Diplomatic Corps Rock Fest

As it happens, not too long ago (on March 1, 2006) I wrote:

"It bears mentioning that reasons for corporate patronage also include a desire or necessity to curry political favor in another country, as Lorenzo de' Medici is known to have done. By investing or contributing in another nation's arts and artists, one possibly wins favor with its members of government. For American and European interests (seeking foreign industrial contracts), it may seem like good strategy to spend dollars developing tomorrow's Chinese rock stars and East Indian 'gangsta' rappers. Likewise, we may one day witness Asian governments sponsoring indigenous African and mid eastern cultural activities in a bid to compete for those country's petrol resources".

So, it was with no shortage of interest that only two weeks later –in the November 12th issue of the New York Times– I discovered an article titled: The New Ambassadors.

In 'The New Ambassadors', writer Jeff Leeds reports that several foreign governments have begun sponsoring their own local popular artists in an attempt to spread goodwill as they tour abroad –in this case, 'abroad' meaning the United States.

Leeds writes:

"In a global economy that is blurring geographic borders, more and more nations view intellectual property — films, software and the like — as valuable commodities, easily transferred exports that can sell in previously inaccessible markets. That includes intellectual property like pop-punk or death metal... One way or another, between the musicians who are representing their countries abroad and the government officials who are seeking out and signing new talent, the international trend has forced all parties to invent new rules, and new roles, in situations that none of them could have anticipated."

Obviously, I agree –excepting the idea that such a 'situation' could not have been anticipated, for it most certainly was, six hundred years ago by Lorenzo de' Medici.

Series: Audio As Added Value

Click on any link below to read all the articles in the four-part Fall 2006 AUDIO AS ADDED VALUE series exploring exploring new paradigms for Music Distribution:

1. The Compact Disc Is Dead
2. Saving The Music Industry One Brand at a Time
3. Self-Referential Jingles are not Content
4. Synergy = Energy

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Like this topic? Explore the May 2006 ADDED VALUE AUDIO article from the Critical Noise Archive:

ADDED VALUE AUDIO

Synergy = Energy

Over the years I’ve noted CDs packaged with boxes of cereal and cleaning fluids, among other household items. We have also seen custom CDs distributed by the Gap, Pottery Barn, Starbucks, Victoria's Secret and Williams-Sonoma. Interestingly, a company named LidRock even found a way to turn fountain drink lids into a functional Mini-CD or DVD disc capable of delivering music, video, and games.

In 2003 LidRock launched with a four million unit promotion for Big3 indie label singer Rachel Farris. Rachel Farris is by no means a household name today, but one can hardly call one marketing event a campaign. Also, keep in mind that LidRock wasn't using the technology to promote the artist, but rather using Farris' material to demonstrate proof of concept to potential corporate clients.

I propose such promotions work better when the artist doesn't simply represent available content, but when the advertiser and the entertainer form a synergistic relationship, and each represents one half of a real strategic alliance for the other.

Some people don’t like the idea that artists might attempt to win fans from the back of box of soap or oatmeal, but this concept goes well beyond detergent and oats. I think it could even portend a future music industry where artists are at least in part supported by patronage rather than the deals record companies currently offer them.

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Click on any link below to read all the articles in the four-part Fall 2006 AUDIO AS ADDED VALUE series exploring exploring new paradigms for Music Distribution:

1. The Compact Disc Is Dead
2. Saving The Music Industry One Brand at a Time
3. Self-Referential Jingles are not Content
4. Synergy = Energy

Self-Referential Jingles Are Not Content

In the mid-nineties we saw the idea of music promotions updated and repackaged, in the form of promotional CD–ROMS and DVDs, usually offering electronic games, software and video content. Most of these give-aways went from box to garbage, but some were received with popular interest, as when in 1996 when General Mills inserted a free CD-ROM into each box of Chex cereal, which contained Chex Quest, an electronic game created using ID software’s DOOM engine.

More recently, in 2002, General Mills plastered the cover of eight million boxes of cereal (including: Cheerios, Honey Nut Cheerios, Lucky Charms, Golden Grahams, Honey Nut Chex and Cinnamon Toast Crunch) with promotional DVDs touting Columbia titles "Bear in the Big Blue House" and "The Muppets."

However, the Kellogg/Disney/Pixar Industrial Complex fell short with 'Buzz Lightyear’s Exclusive Music CD', which was packaged in every box of their Buzz Blast cereal concoction. One online writer unfortunately described the promo as “3 awful songs extolling the virtues of Buzz Lightyear.”

The lesson here is that collateral produces sales when advertisers go beyond gimmicks to create truly engaging content.

Self-referential long-play jingles are ads, not content. No one finds them entertaining but the people who make them and kitsch collectors twenty years after the fact.

So why not offer real songs, current hits; or original non-promotional content featuring select artist/s (suitable to collaborative promotional experience with a given product); or even Branded Mixes? At least, then an advertiser can promote the content in the usual media outlets, downplaying its role as added value, up playing its role as a collectible.

One then arrives at the desired result: Built-in authenticity –not to mention guaranteed Word-Of-Mouth buzz you just can't get from any other so-called box prize. Johnny Quest PF Secret Decoder Rings exempted, but of course!

* * *

Click on any link below to read all the articles in the four-part Fall 2006 AUDIO AS ADDED VALUE series exploring exploring new paradigms for Music Distribution:

1. The Compact Disc Is Dead
2. Saving The Music Industry One Brand at a Time
3. Self-Referential Jingles are not Content
4. Synergy = Energy

Saving The Music Industry One Brand at a Time

From the beginning of my career as a music producer of television and radio commercials, I sometimes received calls from consumers who wanted to purchase an album that contained the music they heard on a given spot. However, album production is not a general compliment to spot production. So, there never was a product to recommend people buy –unless they were referring to a pop track that an ad agency had licensed in lieu of commissioning an original underscore. In fact, most of the time the music one hears on a TV or Radio commercial rarely extends beyond the thirty or sixty seconds specifically created for the ad.

As a result:

1) A given intellectual property is limited from possible secondary use by simple virtue of its length.
2) Resulting inability to leverage music into extended customer experience (away from the TV).
3) Diminished ROI by neglecting opportunity (based on demand) to create a for-sale entertainment unit (or a Point-of-Purchase gift that may generate future sales).

Considering this, I began as early as 1994 pitching the concept of creating entertainment collateral. At the time I initially conceived of this collateral as 'gifts' redeemable upon purchase. For instance, buy a car, and here's a CD you can play on the drive home, et al. The idea would be to produce the music in tandem with the production of our primary commissions (being TV/Radio commercial, web site, theme park or electronic game scores). However –regrettably– at the time I couldn't convince one account to allocate the resources required to test this concept, although all seemed to think it was great idea (for someone else to do).

Regardless, the concept stuck with me. In March of 2001 the online marketer's magazine Clickz published an article I wrote on the subject of Sonic Branding. In it I argued the merit of this concept and other such alliances; and I suggested the following:

If music in a marketing context does its job, it will inform as well as entertain. And if consumers –that is, your audience– call the company switchboard and ask who wrote the music and where they can buy a CD of it, then maybe you and your client should actually produce a promotional CD that consumers can take home and listen to whenever they want...If you've produced a CD, for instance, folks will listen to it while they eat, work out, make love, and your company will be the underscore to their lives. Oats may be oats, but if I'm making babies to your music, then chances are my babies will be eating your oats.

Now, I was by no means the originator of this idea:

In the nineteen-seventies Post –and other cereal companies– packaged singles with their Super Sugar Crisp product. Many such promotions were dreadful (at least to adult ears). However, the Sugar Bears “You Are The One" continues to enjoy happy memories from enduring fans of the song to this day. Why? –Because the song framed an episode in many people’s youth. Their collective recollection has essentially been wrapped in its own soundtrack, brought to you by Post. And that's why kids of all ages still think the Post Super Sugar Crisp Bear IS THE MAN!.

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Click on any link below to read all the articles in the four-part Fall 2006 AUDIO AS ADDED VALUE series exploring exploring new paradigms for Music Distribution:

1. The Compact Disc Is Dead
2. Saving The Music Industry One Brand at a Time
3. Self-Referential Jingles are not Content
4. Synergy = Energy

Latest Headlines: Entertainment Today

In related news, the Compact Disc was laid to rest this morning at a funeral in Bremerton, Washington, the birthplace of its inventor, James T. Russell.

Meanwhile, on the Velvet Rope, an online music forum known for its contributors from various segments of the entertainment industry, pundits were debating not just how to resurrect the disc itself, but they were also trying to figure out a way to hold the discussion in a medium that did not require the use of any computer technology.

One respondent is said to have suggested meeting at a bar, where they could discuss exactly how much cardboard a new Led Zeppelin Box set would require before consumers considered the package a collectors item. Unfortunately, most were unavailable to attend as they had prior obligations requiring the services of a television set, an iPod, a DVD player, a mobile phone, a PDA or an electronic game. Those who did attend finally found a suitable venue where the music would not overwhelm the urgent conversation.