Left Right & Centre » Branding http://leftrightandcentre.net Clips and cuts of creative communication. Musings about the modifying mass of media. And acerbic and acrimonious alliterations as well. Thu, 04 Feb 2010 10:28:44 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.4 en hourly 1 music and advertising: from audi to zippo http://leftrightandcentre.net/2008/07/21/music-and-advertising-from-audi-to-zippo/ http://leftrightandcentre.net/2008/07/21/music-and-advertising-from-audi-to-zippo/#comments Mon, 21 Jul 2008 15:12:36 +0000 grr http://leftrightandcentre.net/?p=9 A while ago, it was announced that Euro RSCG had bought a majority stake in The:Hours. At first I was excited. An advertising agency buying a record company! Non-traditional thinking! Convergence! Bring it on! I like all these new business models; they’re new, they’re different and, who knows, they may even work. 
But now I feel a bit weird about it. I’m not sure I completely get it.  

Why exactly is Euro RSCG doing this? In the press blurbs, they talk about ‘access to artists’ and ‘future-facing business models’. Now, The:Hours is not a traditional label; it also does ‘music content production’, like this. But if the advertising industry needs better/cheaper/quicker access to music creators and the copyright on songs, surely they could have bought a specialized music production agency. 

And I don’t get the fact they’re interested in a record label. If the plan is to discover the new Justin Timberlake, so McDonalds will háve to come to Euro RSCG for their new version of ‘I’m lovin’ it!’, then that’s quite risky, no? 

I know music is extremely important for brands and the last few years the trend has been shifting towards custom content (remember the Nike/James Murphy, Nike/Cassius and CocaCola/Jack White collaborations), but I’m just not 100% convinced by this one. 

What am I missing? Enlighten me!

]]> http://leftrightandcentre.net/2008/07/21/music-and-advertising-from-audi-to-zippo/feed/ 2