Beyond Urban Branding

Nas and AZ Represent for Nike!! People forgot this one. The coolest thing about is the beat they use is from a CLASSIC Hip-Hop movie. Who can name it? NOT YOU!! LOL  I totally forgot this was even made...Still love it

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...

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...