Beyond Urban Branding

Just the other day we were talking about the cool Palm ad featuring music by Mos Def. I liked it for a lot of reasons. One was because of how they used an African American woman (looking stylish and in charge). I could not figure out what I like about it. Until I remembered this ad by AT&T featuring Mary J. Blige (I think its about 6 months old). I love this ad deeply. I mean, Mary is doing the style thing hard with new outfits every second. Meanwhile new phones pop up while her song "The One" just drives the ad from start to finish. As a father, I immediately wanted to get the LG Neon for my daughter. Then I remembered how young she is. But it was inspiring and it really did make me want the phone. As much as I like the Palm ad, it does not compare to AT&T's. AT&T had star power, Palm didn't. Palm didn't make versatility and style jump out at you, AT&T did. Nevertheless, both were hot. No doubt women of all backgrounds are attracted to both ads. I...