July 24, 2009, 2:57pm
Here's a round-up of some of the latest, more interesting happenings from around the world of music branding partnerships.
- T-Mobile is partnering with Blink 182 for an exclusive tour sponsorship. As the title sponsor for the punk band's first tour in five years, T-Mobile will have ubiquitous signage at all shows and run promotions on-site that give fans the chance to text to win seat upgrades, attend meet and greets with the band, and enter a sweepstakes for the chance to win "The Ultimate Rock Star Experience" (VIP trip to L.A. for 6 friends, $20K in spending cash, hang with Blink 182, etc.). Additionally, as part of the partnership, Blink 182 members will twitter fans from their T-Mobile devices about exclusive fan content and additional promotions (no doubt along with some heavy T-Mobile branding). This is a good example of a brand capitalizing on their own product attributes and leveraging technology to interact with an on-target fan base.
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- Dell's latest television spot features synth pop duo Stereo Total's song, "I Love You Ono" (which is actually a cover of a song by the now defunct Japanese new wave group, The Plastics.) It definitely works in the commercial and is worlds better than Microsoft's partnership with Nickelback, which we previously discussed here. While Stereo Total may seem like a brazen music selection for Dell, this band has had their music used in commercials before. In fact, this now makes four countries in which the Berlin-based duo has had songs in ads. This same "I Love You Ono" song was also used in a Sony eastern European commercial a couple years ago, and another song of theirs, "L Amour A Trois," was previously used in a Swedish cell phone spot and in Mexico for a Spanish TV channel. That's some serious music branding mileage.
- Classic rocker, Jackson Browne, has settled a lawsuit with the Republican party over their unauthorized use of his hit song, "Running on Empty," in a TV ad for the McCain campaign last fall. The settlement includes an undisclosed amount of money and a public apology from the GOP that includes a pledge "to respect and uphold the rights of artists and to obtain permissions and/or licenses for copyrighted works where appropriate." Not sure why they thought they could use a song in an ad without permission. But a better questions is why they chose "Running on Empty" as a campaign song. Sure, it was true. But not sure how that was supposed to help them.
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- We previously discussed the Guinness 250th Anniversary celebration here, which included headliner Black Eyed Peas, and they've now just announced they've added a few more headliners including Tom Jones, the Kooks, and David Gray. The event will take place on September 24th in cities around the world including New York, Lagos, and Nigeria, and include 24 hours of live music featuring more than 60 artists on stage simultaneously around the globe. A full line-up featuring all gig locations and act info is to be announced shortly. Just as with their Guinness greatest hits CD which we discussed here, the Irish beer is going for another extremely eclectic mix of artists with their anniversary celebration.
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- And finally, the most recent commercial from Kraft Food's A-1 steak sauce features portly singer, Meat Loaf. Who of course puts the steak sauce on some - you guessed it - meatloaf. As he sings a parody of - that's right - his biggest hit, "I Would Do Anything For Love." This is what the professional marketers came up with. Suffice to say fresh ideas are running short over at the A-1 headquarters. And that while he wouldn't do anything for love, Meatloaf would do anything for a quick buck.
