Beyond Urban Branding

Sometimes, the way a brand can win with a rapper is to just let them do their thing.That is the case with Eminem on the Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 ad. I remember as the holidays approached this ad got my blood boiling. Its a very exciting ad. All they had to do was let Em rip and do what he does best- rap. The way they edited this, it felt more like a movie trailer than an ad. I know thats the desired effect. They nailed it. Just let the artist do them, and slide your name on it. The rest will take care of itself. -Beyond Urban Branding

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...