Colbert on Black Eyed Peas' Product Placements
Stephen Colbert takes the Black Eyed Peas to task for not having enough products placed in I Gotta Feeling.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
twitter/prohiphop subscribe: feedblitz |
Headlines to Your Site or Blog: Widgetbox ProHipHop Network |
Hip-Hop News Plus Tupac Shakur Info |
Stephen Colbert takes the Black Eyed Peas to task for not having enough products placed in I Gotta Feeling.
will.i.am - One More Chance
In what could only be considered an exaggerated response to the placement/integration of the Blackberry brand and products in will.i.am's One More Chance music video, Charles Moran states that he's "not pleased":
"While cellphone placements in music videos are really nothing to blog about these days, it's not often that we get an example that's quite as meta as this one. Or as lazy, ham-handed or obvious."
I expected something horrible when I went to to see the video but it's just not that bad, holmes. And it's at least as good as most of what I see scouting for VidRap. For that matter, it's not exceptionally "meta" at this point in time.
One of the problems is that folks who should know better want pop stars to be or pretend to be authentic. Moran thinks that:
"for an integration to work, it needs to feel organic and effortless, as if the (in this case) musician was a fan of the product and might have put it in his or her video regardless of the money."
So we can all play pretend?
I actually think the video has a decent concept and doesn't detract from the song. Maybe it looks bad on tv? I wouldn't know. I don't do a lot with outmoded media platforms.
But it does make me wonder how often video treatments are now being pitched that are designed to include such placements from the beginning whether or not a sponsor is already in place.
Article via Miraflor.
Update:
Blender blogger Ryan Dombal also thinks it's "over-the-top".
SELL OUT with Sprint: "Tell Your Peeps It's Showtime!"
Sprint's SELL OUT campaign for the Samsung Instinct phone is off to a nice start with the above video encouraging folks to invade their precious home movies with a blatant product placement. Leveraging people's deepest concerns to create a humorous ad looks so simple when it's done well but is so hard to do.
US & UK Television:
TV network product placement is facing some disclosure challenges from the FCC but has become a deeply embedded process.
Product placement has even come to tv news.
Long banned in the UK, product placement on tv is being considered for certain formats, though UK stations already run US shows with product placements.
Research & Measurement
Measuring the effectiveness of product placements is a growing concern and research firms such as Nielsen are establishing the groundwork for a lucrative position in the industry.
Kudos to Hip Hop!
Though none of these examples are hip hop specific, hip hop artists and business people can be proud of their role in helping create a positive consumer response to having brands inserted in each and every available opening.
Iron Man and Audi R8 Ad/Trailer
Iron Man isn't really a hip hop movie per se but it does include an appearance by Ghostface, plus, Iron Man's cool!
Audi hopes to absorb some of that coolness with a campaign built around Audi's placements in Iron Man.
Audi's publicists break down the deep connections:
"In the film, Tony Stark begins to secretly build the incredible Iron Man suit in his garage workshop...the billionaire technophile has his Audi R8 parked nearby which fits Stark's Super Hero guise very well: The slits through which Iron Man views the world resemble the all-LED headlamps on the R8; Stark's artificial heart with its ring of lights recalls the sports car's exposed mid-engine and his immensely tough armor is matched by the Audi Space Frame, the high-strength aluminum structure on which this hi-tech automobile is built. The film's hero along with his favored mode of transport both underscore Audi's famous technical leadership claim: 'Vorsprung durch Technik.'"
The Audi: Iron Man microsite builds on this relationship in a number of ways, most noticeably in the short videos that include Iron Man trailers such as the above that have been out at least a month or so. The microsite has a number of interesting elements:
"A notable feature of the visual elements is that they were produced especially for Audi and are made up of original scenes from the film. "One Man. One Machine. One Mission." is the slogan alongside the micro-site. On its complex home page the user can pay a virtual visit to Tony Stark's top-secret workshop. Two perspectives are available: Through the eyes of Tony Stark, exclusive footage and background information on the movie can be called up and viewed. Alternatively the special "Iron Man Vision" HUD (Head Up Display) can be used, for instance to explore the design details of the Audi R8 and A5."
If you hate product placement then welcome to integration hell!
From what I've seen Audi's actually done a nice job of tying the two together and developing a microsite that builds on that concept in an entertaining manner. And the trailers really make the point quite clearly.
Too bad Audi dropped its previous Technology That Amazes slogan for its current Advancement Through Technology. That would have fit Iron Man very well.
It would be nice to see some t-shirts with the old Audi slogan tied in to the movie in a way that ackowledges the retro nature of the Iron Man comic itself.
Though the focus is on the Audi R8 driven by lead character Tony Starks aka Iron Man, Virginia "Pepper" Potts, the lead female character, drives an Audi S5.
Iron Man opens May 2nd.
The Pack f/Eddie Rap Life & Terry Kennedy [production: Travis Barker]
- Swear They Do
I don't know the backstory on this song but The Pack's Swear They Do video above features Famous Stars and Straps clothing and possible skate team members or the like in addition to The Pack, guest artists and Travis Barker.
Given that The Pack initially caught the public's eye with Got My Vans On, they're building an impressive early history of product placement, paid or not.
KEF MUON Speakers by Ross Lovegrove (Photo: Business Wire)
Pharrell's blog breaks down the Billionaire Boys Club / Ice Cream placements in Jay-Z's Blue Magic video:
PHARRELL...Ice Cream Denim Jacket featuring the Swarovski Crystals Monster Popsicle Logo (only 50 made), The Red “B” New Era Hat, the leather and vinyl Diamonds & Dollars jacket coming out this November as well as a few sneak peak items from Season 6.
TEYANA...Star Trak New Era and a BBC Track Jacket top available soon.
JAY-Z...Billionaire Boys Club Gears & Gauges Logo T-shirt.
KEF's press release announces the appearance of their MUON loudspeakers:
Esquire magazine's newest project, dubbed the "Ultimate Bachelor Pad," is a triplex penthouse apartment in the heart of New York City's up and coming Central Park North luxury district. Hip-Hop artist and Def Jam Recordings CEO Jay-Z filmed his latest video, "Blue Magic," at the apartment, where a stylish pair of MUON loudspeakers was featured.
Esquire North: The New View was one of the locations for the video and it's the fifth of a series of "showcases for sophisticated living" that create the context for Esquire's "ultimate bachelor pad" marketing program:
The apartment includes a Versace living room designed by Campion Platt, a Louis Vuitton master bedroom by Christopher Maya, a Hugo Boss media room by Dean Maltz, a Bally library by Barclay Butera, a Lufthansa home office by Ildiko Sragli, a Kenneth Cole and Intel gaming room by Comma, a Westin upper terrace with outdoor fireplace by Clodagh, and a Rockport lower terrace by Robin Wilson, replete with a shoe-shaped putting green.
Other marketing partners in the apartment include Bloomberg, Acura, Hennessy, The Macallan, Moët & Chandon, Dell and Jaguar, among others. While Esquire foots the bill for putting the project together, the scale of a brand’s exposure in the apartment is related to its advertising investments in the magazine.
I just checked out the video again to see if the speakers appeared which they do in passing towards the end.
That video is so crammed full of stuff when you look in terms of products and logos, from the cars and marquees to the art and clothing to the apartment, that it would generate a pretty long list, especially if you include the additional product appearances in the lyrics.
I really thought the Euros were the coolest "product" to appear in the video and, as previously mentioned, I was quite disappointed to see the product placement for Armand de Brignac champagne.
Hype Williams makes a gorgeous video for Blue Magic and Jay-Z gives Armand de Brignac Champagne a lovely product placement.
Here we go again!
By the way, I actually talked to Armand CEO Brett Berish a while back. He basically said what I'd already read in the papers. My jaw dropped further with every soundbite as I literally became speechless. Didn't seem worth mentioning at the time.
Armand has a beautiful new website as well.
Background:
ProHipHop Coverage of Armand de Brignac Champagne
Master P and Romeo are promoting the Sidekick LX with a song called Sidekick on their upcoming album Hip Hop History. A video is expected soon.
I guess I haven't succumbed totally to cynicism as I find this development rather disturbing though it also seems completely inevitable.
B-Legit & Lil Sisco - Gorilla Grindin Mixtape
I'm assuming the above Mountain Dew logo placement was unsponsored but it caught my eye. It's so gangsta!
From what I see at the Mountain Dew website, they're not really working with hip hop at the moment, though I did hear some scratching laced rock via the homepage.
Update:
An anonymous tipster has clued me in to the fact that it's a Whut It Dew t-shirt from Top Dollar Clothing. Nicely done!
Although, the idea of Mountain Dew building through mixtape logo placements is kind of cool.
Kevin Federline - Lose Control
Golden Palace Casino has a domain placement on a t-shirt that appears briefly about halfway through this Kevin Federline video [via Adrants].
I could go through and see what brands he drops besides Cris but that would require me to watch the video again and pay attention to the lyrics and there are some sacrifices I just won't make.
By the way, it was pretty damn funny to see the Associated Press, of all sources, diss Federline for using Cristal in a performance. Like, he didn't get the memo from the CEO!
Guess K-Fed isn't too upset with the Britney/K-Fed ephemera Golden Palace purchases, like the "Britney Spears Wedding Invitation, Baby Pacifier, Half-Full Bottle of Water and the most famous of all the purchased items – the Britney Spears Pregnancy Test."
Recently, a guy wrote me asking about the suit that Jay-Z wears in the Jay-Z HP commercial and then I noticed someone coming to ProHipHop from a search for "what watch does pharrell wear in h p commercial" referring to the Pharrell Williams HP ad.
Though I don't think these were actual product placements in the "wearing it as advertisement sense", they are reminders of the power of product placement at a time when some folks are predicting that tv and film product placements will triple by 2010.
Although I'm not a big believer in such predictions, the report does point out that, in the U.S., $1.5 billion was spent on film and tv product placements in 2005.
Stuart Elliott goes into more details of the report.
In addition to previous ProHipHop posts, here's a somewhat random assortment of links related to product placement I've been building up, for those who are interested:
NY Times - The Plot Is the Pitch
The pitfall of branded entertainment is the inability of many advertisers to understand the difference between deftly weaving a product into a plot line and ham-handedly pushing it to the point that they annoy or alienate consumers.
AdJab - An angel dies every time a blogger mentions a product
OK, so what I wrote in the headline isn't really true. Two angels actually die.
ChasNote - Nearly 50% of Marketing Execs Have Paid for Placement
NY Times - Marketers Say They Pay for Play in News Media
MTV (from 2003) - Push The Courvoisier: Are Rappers Paid For Product Placement?
An article in October's Fortune magazine referenced an Epic Records memo in which the company offered to place products in lyrics to B2K songs for a fee, later quoting an executive who said the same offer would be extended to "most of our pop acts."
By the way, still don't know what suit Jay-Z was wearing but I remember noticing it as well and not just because you couldn't see his face. It's a very, very nice suit.
StarStyle, a site that focuses on buying fashion and related items that celebs wear or that you see on tv, has launched StarStyle Music. It's a simple idea with the visitor choosing from a currently short list of Universal Music Group videos to stream with a handful of fashion items seen in the video that are displayed next to it and are for sale.
I haven't dug deeply into the site. I notice they include some blog and podcast activity and I think the whole idea is very smart and something that we'll be seeing more of elsewhere in various forms. It also heightens the potential for product placement synergies [that's the first time I've used synergies in a sentence and it actually works but I promise not to do it again!].
From the release:
UMG -- whose artists include trendsetters Lindsay Lohan, Gwen Stefani, Black Eyed Peas, Mariah Carey, Mary J. Blige, Shania Twain, Trisha Yearwood and the Pussycat Dolls -- will work with StarStyle staff to identify branded products featured in the music videos. Until now, many apparel brands have given their clothes to music videos to reap free product placement and generate buzz, especially for new lines. StarStyle benefits brands by allowing them to clearly identify themselves and to give consumers a direct purchase opportunity, while also helping labels and artists by creating new revenue streams.
I think it suggests possibilities for indie bloggers and small site owners as well, though the ongoing crackdown on YouTube presents a problem. StarStyle has a deal with UMG who has yet to make their videos available to bloggers as Sony BMG is doing but that may well happen on down the line. You could even use celeb promo photos as a base.
Unfortunately for rap video enthusiasts, so much of what is shown are luxury goods and I'm not sure how you'd capitalize on that. For lower end items, you could join affiliate programs, including Amazon, and that might work for some luxury items as well.
One idea would be to do a blog where you run a music video with high end items and then share options for achieving a similar look on a budget using items from a handful of affiliate programs.
I wouldn't be surprised if related pitches are occurring in street sales but it might be a differentiator to hawk your bootleg wares with references to the music videos that show the real thing.
Official Site: StarStyle Music
I just realized that if you don't check for comments you probably don't know that a wide range of insightful people, some who know The Pack or have more knowledge about Vans, have weighed in on my earlier post. It will be well worth your time and seems to pretty much settle the question of what's up with this song and with The Pack.
In many ways, it's one of the best posts at ProHipHop and I hardly wrote any of it!
Michael Miraflor posted about the Vans song called Vans by The Pack aka The Wolfpack who are a young group out of the Bay Area. My first impression was that it was a Vans product placement posing as a spontaneous song, not because they mention Vans, but because some of the lines read like ad copy.
However, I touched base with Adisa Banjoko and his impression, without knowing a whole lot for sure, is that they just did the song cause that's where they're at. He also said that he used to wear Vans and caught total hell in the rap scene. Now he realizes he should have made a song about it.
I checked in with another source who's talked to The Pack but didn't really talk much about the song. This source's impression was that they just did it, would love to have Vans' endorsement, but didn't necessarily do the song with that in mind.
I don't know, if I was a smart post-My Adidas kid, I'd do the song hoping to get the endorsement. In any case, it's blowing up in the Bay.
You can find the song Vans at The Pack's MySpace page.
Update:
Apparently there's now a response song dissing Vans. murketing has the info. In case you get confused, you have to hover over words to find the links. But otherwise it's a great blog.
Related ProHipHop Coverage:
Got My Vans On: Summer Single Of The Year?
Got My Vans On: Programming The Sneaker Freak
Please Submit All Publicity Materials to: hiphoppress(at) netweed(dot)com |
ProHipHop: Business Hip Hop Press Business Matters Mix Sneakers & Fashion Urban Gossip/Rumors Hip Hop Blogs: World Cypher |
Recent Comments