product placement and brand dropping

product placement is not a new way in advertising products and services, it has been around for centuries and is known from many movies. we got used to it, just spend enough dollars and james bond will drive a bmw or will smith an audi – cell phones, laptops, furniture, tobacco, deodorant, food, all sorts of consumer electronics, you name it.

now the industry seems to have taken this approach a step further and professionalized ‘brand dropping’ in songs of popular music artists, simply selling elements of their songs to the highest bidder.

“that’s the news from wired who shows how artists are approached by agencies to include brand placements in their songs. and if you check out the opening flash sequence for the kluger agency there’s a couple of product placement jingles that will sound mighty familiar.”

“things have gotten so weird in the music business that high-profile acts are inserting ads into their song lyrics. the next time you hear a brand mentioned in a song, it could be due to a paid product placement. and unlike magazines, songs are not required to point out which words are part of an advertisement.”

i appreciate that artists need to embrace a variety of revenue opportunities to make it today, but selling song lyrics seems to go over the line.

a further spin to the story is how a sales rep of adam kluger of the kluger agency tried to pitch jeff crouse of the anti-advertising agency and double happiness jeans, probably the last people on earth who kluger would want to receive the pitch e-mail, now threatening him with lawyers because he published the story on his blog – the whole story at wired.

(via mandy de waal, jeff crouse and wired)