latin3 A Hispanic Creative Advertising Award

Interview With ALMG's Al Lindstrom & John Notarfrancesco

Earlier this month, SOHH's Janeé Bolden interviewed Al Lindstrom and John Notarfrancesco of "marketing, promotions and management company, ALMG.  With an impressive client list that includes Def Jam, Warner Bros., Rick Ross and The Clipse."

Official Site: ALMG

Marketing Firm crayon Launches w/Island In Second Life

Joseph Jaffe and some other forward thinking marketing types have launched crayon: a new marketing company that's focused on a "bold mix of alternatives to traditional communications that we like to call New Marketing".

I have to admit I like their orientation but I'm not sure that "New Marketing" is such a hot term.  It's an incredibly 20th century phrase but perhaps it works with their target market or with the particular timing given that marketing is going through such radical changes.

Overall they seem to be off to a nice start.  They've got a famous, breaking edge marketing guru and a Manifesto, they've got a group of people who already blog and podcast, they've got offices in big cities like New York, London and San Francisco, they've got a blog, they're in Second Life and they just got written up in ProHipHop!

I don't know if they're going to do a MySpace profile but, in some ways, it makes more sense to create them for a particular client since folks are probably more interested in a MySpace profile for a new movie than for a marketing company.  Ditto for YouTube.  Not that crayon won't necessarily do those things but setting up a client with a MySpace profile brings them into the process in a way that promoting them on one's own MySpace profile never would.

Here's a crayon FAQ that tells you more, though I'll have to say that the elevator pitch leaves something to be desired, which may explain why it's buried down the page.  Maybe they don't believe in traditional elevator pitches.

In any case, despite my minor jabs, I look forward to seeing how their practice develops.

Update:
I just went back and read an email from Neville Hobson and he seems to be emphasizing the Second Life office/island, seen here in in-world photos, as was Jaffe in an email he sent out.

I'll have to be honest, I feel like I've done more work than I should have to figure out what these guys are doing.  I got the general idea right away, this is online marketing 2.0 or whatever would indicate people marketing online in a way that doesn't simply replicate offline marketing but that intelligently responds to the emergence of online society.

But I can't tell if they handle online ad buys or only do conversational things or what?

But in trying to clarify how they're positioning themselves, I have to wonder how all this would look to the folks who remain baffled by blogs and social networks.  Or is it enough to know that these guys are well regarded and can handle your online marketing needs?

I should note that I decided not to look at other bloggers' reactions to crayon and I haven't been checking marketing blogs for at least a week and haven't really read any news so I'm writing this post based off two emails and what I see online.  This way you're getting my immediate, off the cuff response which can be a good thing since people apparently evaluate most things at first glance without necessarily knowing the context for what they're examining.

Again, I look forward to seeing where this goes and do wish crayon the best of luck!

PR/Marketing Firm The Chamber Group Opens In NYC

The Chamber Group, Public Relations/Marketing Firm, Opens in New York
The Chamber Group (TCG) opens its doors with a core roster of clients including mega-platinum Grammy award winners OutKast, Usher, Jill Scott, Monica, Ciara, Mario, and Stacie Orrico, as well as Usher's new group One Chance, Warner-Chappell Music Publishing, the New York Knicks' star Jamal Crawford, and acclaimed fashion designer Stephen Burrows.

Official Site:
The Chamber Group

R&R Partners To Provide PR Services to H3Enterprises

H3Enterprises brings R&R Partners on board to "handle various public relations projects".  R&R Partners is the Las Vegas based public relations firm that developed the "What happens here, stays here" campaign.

In related news, late last month, H3Enterprises announced that Jackie Robinson had been named new CEO.

Official Site:
R&R Partners

Idolmakerz Entertainment Profiled At AllHipHop

Idolmakerz Entertainment, a "full service booking agency" with a "radio promotions department, a graphic design department, and a division that focuses on Latin artists", gets a brief profile at AllHipHop.

Says Co-CEO Mickey Bentson:
We aim to evolve into a William Morris or a Creative Artists Agency (CAA). The difference is we don't wait 'til you're hot to start booking you...We start soliciting to promoters and vendors immediately. We can accomplish a lot of things major agencies can't do. We are going to work hand and hand with artists to help them get national exposure outside of what the record label is doing for them.

Official Site:
Idolmakerz Entertainment

5W PR Signs Snoop Dogg, Chamillionaire, Kelis

5W Public Relations announced that Snoop Dogg, Chamillionaire and Kelis have signed on as clients.

New Clients For N.Y.L.A. Entertainment Group

Atlanta-based marketing and public relations firm N.Y.L.A. Entertainment Group announced yesterday the addition of five new clients, most with a hip hop connection.

The new clients include Omillio Sparks of State Property, Mr. Grand, Willie Joe, vocalist Vaneli, and hip hop violinist Miri Ben Ari.

Official site: N.Y.L.A. Entertainment Group

Publicist's Websites: The Room Service Group

I just checked out Greg Trani's Room Service Group website and I have to say I dig the homepage more than most I've seen of late.  It may be a bit outdated, because the one link on the page goes to something other than what's labeled, but it's the concept and look that caught me.

I had originally thought it was Lucy Beer's but she contacted me to clarify that she sometimes freelances with The Room Service Group which is why I'm seeing her name on some of their press releases.  But I still like the site!

By the way, Lucy Beer was one of the first publicists to find me back in the early days at Hip Hop Logic so, even though our paths have diverged as I've left reviewing behind, I'm always curious about what she's up to.

Publicist Interviews: Trevor Seamon, Matt Conway, Kathryn Frazier

I just found a small group of interviews with publicists in Halftime's Slick Talkin' section.  I haven't had a chance to read anything too closely but judging from what I did read and the interesting range of topics, this isn't your typical hip hop interviews feature.

Hip Hop and The Publicist:
Trevor Seamon (Score Press)
Matt Conaway (Movement Marketing)
Kathryn Frazier (Biz 3 Publicity)

The interviews are two years old which doesn't make them particularly out of date except for contact info, so keep that in mind if you're trying to contact them.  Otherwise, there's a lot of great stuff in these three interviews if you're wondering about the publicist game.

On that note, if you have older material related to hip hop marketing and advertising, feel free to let me know about it since I tend to focus on whatever's happening now and could easily miss worthwhile content.  Like the above interviews, if it's substantial material, it will still be well worth people's time.

Bomb Hip-Hop To Book Storm the Unpredictable

Bomb Hip-Hop announced that they are now the official booking agent for Storm the Unpredictable.

Vizi|Media Signs Advertising Agreement With Ruckus.com

Ruckus.com Taps Vizi|Media for Exclusive Advertising Representation:

Ruckus works directly with 65+ colleges across the country to provide college students with free entertainment media downloads; completely legal and virus free. Ruckus visitors must have an .edu email address to qualify for membership and they visit the site to download free music and new releases, socialize with other members, get new movies, and check out the “album of the week” at each school.

"Ruckus brings us a pure 18-24 year old audience of college students," says [Vizi|Media President, Andrew] Moskowitz, adding that "the signing adds prestige to our Entertainment and Video site offerings; both are key demographics for many of our advertisers”. . .

Ruckus offers advertisers customizable marketing opportunities including content integration, email notifiers, user based surveys, “Themed Programs Sponsorships”, and video ads.

Official Sites:
Vizi|Media
Ruckus

5W Public Relations Signs Uncle Luke

5W PUBLIC RELATIONS SIGNS FOUR NEW CLIENTS TO ENTERTAINMENT DIVISION

Hip Hop Icon/Businessman Luther "Uncle Luke" Campbell; R&B Crooner Bobby Valentino; Comedian/Actor Katt Williams and Platinum and R & B Sensation Frankie J each choose 5W

Luther “Uncle Luke” Campbell

"As the first person to form an independent record label based around the creation and promotion of hip-hop music, Uncle Luke has impacted the world of rap music, sex, business, law and politics simultaneously over the past 2 decades. Campbell is currently promoting his tell all, three-disc box set containing two audio books and greatest hits CD entitled Uncle Luke – My Life & Freaky Times, which chronicle’s his impressive, history making career in music and film. Press contact: Hanif Sumner, 212-999-5585 ext. 250 or hsumner@5wpr.com"

ABOUT 5W PUBLIC RELATIONS

"Headquartered in New York, with an office in Los Angeles, 5W Public Relations (www.5wpr.com), the nation's fastest growing independent PR firm for 2005 & 2004, maintains practice areas specializing in technology, corporate, consumer, entertainment, crisis communications, investor relations, event management and public affairs.  Described by a leading PR trade magazine as “aggressive in a way that clearly resonates with clients looking for a firm staffed with type A-plus personalities, a BS-free approach, and results from Day One,” 5W’s culture is aggressive, energetic, fast-paced and focused.  The Company boasts a diversified client roster second to none, including: Fortune 500 mainstay EDS, Evian Natural Spring Water, NICE Systems, VeriSign, McDonald’s Corporation, Restaurant Associates/Patina, the nation’s largest multi-concept restaurant group,  The HealthCentral Network, 530 store retail chain United Retail Group/Avenue Stores, Seagram’s Coolers, Benny Hinn Ministries, The Pritikin Longevity Center & Spa, Lassie, the world’s most famous dog, celebrities including NBA Star Jalen Rose, Lil’ Kim, Ice Cube, Nick Cannon and producer Scott Storch, a plethora of publicly traded technology companies, and a variety of other global interests, national corporations, high-profile individuals, regional businesses, government agencies and academic institutions. The agency was named “Boutique Agency of The Year” by a leading PR Trade Magazine."

Advertising Agencies Exploring the Future of Record Labels

I was checking out an AdFreak post about an Amp'd Mobile spot that one of the commenters thinks is a fairly direct ripoff of a Dave Chappelle skit.  I can't speak to that cause I didn't see that skit but it did lead me to 'boards, a great site about the "creative edge in commercial production" featuring lots of content from the magazine.

This month includes an excellent article by Mark Pytlik on changes in the relationship of advertisers and musicians due to digital distribution including the move by music supervisors to bypass labels and go directly to musicians who the labels themselves may have bypassed.

According to former A&R turned music supervisor Chris Munger:
I feel like I haven't left the A&R world . . . I feel like I'm more involved in it now than I even was before. I'm always looking for new acts, new bands and new songwriters to get plays for commercials. I'm getting stuff sent to me on a constant basis, and I'm always listening, because you never know where it's going to come from. It's kind of ironic. The labels will turn down these songwriters or bands, and I'll wind up finding them and getting them placed inside commercials. That winds up hurting the labels more than anything - I think they're kind of starting to feel the damage from that.

Sarah Gavigan, founder of Ten Music, a company that "finds commercial work for its roster of independent labels" speculates on what the future holds:
None of this has happened, and a lot is speculation, but there are all kinds of different brands that are looking for a way to gain cultural validity. They can do that by joining forces with labels and musicians, not just borrowing from them, but joining forces with them, or maybe even financing their album . . . I think that's the next logical step. I think brands are going to replace labels. Especially since a band like Clap Your Hands Say Yeah showed we don't need a label, all we need is distribution. They sold 25,000 albums out of their apartment in Brooklyn. So, is there a brand in existence they would be willing to lend themselves to, and collaborate with, in a way that could give them the money to do things a label would traditionally do for them? It could happen.

Hell, yeah, it could happen.  Lots of nice stuff in this article including some short, blistering critiques of the music industry.

Two related pieces give quick insights into specific projects involving music and sound design:
Project profiles: Music & Project profiles: Sound Design

'boards is an awesome resource and you can check out things for free but after seeing a couple of articles they do require free registration.  Though I'm experiencing registration burnout, I had absolutely no qualms about quickly signing up.

Michael Miraflor on Sprite, Hip Hop & CP+B

I received an email from Michael Miraflor, a contributor to Hip Hop Blogs, regarding my post about the changing relationship of Sprite and hip hop.  He was nice enough to ok my sharing a section:

Check out www.hiphopdx.com . . . Remnants of the (now-abandoned) urban-flavored Sprite campaign litter the home page, and link to http://www.douhavetheproof.com/home.do. There is a countdown on the landing page.

Intriguing in theory, but there is absolutely no buzz in advertising/marketing circles about it, mainly because it is a strategy that was beaten to death by Microsoft in anticipation of the Xbox 360 (the infamous www.origenxbox360.com countdown comes to mind).  So in hip hop's defense, the demise of hip hop culture as a lead in Sprite's marketing cache can be attributed to poor media strategy and planning by their online agency as much as external cultural forces (i.e. decline of hip hop as a cultural force, etc).

As far as Sprite changing agencies from Ogilvy to CP+B, it is worth noting that CP+B jacked some hip hop terminology to market the VW Jetta in late 2005/early 2006.  Here are two of a handful of creative executions that played on a few urban phrases:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/sensual_shadows_photography/127217390/ (It's the sh*t)
http://www.flickr.com/photos/marline0919/136476198/ (representin', yo)

I'm not saying that CP+B (also the minds behind the love/hate Burger King King and subservient chicken) understands hip hop culture, mind you, but they are more aware of culture than 80% of agencies out there.

As I responded to Michael, I'll be writing more about Crispin Porter + Bogusky, aka CP+B, in the near future.  Till then, I leave you with this CP+B contribution to pop culture:

Interview With Lil' Kim's Publicist, Tracy Nguyen

AllHipHop has an interview with Lil' Kim's publicist, Tracy Nguyen.  It's a good example of a publicist approaching an interview as part of her job and staying on message throughout.

Nguyen discusses some of the work involved in addressing Lil' Kim's legal situation:
We did a lot of media training with her, and a lot of filtering, and really getting on the phone and making sure that the reporters who were reporting the story had factual information, because a lot of the news that was being reported was very exaggerated. We were under a very, very fine microscope and we just had to be very, very careful in just making sure that the message that we were sending across was very clear and concise - that they were consistent.

She also talks about the Lil' Kim reality show Countdown to Lockdown and her own negative portrayal in that series as well as a variety of related topics, such as working Lil' Kim's recent album, Naked Truth:
I think in getting people to continue to talk about Kim, and continuing to spread the word out there. [I’m] just constantly feeding them with information and letting them know what’s next for Kim, what the next single’s going to be, or what’s in the pipeline for her with this project that is definitely not dead – it’s very much alive. I think we’re in this day and age, especially when it comes to Hip-Hop music, unless everyone is selling 2-500,000 in its first week, it’s considered a failure. There are a lot of amazing albums [that] eventually do go platinum over a period of time, and I think that with this project, again, it is her best work to date and I am very confident. Kim has never gone less than platinum with all of her previous albums, and I think that especially with Kim coming out in the next two months where she will be here to be able to do press and promotion and talk about the project, I feel very confident that it’ll pick up.

So the interview is clearly part of the process of supporting Lil' Kim while she's unavailable for public appearances.  Honestly, I don't know anything about Tracy Nguyen beyond this interview, but I do find her comments a nice contrast to publicists like Lizzie Grubman.

Da Jammies Gathering Crew

Joy Tashjian Marketing Group has been appointed licensing rep for Da Jammies, a straight to DVD "hip-hop animated series."  The series of cartoons will focus on the artistic rivalries of young crews of performers at a performing arts school with voices provided by such folks as Mario, LA LA and DJ Clue from MTV.  Reebok's even joining in the madcap fun with a limited edition sneaker line!

Vacant lists Da Jammies as a client and they are reported to be planning to use their new "mobile guerilla retail unit" that will be able to stage and transmit coverage of a retail event.