Tech Week: The Wisdom of Serena Williams & HP

Beyond Urban Branding opens Tech Week with a true banger of an ad. We'll look at tech ads from time to time on our blog. But this week its gonna be all tech brands, all the time. We will begin with HP's ad featuring Serena Williams.

When we did the first soft launch, we reviewed the precision HP crafted their ad with Jay-Z. It's easily one of my favorite tech ads. I actually feel like HP and a lot of other well done ads don't get their proper recognition because Apple gets so much props for their ads.

OK, so this ad is actually better than the Jay-Z ad for one reason in particular. Strategic co-branding. In one commercial Serena craftily pitches, her video game (never played it but apparently shes got something going on with EA Sports) her designs with Nike and most importantly- her clothing line Aneres.

Now, I don't know why or how Andre 3000 and Uno were able to get shout outs in the ad. Was she just giving them props or did somebody have to pay to get them in...? I don't know. I don't even care. The bottom line is that I can't remember an ad for a product that was consistently pitching other brands inside the ad!!!

Another thing, is during the video game section, she plays up the big to do about her often mentioned backside. She shows her digital character. Then the digital characters butt grows a little bit and Serena says joking like "Thats more like it". I think it was a super courageous move on both the parts of HP and Serena to do that. Mainly because they found a way to accent her physical attributes without objectifying herself.

I don't know if it was her idea to cram all that co-branding in, or if shes got a killer agent or manager. I mean, even Jay-Z, did not come with this crispy. And his ad was CRISPY. But, just like her tennis game, this ad was well played. Well played, Serena. Bravo!

-Beyond Urban Branding

P.S. I pretty much have all my tech ads figured out for the week. But if theres a tech ad you really dig, or HATE, email me at beyondurban@gmail.com and I'll post here and talk about it. Naturally you get your proper shout out and I'll post your twitter handle if you like.

New Reese's Puffs Commercial

Resse's has been sticking with the urban feel for their commercials for a few years now. It must be working. The interesting thing is that they do small things to attract parents and kids to the brand. Its very subtle, but effective. They are sure to use kids of various races, so nobody feels left out. They always use an uptempo rap that chants the letters of the brand in creative ways. These guys pay attention. This one has a bit of a reto feel. All the haircuts are from the 80's. I suspect thats done to attract parents while the music and the editing and the cuts are meant for kids. Well played, Mr. Reese....well played.

Gap ad wins with Hip-Hop dance

Here is an ad for Gap khakis. Its a few years old I think. I like it because there is such a diverse range of races getting their groove on. Makes you wanna go get some, eh? But seriously, Hip-Hop dance, DJ's and graffiti art are still underused in advertising. I feel like everybody thinks Hip-Hop is just rap. For those that don't know Hip-Hop is composed of a few elements: Rap or MC'ing, DJ'ing, Graffiti, B-boy'ing and other forms of Hip-Hop dance. The second ad is a cool holiday ad featuring Common. Gap knows how to use rappers right in advertising campaigns. Both Gap ads shows that someone inside Gap knows that. Great look!!

Ciroc Vodka has 4 product placements in Drakes Forever video

Drakes Forever video is still raw. I was just watching it for fun, since I don't have the MP3. Then I saw the Ciroc bottles. I think I counted four times. On youtube alone it got seventeen million hits! We have not event talked about MTV and BET rotation. Its so sublime I can't tell if I'm impressed by it, or appalled by it. Sneaky.... -Beyond Urban Branding beyondurban@gmail.com

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