Beyond Urban Branding

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!!

I received an email from a reader of Beyond Urban Branding named Max from San Francisco. He sent me a link to the old school 2007 Sprite Voltron series. I had forgotten about these manga styled commercials that used The Goodie Mob, Mack 10, Common, Fat Joe and the Godfather of Hip-Hop Afrika Bambaataa. But once I looked at them again, it is almost the perfect Hip-Hop campaign. Why? There are many reasons. You could almost do a complete case study just on this ad as a platform for authenticity. I might have to do one just to show illustrate how thorough Sprite was with this one. But I will try to give you the "cliff notes" so to speak. The rappers chosen all represented different regions and lyrical style within the Hip-Hop community. Some of them have exclusive fan bases. Goodie Mob represents fun, but politically minded rap from the South. Mack 10 represents the west coast underground scene. Fat Joe represents hardcore rap from Bronx, NY. Afrika Bambaataa represents the foun...