ABSOLUT Vodka has teamed up with rapper and record producer Cee Lo, to launch a two-part film about the rapper and his life. A teaser was released earlier this month, and this week, on the 27th of June, the spirits brand released the first part of the film, ’Cee Lo Distilled’ Part 1.
The ’Cee Lo Distilled’ two-part film is taking viewers into the world of the celebrated rapper as he talks about his family and childhood, shares on what ‘being truly exceptional’ in today’s world of music means to him and what inspires and influences his work.
ABSOLUT already teamed up with Jay-Z in March 2010, to release a 14-minute documentary, ‘NY-Z’ - An ABSOLUT Collaboration with Jay-Z, about his life and work. The Cee Lo film looks like just another music documentary at first glance, but it’s much more than that. Cee Lo has a unique charisma and musical talent, so the film is well worth seeing.
The second and the final part of the documentary will go online on July 6.
You can watch the film ‘NY-Z’ - An ABSOLUT Collaboration with Jay-Z here.
Microsoft wanted its agency, Droga5, to help leverage the usage of the Bing search engine. To expand the search reach, Bing needed to become more culturally relevant and appeal to a younger audience. The launch of Jay-Z’s autobiography ‘Decoded’ was used to do this. The book’s 350 pages were individually placed in a plethora of different locations, over 13 cities all around the world. The chosen location for each page was contextually relevant to the page itself, meaning that you could literally walk through the life of Jay-Z. But the location of each page could only be found by using Bing search and maps.
For the ‘Decode Jay-Z with Bing’ campaign agency Droga5 won both the Outdoor and Titanium and Integrated Grand Prix at Cannes Lions 2011.
“We loved its bravery, its boldness, its innovation,” commented Cannes Lions’ Titanium and Integrated Jury President Bob Scarpelli, chairman of DDB Worldwide. “It’s immersive. It’s interactive. It’s creating conversations with customers. It gave millions a reason to use Bing. They put every page of Jay-Z’s new autobiography out in the world every day for a month in 13 major cities in the world. Fans could walk through J-Z’s life.”
The unique partnership brought Bing to the forefront of pop-culture and gave millions of Jay-Z fans a reason to use Bing Search and Maps.
The results, except from winning the Grand Prix for Outdoor as well as Titanium and Integrated at Cannes Lions 2011:
The average online player engagement was over 11 minutes per visit.
Jay-Z’s Facebook fans grew by one million during the campaign launch.
Decoded went straight to the New York Times Best Seller list at #2 its first week.
Bing.com saw an 11.7% increase in visits the month of the campaign (Bing’s only form of marketing during this period).
Bing.com entered the top ten most visited sites in the US.
Bing earned 1.1 billion global media impressions.
Bing’s ‘intent to use’ scores were higher than any other Bing marketing initiative ever according to ComScore. Online Buzz and Social metrics were above average for any Bing marketing program according to Nielsen BuzzMetrics.
This project is truly an excellent example of how music branding can work when done correctly.
Read more about the case and other Cannes Lions winners here.
This year was the 18th Sonar Music Festival in Barcelona, celebrating electronic music. For the first time ever, the festival took place in two Spanish cities - Barcelona and A Coruña. As Sonar Night was packed with artists and DJs such as Janelle Monáe, Chris Cunningham and Mary Anne Hobbs, Sonar Day presented acts such as Little Dragon, Electric Wire Hustle and Gilles Peterson, together with conferences and showcases.
With regards to the brand participation, there was no doubt who Sonar’s main partner is. The Spanish beer brand Estrella Damm was represented practically everywhere (or everywhere that was practical) during the festival.
Red Bull and its Red Bull Music Academy was also represented at the SonarDôme, in the form of DJs and concerts.
Just as in previous years, Sonar Day hosted the Digital Music 2.0 Conferences. And for the third year running, SonarPro presented the DM 2.0 Seminars, under the title ‘Digital Music 2.0/11. Professionalization of digitization’, a series of panels in collaboration with the Business Development Service of the Catalan Institute of the Cultural Industries (ICIC).
In the Digital Music 2.0 Conferences, a specific panel about Brands and music was held, Brands&Music, with the participation of Pioneer DJ, Adidas and Pernod Ricard, covering questions such as ‘How do brands rely on artists to reach the general audience? What the new commercial opportunities for artists are, considering that they now have direct contact with advertisers? What does a brand need to invest in music? What considerations does music receive other than money?’ and more. You can check out some videos from Digital Music 2.0 here.
However, Sonar Day is not only a good place to connect professionally but it is also a very pleasant place to be (some people even say Sonar Day is even better than Sonar Night). Located in the center of Barcelona with an open blue sky, drinks, food and good electronic music, it is hard to complain when you’re sitting on the artificial grass in front of the stage.
If you would like to get some of the electronic pulse of Sonar, the festival has its own radio station that you can listen to no matter what time of year, here.
By: Neus Mélich, member of Heartbeats Movement and among other things coordinator at Business Development Service (SDE) of Ministry of Culture of Catalonia developing a strategic, wide and very active creative industries policy in Catalonia, supporting actors from the audiovisual, theater, music, publishing and visual arts industries.
In March 2010, ABSOLUT Vodka teamed up with Jay-Z to release a 14-minute documentary about the musician’s life and work, and now it’s announcing another two-part film starring rapper and record producer Cee Lo Green.
The first chapter of their work titled ‘Cee Lo Distilled’ will appear on the brand’s Facebook page on June 27. As for now, ABSOLUT launched a 1’45’’ teaser, which previews the upcoming film produced by the brand in cooperation with The Fader. The new creation is taking viewers into the world of the celebrated rapper as he tells about his family and childhood, shares on what ‘being truly exceptional’ in today’s world of music means to him and what inspires and influences his work. In general, the movie seems to be just a new piece revolving around another performer—but since this musician has a unique charisma and talent, the film is really worth seeing. The second and the final chapter of the documentary will go online on July 6.
The book Sounds Like Branding is an ‘ear-opening’ journey through the history of music and marketing, from the humble jingle and the advent of Muzak to Michael Jackson’s groundbreaking association with Pepsi in the 1980s and the music branding embraced today by global brands such as Nike, Starbucks, Levi’s and Coca-Cola.
Interested in a sneak preview of the book? Download a free excerpt of Sounds Like Branding for a tweet and read about why you should market your brand through music, the music stairway, strategies for working with music and more!
Get a free excerpt
Sounds Like Branding is published by Bloomsbury Publishing Plc (A&C Black Publishers Ltd) in the UK on the 18th of July and can be pre-ordered below. Order Sounds Like Branding at Amazon.co.uk
For more info about the book, check out The Book page.
Everyone loves music, but not everyone loves advertising. Faced with increasingly impatient and fickle customers, some of the world’s most famous brands have been turning to music and artists to engage the public in a way they could never do alone. Why? Because music speaks to our emotions, brings people together and starts conversations. If used correctly, it can turn a one-off purchaser into a loyal fan.
“Jakob Lusensky has done a great service to all marketers by writing Sounds Like Branding. Every company should have a music strategy. Some do; most don’t. This book shows you how. It’s a five step programme – a very short stairway to heaven.” - Kevin Roberts, CEO Worldwide, Saatchi & Saatchi
Bloomsbury Publishing Plc (A&C Black Publishers Ltd) will publish the English version of Sounds Like Branding in the UK on the 18th of July.
Songkick has released Songkick Concerts, and application that gives you ‘100,000 Concerts In Your Pocket’. The Songkick iPhone and iPod Touch app allows you to track your favorite bands so you don’t get to miss them live. It scans your music library and creates a personalized calendar based on your bands and your location.
We’re living in a time of digital revolution. Today anyone can become a writer, musician, photographer or filmmaker. But what happens to the quality of culture when everyone becomes a ‘creator’?
Nowadays, culture has more or less become democratic, with many opportunities for those who want to explore, create and share. At the same time, it has never been easier for creators, musicians and consumers of culture, to get lost in ‘the ocean of garbage’.
“When humans make stuff we tend to make interesting things” Moby says. But, does this apply to all humans who get hold of a camera or a computer and a broadband connection? Hasn’t new technology dissolved the mystery of creation?
Yes, there are many opportunities with all new technology. Yet at the same time it has made it harder to find good quality, which might leave us satisfied with culture holding a level of mediocrity…
The documentary PressPausePlay is a film about hope, fear and digital culture, containing interviews with some of the world’s most influential creators of the digital era.
If you have a Swedish IP address you can watch the whole documentary here (available until the 2nd of July). If you’re not having a Swedish IP address you can get a glimpse of the documentary below.
The book Sounds Like Branding is an ‘ear-opening’ journey through the history of music and marketing, from the humble jingle and the advent of Muzak to Michael Jackson’s groundbreaking association with Pepsi in the 1980s and the music branding embraced today by global brands such as Nike, Starbucks, Levi’s and Coca-Cola.