Bling! Bling! Ka-Ching! Pop Stars Cash In

Date: 24 May 2003 13:02:17 GMT
Newsgroups: alt.gossip.celebrities
Size: 7,014 bytes

By Liz Skinner
NEW YORK (Billboard) - Lil' Kim likes Bacardi, Bulgari, and Bentley.
She also likes to drop brand names in her songs. Lots of them.
Her latest single, "The Jump Off," scores the greatest number of brand mentions
per song this year, with 14 different references, according to a company that
tracks such information.
Lil' Kim's label, Queen Bee/Atlantic, did not return calls to discuss the
matter. But she is just one of a number of artists who are weaving into their
songs everything from Cristal champagne and Adidas sneakers to luxury cars --
and sometimes even their own products.
Steven Spielberg's 1982 film E.T. was the first to prominently include a paid
product placement. Reese's Pieces was featured as the alien's candy of choice.
National sales of the sweet reportedly rose 66% after the movie debuted, and
the so-called product-placement industry was born. Now the trend is creeping
into the music industry.
These days, hundreds of firms help companies get their cars, beverages,
sunglasses, pain relievers, and other products into movies and music videos,
where they can be seen by audiences.
And some of those firms are considering whether song lyrics would be a useful
tool to help clients build an image or attract a certain audience.
"It seems like a great opportunity for both sides to work out something," says
Eric Dahlquist, president of the Entertainment Resources and Marketing Assn., a
product-placement association.
Sometimes brand names are dropped as part of the "bling, bling" thing and may
win an act some free products. But in other cases, bands are agreeing to create
songs that mention particular items in return for valuable services.
After three years of declining U.S. sales of recorded music, producers, agents,
and artists are starting to look for additional ways to capitalize on the value
of name-dropping products.
"These things are being done all the time," says Jeff Greenfield, whose 1st
Approach marketing firm specializes in product placement.
In a deal signed this month, trading card company the Upper Deck agreed to
sponsor European and U.S. tours for an Orlando, Fla., pop group in exchange for
a song about a new game it is introducing later this year, says Greenfield, who
helped negotiate the terms.
Radio play of the band's song is part of the multimillion-dollar marketing
strategy Upper Deck plans for the product, which is targeted at 7- to
14-year-olds. The game will be unveiled in Europe this fall and in the U.S. in
early 2004.
Carlsbad, Calif.-based Upper Deck does not want the act, which is in the
process of being signed to a major label, identified yet.
"It's a symbiotic relationship," says Greenfield. He notes that the band will
have Upper Deck's public-relations machine behind it.
Indeed, companies looking to attract hip-hop fans are increasingly interested
in getting their brands into songs, says Lucien James of LucJam, a San
Francisco-based research, marketing, and brand strategy company. That company
found that in "The Jump Off," Lil' Kim mentions Bacardi, Barbie, Bulgari,
Ferrari, Bentleys, Hummers, (Mercedes) Benz, Cadillac Escalade, Jaguar,
Timberland, Sprite, Playboy, Range Rover, and Brooklyn Mint.
After James identified Mercedes and Lexus as two of the most-mentioned brands
in Billboard top 20 songs this year, several automakers asked him how they are
perceived by hip-hoppers and how groups decide what brands to include.
James tells them there are generally three reasons an artist mentions a
particular brand.
He says it could be a genuine affinity for the product, or name-dropping in the
hope of free goods or a check, or, increasingly, the result of a strategic
deal.
Other brands that topped James' list this year, found at
http://www.americanbrandstand.com, are Louis Roederer's Cristal champagne,
Timberland (referred to as "Timbs" in some songs), Nike, Burberry, Bacardi,
Puma, Lincoln Navigator, and Gucci.
Most marketers say the industry is hesitant to discuss product-placement deals
because of the perceived authenticity of hip-hop and the importance of lyrics
in the culture. They also say that's foolish.
"There's no reason that film studios should happily talk about product
placement, while record companies are nervous admitting they would even be
interested in similar business strategies," James says.
The idea is certainly striking a chord with mainstream marketers.
McCann Erickson WorldGroup, a $30 billion-per-year advertising firm with a
100-year history, announced May 1 that it created a business unit called TAG to
better reach the 18-24 young adult market.
The firm is working with Sean "P. Diddy" Combs' Blue Flame Marketing +
Advertising, a division of Bad Boy Entertainment, to better understand and
connect with the urban market, says Susan Erwin, spokeswoman for McCann
Erickson in New York.
"The young adult audience doesn't listen to marketing the same way as other
groups," she says.
TAG will examine how audiences respond to brands mentioned in songs. Erwin says
it is possible the firm would seek to have their clients' products mentioned if
this approach is shown effective at reaching the youth market.
Run-D.M.C. was an early act to benefit from writing about a certain brand. The
rap trio wrote the song "My Adidas" as a dedication to their favorite sneaker.
Soon after its release, Russell Simmons, the president of Run-D.M.C.'s label,
Def Jam Records, brought some executives of the German shoemaker to a show.
After 3,000 fans held up their shoes during the live performance of "My
Adidas," the company created a shoe named after the band and hired the act for
promotions.
Run-D.M.C., which lost DJ Jam Master Jay in a shooting last October, was never
paid for wearing Adidas, says Heidi Graf, an Adidas spokeswoman. The group was
paid for performances at Adidas events and other sports-store marketing events.
Sales of some products mentioned in rap and hip-hop songs have increased as the
titles moved up the charts.
Busta Rhymes' hit collaboration with P. Diddy and Pharrell, "Pass the
Courvoisier Part II," spent 20 weeks on The Billboard Hot 100 last year. The
same year, worldwide sales of Courvoisier rose 20%, according to The Beverage
Network, a beverage industry journal.
Tanqueray sales also reportedly rose after "Gin and Juice" by Snoop Doggy Dogg
(now known as Snoop Dogg) gained popularity, filling the radio waves with the
lyric "My homey Dr. Dre came through with a gang of Tanqueray."
And some rappers have taken a more direct route to benefiting from product
placement by singing about their own merchandise.
Snoop Dogg, for example, references his own clothing line in his song
"Beautiful," while Jay-Z's songs mention his own Rocawear clothes and Armadale,
a Vodka company he owns.
SEND EMAIL TO email-address-deleted
AGC FAQ and FUN STUFF
http://www.dreamwater.net/agc/mainpages/agcfaq.html
BLIND ITEM REHASH:
http://www.dreamwater.net/agc/blinditems/mainpage.html