Ad touchdown gets nostalgic

Rihanna referred to the Super Bowl as a “big, walking music video”, and the sporting and advertising highlight of the year didn’t disappoint on the music front in 2010. The Who’s performance during half time – a lucrative slot for any band – has been both praised and panned by critics – with one citing it as “an act of terrorism on US soil”. However, even if the viewing audience is equally split it will still mean the band have appealed to at least 50M possible music buyers. Good for the group’s sales and hopefully also for Bridgestone tyres who sponsored their appearance. Interestingly the iconic British band weren’t the only nostalgia bid, with numerous other veteran acts also appearing in ads:

Audi (Cheap Trick)

Dr Pepper Cherry (KISS)

Bud 55 (Electric Light Orchestra)

Honda (Kool and the Gang)

Electronic Arts (Bill Withers)

A large part of the blame for the leaning towards nostalgic sound tracks can possibly be leveled at the successful door of US music show Glee – which has brought guilty musical pleasures to the fore.  Contemporary artists even got in on the retro act and played the nostalgia card. Ads featuring more current acts such as  indie band Grizzly Bear, who had a sync in a Volkswagen commercial, were tempered with appearances from older artists like Stevie Wonder. Will.i.am even went as far as reworking The Who’s hit ‘My Generation’ as part of a whopping $10M ad spend by mobile TV company FLO TV.

Volkswagen (Grizzly Bear)

FLO.TV (will.i.am)

Interestingly Pepsi – who made a big splash with the juxtaposition of genres between will.iam and Bob Dylan at the Superbowl last year – steered clear of the event, focusing instead on a concerted social media approach. It appears to have paid off, with the brand gaining 21% of the media coverage and online buzz around Superbowl advertising. Also by comparison its $20M spend on the campaign is a sizeable $10M less than its usual Super Bowl ad spend. However, despite the absence of a direct ad presence the brand didn’t turn its back on music, netting high profile acts – such as Rihanna and Justin Bieber – to perform at the Pepsi Fan Jam Super Bowl concert. With 100M Americans tuning in, the Super Bowl remains a dominate force in advertising. And music, once again – whether during the event or in the run up to it – is very much the favoured mechanic by brands looking to create emotional bookmarks in the minds and hearts of consumers.

A first for music

Coca-Cola China has launched a new online campaign fronted by Taiwanese boy band Fahrenheit in order to celebrate Chinese New Year.  The promotion – which features the track ‘The First Taste of Happiness’ – invites users to customize their own festive Coke bottles and participate in an online UGC element which will see their video efforts placed into a collective ad alongside the band. The digital side of the ad campaign depicts Coke drinkers passing their bottles along from one video clip to the next to form a visual chain effect. The ad – which seems to have a prominent Apple placement at various points – is reminiscent of a recent online video created by the Japanese band, Sour. The campaign has partnered with online portals such as QQ.com, Tudou.com, and Youku.com and Coke’s own website to promote the initiative which follows on from last year’s ‘First Taste of the Year’ positioning.

Fahrenheit – who release their fourth album in August 2010 – have been a massive draw in southeast Asia over the last few years. They are also no strangers to brand endorsements, having being Ambassadors for Canon’s full range of digital cameras in 2008.  However, it doesn’t stop there. They have also appeared in ads for Volvo, Man Simple face wash, 7-Eleven, TaiShan iced drinks, Watson’s Water, the C.C Lemon drink, Chun eyewear, I Do Golden! Jewelry, 3+2 Crackers and – well I could go – but you get the general idea.

Coke is in the midst of a $2B three-year expansion and growth plan in China, which includes the opening of an $88M bottling plant in the city of Wuhan to aid the increased demand for the product in the region.  The soft drink brand is tapping into the traditional Chinese New Year concept with this promotion of passing on lucky red ‘lai see’ packages via its very own ‘red packaged’ bottle of happiness. The innovative use of social media and UGC serve to strengthen this positive connection. The youth segment this campaign is aiming to reach are far less cynical than their Western counterparts, so the inclusion of a boy band (even simply juggling coke bottles) is not viewed with anything but admiration. Bearing in mind the 320M Youth sector in China (16-30) has around $135B in spending power – both Coca-Cola and Fahrenheit have lots to gain from creating high distribution, well- rounded, family appealing commercial partnerships such as these.

Musical manipulation

Wrangler’s new digital promotion for its Blue Bell Spring/Summer 2010 range is kind of a drag. The jeans brand’s ‘manipulate a man’ digital campaign enables users to drag a male model around the screen and tear off parts of his clothing – making it the polar opposite of Burger King’s recent Showercam campaign.The ad also showcases the ambient music of Markus Hasselblom and the soundtrack featured on the site is available for free download. As are various photos of the model in a state of undress – If you like that kind of thing. The filming of the campaign sounds equally painful for the model (Tony Ward). “We tied him up with wires and dragged him around on the floor,” said Jimmy Herdberg the campaign’s creative director.  Apparently it took a month to remove all the wires from the shoot.

What’s particularly interesting about his campaign is how the music works in sync with the visuals. “We love to work with the music a lot. We had to do a couple of songs before we found the one that worked. The music had to have a strong rhythm to match the movements and inspire the user,” said Herdberg. However, a possible additional element here would have been the ability to control the music as well as the model. A simple system whereby the user could manipulate the soundtrack – say via the construction of various musical stems into their own personalised creation – could have given the site a whole other dynamic. Perhaps then these musical creations, accompanied by remixes of the stripping/dragging visuals, could have been made available for sharing online. It’s a visually well-crafted campaign, but maybe it could have let its users get even more ‘hands on’ with the content.

A sounding branding exercise

UK singer Alesha Dixon has inked a four-year profit-sharing deal with the LA Fitness gym chain. The partnership is part of a massive £30M marketing drive in 2010 by the gym’s owners The Kirk Sandall company. The revenue share deal – based on the company’s success over the four year period – will see the singer acting as the face of the company. In addition she will work alongside the LA Fitness board devising new dance and exercise routines and advising on health and fitness issues. Each month the singer will offer personal advice and health tips via a column on the company’s website.“I chose to work with LA fitness because they have a great product that’s accessible to everyone. I’m really looking forward to helping them develop the business” said Dixon.

The gym chain is rolling out a £1M integrated campaign as part of its partnership with the singer/presenter. The six-week campaign will include outdoor, digital, press ads and direct marketing. In addition Capital Radio is offering listeners the chance to take part in a workout with Alesha at an LA Fitness club in London. LA Fitness hopes the strategic partnership will increase membership sign ups threefold in January 2010 compared to January 2009.

So what?: The once buoyant gym marketplace – which saw gains of 23% between 2004 and 2008 – has been hit hard in the economic slump. With membership numbers dwindling the various fitness chains are pursuing ever more aggressive marketing tactics in order to secure new converts. Alesha Dixon herself has been racking up a number of brand alignments post her appearance (and subsequent return as a judge) on UK dance talent show ‘Strictly Come Dancing’. Ad and campaign deals with Ford, Veet, Nectar, Robinsons, and the clothing label Dune have followed, to name but a few. What is interesting about this particular deal is that is more than just a straightforward endorsement partnership. This time it’s performance related, as opposed to walking away with a cheque after a photo shoot. Dixon’s remuneration is going to be based on the success of the chain over the course of the deal, with estimates suggesting her top end earnings could ultimately be three times bigger than the lowest she could net. What this means from the brand’s perspective is that Alesha – much like the attendees at the gym – is going to have to work this deal as hard as she can in order to get the best results.

“Celebrity endorsements are becoming ever more complex. This kind of revenue share deal is enticing to both parties as not only does it prompt greater commitment from the celeb (Alesha Dixon) but also a deeper level of brand affiliation for LA Fitness”
Alistair Thompson, Events & Partnership Manager, MTV

www.lafitness.co.uk/alesha

Gillette fixes up, looks sharp

Will.i.am, Tim McGraw, Mark Hoppus of Blink-182 and the All-American Rejects are all set to appear in a forthcoming Gillette campaign. The Gillette Uncut series will feature a series of digital documentary shorts – created by renowned music filmmaker/photographer Danny Clinch – showcasing the artists backstage and some of their pre-show rituals.

“Gillette Uncut shows a side of artists that’s rarely, if ever, seen – going backstage to show how they prepare, including styling and grooming, and the moments of doubt they experience before taking the stage,” said Steve Fund, Gillette global marketing director.

In addition to the documentary Gillette will host ‘Shave Like a Rock Star’ a selection of tongue-in-check shaving tutorials featuring each artist. Both elements will run consecutively on a dedicated website.  The campaign will have online media partnerships with SPIN, Pandora, Last.FM and YouTube in addition to print and TV ads.

So what?: A global survey by Music Matters and Synovate recently stated that one in five people would do “absolutely anything” to meet their music idols. This campaign, with its headline ‘a lot goes down before the lights go up’ goes some way to making that a reality, giving fans an intimate glimpse at the acts they love. The alcohol brand Absolut also embarked on a similar documentary following Australian band Wolfmother in 2009 as part of its ‘You’re With The Band’ campaign. Gillette has historically gone for clean-cut sportsmen, and the shift to music – albeit only in the US – should position them better with a younger audience.

“These backstage ‘rockumentaries’ add a striking new dimension to an increasingly familiar brand story. I love the elasticity of the overall campaign approach too, one minute playing the credible, stylized ‘gateway’ to artist proximity, the next riffing around tongue-in-cheek tutorials inviting you to “Shave Like A Rockstar”
Jack Fryer, Strategist, FRUKT

www.gillette.com/shavelikearockstar

It’s an expensive cover up

Katy Perry has signed a $4M deal to be the face of Proactiv acne cream. She joins Avril Lavigne who has also signed a lucrative contract to become the newest spokesmodel for the Proactiv Solution brand worldwide.The two singers will appear in commercials aired in 58 countries. The brand is gearing up for a major marketing campaign as it looks to compete directly with Johnson’s Clean and Clear range in the youth sector.

“We are paying people consistent with what we have done in the past – millions of dollars”, said Ben Van de Bunt, a spokesman for the brand, in defense of the endorsement figure.

Previous ad campaigns have featured numerous musicians including Alicia Keys, Jessica Simpson, P Diddy and Mandy Moore. TV commercials and print ads featuring the two new female ambassadors will be released at the end of the month.

So What?: Katy Perry is an on-brand girl. Literally. Avril Lavigne has also racked up a number of brand alignments over the years (Canon and Kohl’s, etc). Overall endorsements can be an expensive business for a brand, but beauty products usually have much to gain from these payouts if handled correctly.  Aligning with artists works for the Proactiv brand as it generally positions them with context, often in their own mini infomercials. As Kelly Clarkson said: “my skin is my job and I obviously don’t want to look like a pizza”.  It’s this grounding in the everyday that sets them apart from the ‘hold it and smile’ endorsements usually prevalent in the beauty sector.

“Neither artist has released a great deal of new music lately, so this keeps their visibility high around the world between albums and tours. The PSA-style adverts also aim to make the singers feel closer to the teens buying Proactiv by implying they are just “girls-next-door-who-struggle-with-their-skin” as well as performers.”
Ruth Mortimer, Associate Editor, Marketing Week

www.proactiv.co.uk

Shower streaming music

Prior to Christmas Burger King launched a digital campaign featuring a bikini-clad woman singing in the shower. The extremely male-orientated ‘Shower cam’ campaign invited users to vote for which song should be performed – and which type of bikini should be worn – the following day at 9:30am. In addition visitors to the website could also win a date with Burger King’s so called “sizzling shower babe” at the London Leicester Square Burger King restaurant. The campaign, part of a major push to promote the restaurant’s breakfast menu, was promoted via the Spotify streaming music service. An online video also highlighted the audition process to find the right singer.

So what?: BK obviously knows who its early risers are. This is a very different campaign from the McDonald’s push for its breakfast menu mentioned earlier, aimed squarely at a specific male target demographic – one that Burger King states are the primary visitors to their restaurants in the early hours. So in many ways this overtly sexual campaign makes sense. However, the brand’s ‘Squarebutts’ commercial from 2009 – which featured the Sir Mix-A-Lot song ‘Baby Got Back’ – faced some negativity due to its link to the restaurants’ kid’s meals.  There is also a question mark here surrounding the knock on effect on the female customers who frequent the establishments during other times of the day.

“This is a simple crowd-sourced campaign with a strong link to a new music platform and an obvious nod to BK’s 2004 subservient chicken campaign. However, offering up both male and female model options may have endeared it to BK’s wider audience.”
Giles Fitzgerald, Editor, FRUKT Music Intelligence

www.burgerking.co.uk/showercam

The empire sneaks back

There is an interesting meld of genres in this recent adidas commercial, which promotes a new line of Star Wars branded footwear in the style of its ‘House Party’ campaign commercial from 2008.  The ad features David Beckham and Darth Vader alongside musicians such as Snoop Dogg and Daft Punk. It also utilises a new remix of the Imperial March – Darth Vader’s entrance tune.  The accompanying footwear will feature an Augmented Reality code on the shoe tongue which will unlock both a Star Wars game and a music game when placed in front of a web cam.

www.youtube.com

www.adidas.com

Dumbing down at Diesel

Stupid is as stupid does. Apparently. Clothing brand Diesel is looking to recruit people with a creative cause to appear in an online music video, due to be shot in February. The music video is part of its newly launched  ‘Be Stupid’ campaign which will encompasses press, outdoor, digital and viral activity. Performers within the video will be clickable, taking visitors through to the Diesel online store for purchase of items worn in the production. So, actually quite clever then after all.

www.diesel.com

Developing a brand partnership

Lady Gaga is shaking it like a Polaroid picture in 2010. The quirky singer has inked a multi-year strategic partnership with PLR IP Holdings, LLC, owners of the Polaroid brand. Under the deal the singer will take up the role of creative director for a specialty line of Polaroid Imaging products. (As Gwen Stefani did for HP and Avril Lavigne did with Canon). “Lady Gaga’s broad creative talents and the way she connects with her fans in her own, unique manner made her a natural choice for Polaroid,” said Stephen Miller, co-CEO of PLR IP Holdings.

www.virtualpressoffice.com