Beyond Urban Branding

From a keynote I gave a San Jose City Hall on Business and chess to more than 300 teenagers.

I guess it's all just taken for granted that its all "American dance" but...I guess that was before it was "Black" and that was before anybody even acknowledged Hip-Hop was an art. People forget that in the beginning Hip-Hop was considered not art and just a random hiccup from the ghetto that the world wished would go away...TOO BAD!! I love to see Hip-Hop dance in ads.

I love the phone wars. Apple, Samsung and Google just go after one another. With all the cool movies like Iron Man and stuff coming out, the above ad peaks interest. Can the Android take a bite outta the Apple? Only time will tell... -Beyond Urban Branding beyondurban@gmail.com

I'm still not sure I want one. But the iPad commercial makes me rethink it. This commercial is has a fast pace, but keeps you in the groove the entire time. Plus, they don't have to say a word, you just watch it- and want it! -Beyond Urban Branding beyondurban@gmail.com

This Kindle ad is boring. Let me get this straight, you're going against Apple- right? The super-fun-everybody-loves to have one, APPLE?! And this was your best idea. Commercials like this do not inspire people who hate books, to read. They don't make Kindle look like a digital nerdfest. For this garbage ad alone, I'm thinking iPad is gonna kill you. I bet the ads folks are at Steve Jobs house right now laughing so hard. -Beyond Urban Branding beyondurban@gmail.com

I love this ad for so many reasons. It makes iPhones and Nikes look cool, cutting edge and empowering. Plus my kids loved it. If my kids don't get an ads message, if they don't get it, that tells me a lot. Because if a brands message is simple, if it makes sense and if it can connect- its a winner. If it connects with the kids, that says a lot. Real talk. -Beyond Urban Branding beyondurban@gmail.com

I actually remember seeing this ad when it first dropped. Yeah, I'm kinda old. I never get tired of watching it though. When you think about how forward thinking Apple ad executives were on the idea of their positioning and messaging, its amazing. By polarizing themselves against the PC makers, framing them as old and a huge digital bureaucracy, they hit all PC companies hard in the gut. It was tactical genius. PC makers have never been able to unfetter themselves from the frame Apple put them in. Not only were they clear on the positioning then, they don't appear to have ever left it. I can't imagine how expensive this ad was at the time. But it was priceless in its timeless effect. So timeless, someone made this remake of the ad and put it online in support of Barack Obama's campaign. It shook Clinton's campaign to the core. Like PC's, Clinton was never able to shake the frame this ad put her in. The tech game is amazing isn't it? Obama's Apple ad made...

I was watching CNN and TJ Holmes just said Apple can't keep up with the orders. Kindles got real competition. I have no idea what the HP Slate will be able to do, but, I hope its at least as cool as this! This iPad commercial (kinda long) is pretty exciting though. I just feel like the game is about to change on all levels when things like this start to evolve. No matter who wins or loses the brand battle, the people are going to win cool new stuff to engage their minds and greatly enhance their entertainment experience with. I'm looking forward to all of it. -Beyond Urban Branding beyondurban@gmail.com

The SF Chronicle had a great story by Ryan Kim about the escalating battle with HP and Apple. Everybody has a lot at stake. I love it. P.S. Much thanks to Scott Budman from NBC 11 for covering Beyond Urban Branding's perspective on the latest tech battle between HP and Apple. -Beyond Urban Branding beyondurban@gmail.com

QBert De La Soul Tony Hawk HP's new campaign with Dr. Dre is no joke. Its major. Its corporate WAR at its best and I love it! Since I dropped the Dre-n-HP vs. Apple story lots of folks have emailed me, called me and smoke signaled me their thoughts. The essence of it- Apple ain't going out soft. They have arguably the most loyal followers of any tech brand ever. The other basic reality- PC's are for work, and Apples are for fun. But there is something else going on at HP. For lack of a better word for it, lets call it the "Jordan Strategy." Dr. Dre's Detox is possibly the most anticipated rap album in the history of the genre. I think HP is going after the NEW generation of beatmakers. They don't want Apple defectors. They want kids coming up now who see Dr. Dre as Jordan of rap. "Be like Dre" is the short version. Nike never said other peoples shoes weren't cool, comfortable or fun to wear. "But Jordan wears Nikes" was the bottom...

So I go to youtube and HP has a new Dr. Dre ad. It's blowing my mind because, I have written several pieces on HP ads. You can scroll down and see my pieces on Serena and Jay-Z. HP tends to do solid ads with cutting edge artists and athletes. But Dr. Drizzzle? Man, this is off the meat rack. Long story short, Dre is in the studio with rapper Stat Quo (Southern rappers represent!). He basically talks about how HP makes his music sound like its supposed to. Hewlett-Packard really came tight. Its a clean, quick, focused ad and Dr. Dre did not have to go out of his element to make the ad work. There is no artist Apple can get to counter this. Check and mate my good man. Put the board and the pieces away. Dre is in the building. This was unsuspected and well played. Now, on the real, its amazing to see Dr. Dre pushing hard for PC's on the music side of the game? Who would have thought Dre uses HP to make those block rockin' beats? Can Dr. Dre convince young aspiring beat maker...

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 i...