— In the music video for Lady Gaga’s hit single “Bad Romance,” the pop
diva vamps across several nightmarish tableaux wearing a variety of
barely there lingerie get-ups. The flashy clip caused a sensation when
it debuted in November and has racked up 85 million views on YouTube.
But perhaps its most striking aspect is the
unabashed product placement — conspicuous visual shout-outs to Nemiroff
vodka, Nintendo Wii,
Back in the proverbial day — say, the Woodstock era,
punk rock’s ’70s heyday, the slacker-era ’90s — a song was a song and a
jingle was a jingle and rarely the twain did meet. But now, with CD
sales in free fall and opportunities for radio or television airplay
increasingly rare, the rules governing the interplay between pop music
and advertising are being rewritten.
It’s no longer possible to “sell out” — at least,
not within a certain time-cherished understanding of the term. Rockers,
rappers and up-and-coming pop titans of all stripes are licensing music
and image as an integral part of brand-building, which largely has
usurped selling music and concert tickets as many musicians’
professional end goal.
Consider
“Forever,” which cracked the Top 10 in seven countries in 2008 (before
his career-derailing assault on Rihanna) and went double platinum. At
the start of the song’s video, Brown is shown sliding a piece of gum
into his mouth before heading out for a night on the town. On
“Forever’s” chorus, he croons: “‘Cause we only got one night / Double
your pleasure, double your fun.” Turns out the song was commissioned by
Wrigley to promote — you guessed it — Doublemint gum. Three months
after releasing the single, the chewing gum conglomerate aired its
“reveal”: a TV commercial version of “Forever” featuring Brown singing
about gum and dancing with a pack of Doublemint.
The spot generated outcry among music purists, but
marketers greeted the spots with awe. “When the reveal happened, some
people got upset,” recalled
the firm Translation Consultation & Brand Imaging. “But the number
of spins went up and Doublemint went up in awareness.”
Stoute, who was behind “Forever,” also is responsible for
“Using entertainment assets to introduce products is
a platform that needed to get exploited,” said Stoute, a former
executive vice president of Interscope Records. “The lines needed to be
blurred. When done correctly, there’s consumer acceptance.”
Stoute said his marketing company gets several calls
a week from “major artists” in pursuit of their own “Forever.” It’s not
selling out, he argues, if there’s an authentic relationship between
the music and the product being hawked. “Marketing isn’t successful if
the consumer feels he or she is being sold something,” Stoute said.
Imperfect Angel,” was accompanied by a 34-page mini-magazine bearing
the R&B diva’s image and emblazoned with an Elle magazine logo.
It’s a co-production between Carey’s label
Board of Tourism intermingled with lighter-than-air Mariah-based
editorial featurettes: “VIP access to her sexy love life,” “Fantasy:
the five-time Grammy winner goes behind the scenes of her new drama.”
Carey pointed out she is personally or commercially invested in everything advertised.
“
we have a house down there,” Carey explained, between bites of caviar
at the Polo Lounge. “It all has to do with things that are organic to
me. And honestly? I’m a big kid. I thought it would be cute.”
Island Def Jam is exploring similar branded CD booklet deals for artists including
It all makes The Who’s rollicking 1967 concept album
“The Who Sell Out” — which featured faux commercials and cover art
depicting band members shilling for deodorant and baked beans — appear
prescient. (In further irony, The Who’s epochal 1965 single “My
Generation” is currently featured in a commercial for Flo TV.)
modeling agency One Management, recalls a time not long ago when indie
rock acts would sooner pack in their skinny jeans than appear in
fashion ads. But now, Lipps has augmented the success of his agency
(which represents such A-list glamazons as Bar Refaeli and
“People’s views on endorsements, doing magazine
stuff — any way to reach fans — it’s all changed. It’s not taboo
anymore,” Lipps said.
Lipps, formerly drummer for ’80s rock group Black
Cherry, remains attentive to the alliance of brand and band. “I’m never
going to ask a very cool band to do business with a brand that they
would never associate with,” said Lipps. “It’s about finding that right
fit.”
After the rock quartet OK Go broke into mainstream
consciousness with the homemade video for its 2006 single “Here It Goes
Again” (featuring the band members performing a synchronized routine on
exercise treadmills), they were bombarded with offers to re-create the
sequence for TV commercials. The group developed what frontman
demeaning or that cannibalizes the meaning or artistry of our song,” he
explained.
Still, the band has remained receptive to overtures
from corporate America. Last year, the musicians appeared in print ads
and billboards for Banana Republic — its spring fashion line campaign
that also included such artists as
industry has so entirely bottomed out, advertising is one of the only
distribution methods that still works,” Kulash said after returning
from
where he did a photo shoot for the fashion brand Uniqlo. “The music
side has a deep ambivalence. It’s a pretty major paradigm shift that
requires a rethinking of how we see what we do.”
He added: “I wish we never had to get in bed with
that stuff. It doesn’t feel particularly good to wear the marketing
hat. But our record label isn’t paying to put up billboards across the
country.”
Fashion designer
line in 2005. But after convincing the alt-country singer-songwriter
that there would be “nothing fakey about him appearing in the clothes,”
Varvatos went on to land
Varvatos said attitudes toward commodifying stardom have changed.
“I was besieged by people wanting to hook up with
us,” Varvatos said. “There are a lot of people coming after us now.
It’s almost the opposite problem now. We have to filter out.”
The designer was quick to dispel the notion,
however, that the performers in his ads were selling out their images
in return for some hefty payday. “We don’t pay the artists much of
anything,” Varvatos added. “They’ve got to really want to do this.”
to star in Sprite’s online series “Green Eyed World,” a digital
marketing push that aired last year. The series used YouTube clips,
social networking interfaces and the promotion of soda to help the
native launch her career; she brandishes a Sprite-green guitar in the
clips and at times people around her are seen quenching their thirst
with a certain lemon-lime-flavored refreshment. Asked if she was
concerned that the association with the brand might limit her career
prospects, Vogel, who now goes by the professional moniker Katie V.,
insisted there were no downsides.
“My music, it’s being heard,” Vogel said. “Even if
one person says, ‘She’s the Sprite singer,’ they’ve heard my music. So
I’m happy either way.”
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