... And Now for the Best Brand-Music Tie-Ins of 2007
Artist-Brand Models Came of Age This Year

Originally posted by Mike Tunnicliffe in Ad Age Songs for Soap on 12.19.07 @ 11:15 AM

It wouldn't be a complete end-of-year blog fest if we didn't also cover the top artist brand tie-ins, where musicians and marketers developed integrated and mutually beneficial campaigns. From smart, well-executed ideas to the start of some interesting new business models, here's my selection of favorites, in no particular order:

Prince and The Mail On Sunday
His royal purpleness' tie-in with British Newspaper The Mail on Sunday was an impressive foray into the world of new business models. Prince allowed the paper to give away a copy of his latest CD, creating a massive uplift in sales and enough publicity to sell out 21 consecutive nights at top British rock venue the O2 Centre.

Prince and Verizon
Meanwhile, back home, Prince used the same imagery in his promotion with Verizon for V Cast, where the first single from the album was made available exclusively to owners of the handset, promoting the new phone/service and giving artists a new marketing feature whereby they can link their song to a website.

Rihanna and Cover Girl
A nice tie-in between Cover Girl and Rihanna worked well for both parties, as the singer became the new face of the P&G brand and received huge exposure on billboards, in print and in a TV Commercial featuring her mega-smash-hit "Umbrella."

Tim McGraw and Faith Hill with Jeep
Jeep's sponsorship of husband/wife country superstars Tim Mcgraw and Faith Hill's "Soul 2 Soul " tour was the winner of Billboard's inaugural Billboard Concert Marketing & Promotion awards in 2007. The deal built upon the long-standing personal relationship the couple had with Jeep and, amongst other things, featured VIP performances for dealers and contest winners and an ad campaign featuring "My favorite Jeep story."

Missy Elliot and Doritos
As Charlie noted in September, this Doritos "Collisions" campaign was "executed beautifully on the web through the site at Snack Strong Productions where fans can mix disco, reggae, mariachi and a number of other genres into Missy's beat to make something sorta-new out of it."

This year is just the beginning. In 2008, we'll see a spate of deals with artists who no longer need to use traditional label structures, and many of them will become marketers and business partners with brands like Diddy did with Ciroc and Drinks America did with Interscope.

Happy Holidays...