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For the musician, wooing potential corporate partners has become as integral to his job as the DJ sets he does on tour at after-parties sponsored by Bacardi. Often will.i.am pitches the concepts himself using "decks" that sum up the Peas' package, frequently in PowerPoint form.
"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."
If will.i.am wasn'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." He says he's planning to have the rapper deliver a seminar to AEG's global marketing team.
Marketers love the Black Eyed Peas for the rainbow ethnicity of the band's four members. They like its global fan base, and its fetching party anthems like "Boom Boom Pow" and "Imma Be." They like that the band achieves the near-impossible in these post-Michael Jackson times—making both kids and their parents feel cool. All this has turned the Peas into what seems like the only pop ensemble that a fragmented America can agree on. Though the members rhyme, it's not a rap group. Its chugging dance beats, spacey effects, and repetitive hooks have been engineered as party mixes.
Selling records used to be the secret to success. The trajectory of the Black Eyed Peas has been about corporate connections. Last month, a Peas concert in Times Square to promote Samsung's new line of 3-D televisions led to a link-up with "Avatar" director James Cameron, who was also on hand to endorse the sets. The meeting sparked a conversation about whether Mr. Cameron would direct a feature film the Peas plan to start shooting next month. The 3-D film will incorporate concerts, travel footage and narrative themes about technology, dreams and the brain. Will.i.am says of his potential collaborator, "He's a tomorrow person, too. He's part of the TP crew." Mr. Cameron couldn't be reached.
The Peas are poised to be one of music's top earners this year. Released last June, their album "The E.N.D." has sold 2.3 million copies and spawned three No. 1 singles. A rough estimate of the band's income from U.S. music sales, not including licensing, publishing and other revenues, came to $10.1 million in the last year.
Will.i.am says corporate partnerships are equally important. Not long ago, the band was lending its music for relatively paltry fees in exchange for exposure—a common strategy for emerging acts. In the ramp-up to their 2003 breakout album "Elephunk," the Peas made deals with Best Buy, Apple and the NBA, slingshotting their way into households on multimillion-dollar ad campaigns. "It wasn't about the check," says former manager Seth Friedman.
The promotional blitz continues. Within the last year, the Peas' TV performances have included an NFL season-kickoff show, New Year's Eve in Times Square, the Grammys (they've won six), 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. The group's current tour, for which AEG Live has booked 100 international dates, is a test of whether the band can consistently fill big arenas. It's off to a good start: In 22 U.S. concerts, the band has grossed about $18 million.
Once, when pop music was synonymous with rebellion, a band getting into bed with a large corporation was as improbable as a Brooks Brothers suit at Woodstock. For companies, too risky; for fans, a betrayal.
This changed when advertisers began to leverage elements of the counterculture, which was no longer threatening. First they targeted baby boomers, from the Rolling Stones' "Start Me Up" for Microsoft to John Mellencamp's Chevy commercial. Cries of "sellout" diminished. As CD sales and the marketing surrounding it began to fall into a bottomless pit, younger bands rushed to find other sources of income and publicity. The Peas were among the fastest learners of the industry's new math.
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The Black Eyed Peas: On the Record With Fuse Extendedby fergiebrvideos6616 views
Excellent post I must say.
VideoGameCoupons 1 month ago
oOoh yehaaaaaa The Black Eyed Peas The Most Corporate Band
:P
ylrahc11 1 year ago