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Marketpl
August 5,
2008
KAI RYSSDAL: There's
been an un-merger of sorts in the music world. After
five years of on-again, off-again dealings, Sony and the
European media company Bertelsman have agreed to go
their separate ways. Sony's going to buy out
Bertelsman's half of their joint venture, Sony BMG, it's
called
Amid the scramble to find ways to make money in the
era of digital downloads, the American music industry's
discovering that what's old can be new and profitable
again. Commercial jingles that were popular a generation
or so ago are being used as fodder for today's Top 40
songs.
Douglas Caballero hosts a music show on Current TV.
Douglas, good to have you here.
Douglas Caballero:
Thanks for having me.
RYSSDAL: Going to do
something that we don't usually do on a business and
finance show. We going to play a little Name That Tune.
So, let's play this clip and then we'll talk about it.
["Forever" by Chris Brown]
Ryssdal: "Double your
pleasure, double your fun." We've heard that someplace
before, right? Help me out here.
Caballero: Yes, we
have. That is Wrigley's Doublemint gum. That is the
slogan.
RYSSDAL: How did this
become a pop tune? Because the last time I remember
hearing "Double your pleasure, double your fun" it was
some commercial 30 years ago.
Caballero: Yeah,
they've had a lot of commercials. And, um, as of
recently they haven't been doing that well. This
particular song was brought together by two people in
the -- not in the traditional ad game -- they're from
more of the urban music and culture realm -- that's Jay
Z and Steve Stoute from Translation Advertising.
RYSSDAL: Did Wrigley's
say, "Hey, we've got this jingle. Everybody in the world
knows it. Let's try to capitalize on that by making it a
pop tune and build it from there"?
Caballero: Something
like that. I think some of it had to do with the fact
that they are trying to find their target audience.
Because, right now -- their sales were flat in 2007 --
but as of recently this gum has appealed to more of an
urban audience.
RYSSDAL: What's the
marketing idea here?
Caballero: Well, this
song makes you tap your toes, snap your finger, drive a
little bit faster. The song is infectious. Allegedly,
Chris Brown wrote it in 30 minutes -- which makes me
very envious of someone who can write such a good song
in half an hour. I think it's brand awareness. I think
this is just the beginning. It's obviously been
successful. The song was, as I checked last week, was
Number 3 on the Billboard Top-100. So I expect to see
more of these, moving forward. You know, they want to
emulate the success.
RYSSDAL: Are they doing
just Doublemint, or are they getting the whole spectrum
of Wrigley brands there?
Caballero: They are
doing somewhat of the whole spectrum. They've got Ne-Yo,
who's another R&B singer, and he's doing Big Red. And
they've got Julianne Hough, who's a country star, who
started off as a dancer on "Dancing With the Stars,"
doing Juicy Fruit.
RYSSDAL: Do they know,
though? Do the kids who are listening to this music know
that it's all driven by Wrigley's and corporate America?
Caballero: As of now, I
do not think they do, no.
RYSSDAL: What do you
think the reaction would be? If we went out and stopped
some kids out on the street here, would they say, "Oh,
man..."
Caballero: I think a
lot of younger people are very used to, or they're
accustomed to advertising and their favorite icons being
paired together, and so they're not as turned off by
things like this now.
RYSSDAL: It's not like
rappers and hip-hoppers haven't used commercial
references in music before, though.
Caballero: Absolutely
not. R&B music and hip-hop has definitely been the
easiest conduit to advertising, but now those
advertisers are making connections to the independent
music world. You've got the new Converse centennial
advertising that's going on right now. They're basically
Pharrell, Santogold and Julian Casablancas, three of the
biggest stars in the independent world, if you --
independent's probably not the best word to use these
days . . . They made a song specifically for an
advertisement that's actually a full song. And it's
called "My Drive-Thru." It's pretty catchy. And it's
very similar, although it didn't start off as a music
video, it started off as a commercial.
RYSSDAL: It's not like
rappers and hip-hoppers haven't used commercial
references in music before, though.
Caballero: Absolutely
not. R&B music and hip-hop has definitely been the
easiest conduit to advertising, but now those
advertisers are making connections to the independent
music world. You've got the new Converse centennial
advertising that's going on right now. They're basically
Pharrell, Santogold and Julian Casablancas, three of the
biggest stars in the independent world, if you --
independent's probably not the best word to use these
days . . . They made a song specifically for an
advertisement that's actually a full song. And it's
called "My Drive-Thru." It's pretty catchy. And it's
very similar, although it didn't start off as a music
video, it started off as a commercial.
RYSSDAL: Yeah,
independent. Um, it's a little bit of being bought by
The Man, right?
Caballero: Well, you
know, at some point, with music sales being so flat,
you've got to figure out how to make money as an artist.
And this is one of the ways to do it. And as I said
earlier, you know, younger audiences really don't have
as much of an aversion of having their favorite icons
being paired with brands these days.
RYSSDAL: Yeah. Douglas
Caballero from Current TV. He hosts and produces a
program there called the "Daily Fix." Douglas, thanks a
lot.
Caballero: Thank you.
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