Beyond Urban Branding

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

The most authentic urban ads in the history o f the game, all come from alcohol companies. This saddens me greatly, because, I've always felt that many of these companies used their accurate knowledge of Hip-Hop and urban subculture to target underage kids . This is not something that you can prove, but, its hard not to believe that is the case. The truth is, whoever created these campaigns knew what they were doing. When these ads first hit, I was in love with them and tried to tape as many as I could of the air. These ads did not FEEL LIKE ADS. They felt like rap songs. Any brand that can master that, has a winning campaign. The bottom line is that Puffy and Ciroc Vodka could have never happened, Jay and Armand de Brignac would have never existed without St. Ides paving the way. These are just a few of the ads St. Ides have made. They've made many more than I can list but some of them include Tupac, Snoop Dogg, Geto Boys and many others. St. Ides also got major shouts out on ...