Beyond Urban Branding

E-40 has always been a giant in my heart. I'm from The Bay Area. But it has taken time for people to acclimate to his level. Now he is seen as a futuristic mogul OUTSIDE of Hip-Hop. In his latest genius move, Drive Time Credit Company uses his classic Choices and re-raps the lyrics. This one caught me off guard and I was happy surprised. Original E-40 Song Choices 

Billy Johnson Jr. : Usher is working on what will likely be the biggest video of his career. As part of a Pepsi Challenge campaign that kicks off Tuesday, the singer will incorporate his fans in the project in two different ways. Beginning Tuesday through June 2, fans can submit photos of themselves to  PepsiChallenge.com . Usher will select a winner who will have the opportunity to meet him on the set of his accompanying short film to be released this fall. Usher asks entrants to, “Show me your world through your eyes in only a way that you can see it. The realer, the better. The more honest, the more creative.” Read full story

This is easily one of my favorite ads of the year. It was written as cast brilliantly. Nothing more painful than to see a great actor with a bad script. The only thing worse is a great script, with a bad actor. I digress. This ad is fantastic. It plays of of the well known "book club" myth so many suburban moms use to get away from all the insanity that is motherhood. To see the kid play on that and flip it was masterfully done.

Episode 13: Jay Z and Samsung Take Everything to the Next Level, 2 Chainz Gets Jacked, A Pimps Redeption and Mark Weinstein Talks Internet Privacy LISTEN: www.bishopchronicles.com 

On recovering from failure. Please listen to all of it.

From a keynote I gave a San Jose City Hall on Business and chess to more than 300 teenagers.

Mail is boring. Plus its kind of dying out as an industry. This ad focuses on the differentiation point of strategy and makes it resonate, using football. This was well done.

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

I have no idea how this guy got hired for this ad. I dunno if he was somebody's cousin on the creative team....But he looks like the Nightstalker, or a cop time warped into the future....Maybe a second string porn star. I have no idea who thought he was a good choice for these ads. And for the record, I like Progressive ads as a rule.  He's not really funny, super suave or anything like that....Anybody look at that jacket? The mustache? The hair? C'mon Progressive...wake up...

So fun, so well done. It makes me totally forgive that horrific "graffiti" campaign they did in their store...anybody remember that....? Ugly stenciled shirts with almost no real graff? Man, this is a huge leap forward for them. Plus I used to have a crush on the lady leading the class.....mmm-hmmmm...

Seriously, take a minute to soak it up...You can't sell anything to someone you don't know. You can't sell anything to somebody you are afraid of. Remember that.

Reeses has been pushing Hip-Hop for a while now...This is one of their old ones... Here is a shorty family version... This is the latest one...I could not find a better one on Youtube (my bad) I always liked these. I hate the sound quality on this newer vid. 'Cause I actually like the beat... A far cry from this one huh?

Then a few days after this song goes across the planet HipHopDX  writes that Theraflu announces its doing a   Law suit  against West (as if they hated all the publicity). Now this is amazing right? I mean, they get publicity through the roof, because of Hip-Hop. Then they turn around and tell a half asleep attorney on retainer to send something to West and get...MORE PUBLICITY... Yeah, because, we understand how the Theraflu brand was cut deep and had brand issues cause one song put 'em in so many living rooms and iPods they could not take it. If anything, all the kids who are 15 years old right now just got locked in to buying Theraflu for the next 40 years. They need to cut Kanye a check and thank him. BTW, this song is explicit. But you should know that because you can read the screen above you...