marketing

If Black Eyed Peas band member will.i.am weren’t in music, “He’d be the best ad executive on Madison Avenue,” says Randy Phillips, president and CEO of the concert promoter AEG Live. “I’ve never seen anyone more astute at dealing with sponsors’ and companies’ needs and understanding their brands.” The Black Eyed Peas have been able to move beyond their status as a high-energy band into the world of corporate sponsorship without missing a beat.

Marketers love the Black Eyed Peas for the diverse ethnicity of the band’s members, writes the Wall Street Journal. The band’s corporate backers include Coors, Levi’s, Honda, Apple, Verizon, and Pepsi. The advertisement featuring the group’s song “Hey Mama” and dancing silhouettes that was used to help launch Apple’s iTunes store gained almost iconic status.

What makes this group of musicians such an effective set of spokespeople? Part of the appeal is the group’s global fan base and the Peas’ fetching party anthems, with powerful dance beats, crazy special effects, and repetitive hooks that are integrated into numerous party mixes. As one critic noted, the band achieves the nearly impossible—making both kids and their parents feel cool at the same time.

Beyond the glitz and glitter of the shows, the group gives careful thought to its marketing. Oftentimes, will.i.am pitches concepts to corporate sponsors himself, using “decks” that sum up the Peas’ package, frequently in PowerPoint form. He reports, “I consider us a brand. A brand always has stylized decks, from colors to fonts. Here’s our demographic. Here’s the reach. Here’s the potential. Here’s how the consumer will benefit from the collaboration.”

There was a time when rock and roll was nearly synonymous with rebellion. Bands with corporate ties would be viewed as sell-outs. For some companies, such a move would seem too risky, especially if the band’s fans felt betrayed. Over the years, music has become less threatening, as Baby Boomers near retirement age.

The economics of music have also changed. Downloading and pirating CDs is commonplace. Bands can no longer count on record sales to make money. Many younger bands now look for other sources of income and publicity. The Peas were among the fastest learners of the industry’s new math. Even now, however, the band hears complaints that they are merely shills. “You have to take the criticism, and sometimes it hurts a lot,” says band member Stacy Ferguson, who is also known as Fergie.

Currently, many top-name musicians and groups have corporate sponsors. Cooperative advertisements promote the brand, the band, and often a tour. The Rolling Stones began the movement when the group’s “Tattoo You” tour was sponsored by Jovan Musk cologne. Even groups that at first resolutely avoided corporate tie-ins, such as U2, have changed. U2 developed a relationship with Apple that included commercials featuring the song “Vertigo.” The band helped with BlackBerry commercials and had a sponsored tour with the brand.

The Black Eyed Peas continues to expand its corporate connections. A concert in Times Square that promoted Samsung’s new line of 3-D televisions led to a meeting with Avatar director James Cameron, who agreed to direct a feature film about the Peas. The 3-D film incorporates concerts, travel footage, and narrative themes about technology, dreams, and the brain.

According to will.i.am, all corporate partnerships are equally important. The band lends its music at relatively small charges in exchange for exposure. “It wasn’t about the check,” says former manager Seth Friedman.

The efforts have paid off. The Black Eyed Peas have performed at an NFL season-kickoff show, New Year’s Eve in Times Square, the Grammys, a Victoria’s Secret fashion show, and the season opener for The Oprah Winfrey Show, for which they summoned a flash mob of synchronized dancers to downtown Chicago. As will.i.am puts it, “I get the credit from the brands. They know. I used to work with the marketing people and the agencies, now I work with the CEOs of these companies.”

Each answer should be about a paragraph (3-5 sentences).

1. Discuss each of the source characteristics in terms of the Black Eyed Peas serving as a spokesperson for a product. Would it make a difference on what type of product the Black Eyed Peas were endorsing? Explain.

2. What types of brands or products are best-suited to endorsements by the Black Eyed Peas? By rock bands in general? What about country music artists? What about hip-hop artists?

3. If you were going to design a television advertisement for a concert for the Black Eyed Peas, who would be your target market? What message strategy and executional framework would you use?Why? Describe your concept of an effective television ad.

4. Suppose the Black Eyed Peas were contracted to perform at your university. Design a print ad for your local student newspaper (The Lumberjack is NAU's paper). Discuss the message strategy, appeal, and execution you used and why you used it.