Beyond Urban Branding

Pharell Williams created a storm of controversy. I mean a few hours into the Grammy's it had its own Twitter account. While, I thought some of the ribbing was cute on the surface, what almost the entire planet missed was that his hat, was originally sported by Malcolm McLaren. Malcolm McLaren was an innovator of fashion, hip-hop and punk rock. EXHIBIT A: VIDEO WHERE MALCOLM ROCKS THE SAME HAT: BUFFALO GALS  Malcolm McLaren really touched my life. His album with the World Famous Supreme Team changed my life. Almost as much as Public Enemy's It Takes A Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back. It was more than Hip-Hop, it was defiantly African and, Latin and even a little rock and country. When I was invited to be part of the book The Boombox Project , part of my hope was that I could share Malcolm McLarens impact on my life directly to him. Sadly he passed before the book was released. Much respect to Pharell.

This is easily my favorite Jay Z song. It is so powerful. As big as he ism I feel many of his more recent fans do not understand the depth of his lyricism and ability. Budweiser made a great choice in choosing him. Nobody in rap is as big ass Jay Z right now. Everything connected to him is winning. There is no better artist to be associate with. This ad is done crisp and clean. Nothing super flashy, just the feeling of almost being there...Feeling like you are a part of it...Solid....Somebody asked me if I think anybody will buy what he drinks cause of this ad. The answer, is YES! Here is the original version:

I know a lot about this trend. I was a teenager when it was unfolding. This was an amazing time. The cross-cultural dynamic of football and Hip-Hop has never been the same.

If you won't do that, you should pay him to rep your brand....this is dope....

This Walmart phone ad is great. Kinda flips the script on who is rich these days...Gotta love the little green Android guy to. He's cute. 

OK now, if you are a lover of the art of Hip-Hop , ads like this can make you angry. A lot of Hip-Hop purists get upset when they feel the culture is being mocked (see Heineken ad). However, I think its important to remember that this is an ad for kids! Kids is the key word here. Hip-Hop is youth culture. It could be argued that cereal is youth culture. I think this ad is fun and innovative and I know my kids love this cereal and they do indeed dig the rap. They think its fun...They don't get it confused with a real rap song. Its just a cool jingle that reminds kids to get Reeses Puffs Cereal. I think I might buy a bowl now, my mouth is watering. -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...

Sometimes, the way a brand can win with a rapper is to just let them do their thing.That is the case with Eminem on the Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 ad. I remember as the holidays approached this ad got my blood boiling. Its a very exciting ad. All they had to do was let Em rip and do what he does best- rap. The way they edited this, it felt more like a movie trailer than an ad. I know thats the desired effect. They nailed it. Just let the artist do them, and slide your name on it. The rest will take care of itself. -Beyond Urban Branding

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...

Once again, the alcohol companies knock it out of the park. Here we go with Budweiser and the world famous "Whazaaaaap" ad. While it is not "Hip-Hop" specific, it does exploit mainstream America's fascination with African-American street lingo aka "ebonics". Who wasn't doing the "Wazaaaaap" thing for at least 3 months after this ad dropped? You know you were doing it....Liar!! Almost all the Black guys I know who drink, never drink Bud by choice...But they'll take it if its free. Nevertheless this ad certainly gave Bud a lifetime hood pass. -Beyond Urban Branding

This is possibly Sprites greatest moment doing a Hip-Hop related ad. Here they pit long time rivals KRS ONE against MC Shan. These two had a very historic battle in the early days of rap, that set a high standard for lyrical dexterity in rhyme battles.To have these guys in a boxing ring was the perfect setting. Even little things like having DJ Kid Kapri be the ref and DJ Kool Red Alert as the corner man show how highly detailed the vision for this ad was. Easily one of the best urban ads ever done. -Beyond Urban Branding

In all my running around, I TOTALLY missed this ads existence. I actually kind of like Drake and I looked forward to seeing it. Clyde Smith at www.prohiphop.com posted it- so I had to check it out. My gut reaction, you ask? "Meh, its ok." On a lot of levels, I feel like an opportunity was blown. Drake is so large right now. Maybe they gave this to an old guy who just did not bother to try. Maybe they were convinced the special effects would "wow" people. Its kind of a shoulder shrugger to me. But at the end of the day, they got Drake drinking Sprite- and thats all they really need, I guess. I'm gonna watch it again. It just feels like yet another squandered moment in urban Brand history. While preparing to post this I found another Drake ad. Its for Strapped Condoms. This is moment number two, in squandered brand moment for Drake. Its just kinda boring. I'm 100% for safe sex. I think they did the right thing in using Drake (any brand that can get him should...

I knew when Old Spice dropped these ads, they would fail. I knew they would suck. The first issue is, the brand is Old Spice . The most obvious angle to me would be to frame LL Cool J the old school rap star as an old school artist who uses old school/traditional deodorant. The theme should have been on keeping tradition...Instead they tried to make something old (the positioning of the brand) mix with something new ("swagger") a new school term. They should have either went straight old school, or went with the new rapper like Souljah Boy or Plies (Lord knows he could use some deodorant) and pushed for a completely youth angle. They weakly mixed old and new and came up empty. I dont even know if they sell "swagger" anymore. Not sure I care either. For the record, I dont know ONE person who liked the ads, or bought Old Spice because of these ads. Anyway here it is: -Beyond Urban Branding P.S. I think using names like "swagger", "hyphy" (and i ...

Hip-Hop DX did an editorial on the Christmas ad campaign ran by Nike. I thought this was interesting (though I don't fully agree with the author): http://www.hiphopdx.com/index/editorials/id.1480/title.get-your-mind-right-nba-puppets Be sure to check out the comments below. Just do it. In case you missed the ad itself, here it is: -Beyond Urban Branding