Can Mainstreaming Cause Erosion?
As the Holiday season kicks in to full gear a whole new variety of commercial ad campaigns are released by companies. It is also a great time to launch a campaign to reposition the brand like the Gap team had explored in their branding project. Campaigns could also be used to reach or connect with a different target market such as Jay-Z in the new Budweiser commericals. These partnerships create immense opportunities for the brands, but what is the reverse effect on the brands that Common and Jay-Z have built. When has a rapper crossed the line from promoting something they truly support to "selling out".
Common is seen as a a more niche rapper and is one of the few who has achieved his success without entering mainstream rap culture. Many would say this culture glorifies money, and women, but he instead stuck to the root of hip hop and other more serious issues. Common's credibility lies in his image as a non- mainstream rapper, but the very commerical Gap campaign could easily erode his main brand meaning.
Unlike Common, Jay-Z is a more mainstream rap artist and has created an empire in the entertainment industry. "As if overseeing Rocawear, running a record label, part-owning the New Jersey Nets, and coming out of retirement to rap wasn't enough, Jay-Z is also now Co-brand Director for Anheuser-Busch's Budweiser Select". The transition for Jay-Z may seem a bit more natural and in fact a good business decision seeing that the commercials were released the same time he released his new cd. Will the budweiser decision erode Jay-Z's Brand meaning as well?
-Yvette Hakim
posted by Brand007 @ 6:10 PM
2 Comments:
I definitely agree with you here. I think the Common example is definitely worse than the Jay-z one, just because Jay-z extends across so many markets that he can pretty much do anything he wants, even if it is appearing in a budweiser ad with Danica Patrick and Dale Earnheardt Jr. Common is a different story altogether. You were right about the growth of his career and staying on the more concsious side of issues where other rappers are talking about hoes and bling. When I first saw the ad I could hardly believe it. I just thought the message, the song, everything was so terrible. Common definitely lost a lot of the credibiltiy he once had, on the streets and in the minds of fans who enjoyed his conscious brand of rap.
-Adam Herzog
The mainstream ads will simply erode his credibility in the streets, his original core listeners; however, he will gain ground with listeners of other genres and walks of life by branching out through his mainstream messages. The current state of hip hop consists of the same content and sound, so I wouldn't blame him for going out and trying to do things a little differently.
For instance, the "Show Me What You Got" video, which features Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Danica Patrick (NASCAR racers), is going to prompt people to label him as sell-out and as an innovator. His songs with Nas, Linkin Park, Chris Martin, and Lenny Kravitz just shows that he is trying to create a unique sound and hopefully fans of Nas, LP, Coldplay, and Lenny Kravitz will check for his earlier/future music. Credibility in the streets is secondary to successful rappers, since the streets are oversaturated with the same subject matter and are chalk full of illogical haters who are quick to boycott anyone who makes "it", even if they had to live through the "struggle".
-Hasan Syed
Post a Comment
<< Home