Beyond Urban Branding

Great new Gatorade Ad using 93 Til Infinity classic by Souls of Mischief. I was truly happy to see this ad. Anyone who was a part of Hip-Hop in the 90's totally loved 93 Til by the groundbreaking Souls of  Mischief crew from Oakland.  WATCH  Original 93 Til Video  Now, super real crate diggers (people who study the root samples of Hip-Hop classics) might wonder, where did Souls get the beat from. Well, here it is Billy Cobhams Heather .  The reason ads like this work is because it get adults who grew up on Hip-Hop as well as old school jazz heads who appreciate the stylings of real keyboard players.  I wonder who got the check? Souls or Cobham ot did they split it. I gotta call Tajai from Souls. I'mma try to get an interview. 

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 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.

Resse's has been sticking with the urban feel for their commercials for a few years now. It must be working. The interesting thing is that they do small things to attract parents and kids to the brand. Its very subtle, but effective. They are sure to use kids of various races, so nobody feels left out. They always use an uptempo rap that chants the letters of the brand in creative ways. These guys pay attention. This one has a bit of a reto feel. All the haircuts are from the 80's. I suspect thats done to attract parents while the music and the editing and the cuts are meant for kids. Well played, Mr. Reese....well played.

One of the many songs where Nas mentions Hennessy. His shout outs to the brand go back to songs like Memory Lane which dropped on Illmatic on April 19th 1994. The connection between Hennessy and Hip-Hop is so old its hard to say what rap record shouted it out first (I will look into that). But since it did, man, nobody ever looked back. I feel deeply conlficted because on one hand alcohol abuse is so rapant in urban communities. On the other it is impressive to see somone like Nas, who truly started from the bottom get the attention of brands like Hennessy and see them acknowledge his role in the growth of their brand. Keep in mind, many MANY brands have gotten huge jumps in brand awareness, positioning, penetration, retention etc. from rappers loving their products they they NEVER batted an eye. I know this sounds silly, but, I'm happy for both of them.

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 

Lebron & Dwight  McDonalds Ad in India   Teyonnah Parris

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. 

This is a great ad. Playing off the cult classic Hangover, this ad really is cool. I was shocked to see it came out about a year ago. I think this could have gotten much greater buzz if it was shared more aggressively.

This is cute, and I mean that in the realest sense...I like it a lot...

No joke the first time I saw this was in 1986 by some kids at Westmoor high school in Daly City CA.

This is a cool ad illustrating the difference of movement between old school and new school b-boys. Done well.

I guess it's all just taken for granted that its all "American dance" but...I guess that was before it was "Black" and that was before anybody even acknowledged Hip-Hop was an art. People forget that in the beginning Hip-Hop was considered not art and just a random hiccup from the ghetto that the world wished would go away...TOO BAD!! I love to see Hip-Hop dance in ads.

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?

Allhiphop.com had a pretty cool editorial on Hip-Hop logos. I agree with most of the list. Though, I'm not fully sure about EPMD, Onyx and No Limit. The first two, quite honestly, seem kinda of old school. Meaning, they got stuck in 90's. I'm not sure the average teenager knows EPMD or No Limit anymore at all (though they are great looking logos). I also feel like the Hieroglyphics logo is WAY bigger. I feel this mainly because that crew still tours a lot. Especially in Europe. Only Hiero has fans tattooing their logo across their body like the Wu fans do. Check it out: Allhiphop.com's Top Ten Rap Logos -Beyond Urban Branding beyondurban@gmail.com

I'll admit it. Intel has better ads than I've been aware of. This one here is pretty funny. Its funny because the message is delivered clean and nobody had to try too hard to make it. They just made plain what all real tech people know: We have our own rock stars. I can't tell you how many times I've been at an event and somebody taps my arm and says "Theres the dude from Adobe who made the so-and-so". Or "Theres the guy who changed coding forever!" And we watch them with awe as they go down the hall. Only real tech dudes and chicks feel it. This is differentiation at its highest. Essentially they are saying " We're REAL tech people. We get you." They are in a good zone here. This should actually be a recurring theme in Intel ads. They could do this one forever. Talk about speaking to the core demographic!!