Marketers Using Song Hooks to Snag Tweens
Claude Brodesser-Akner
Advertising Age
April 17, 2008
LOS ANGELES (AdAge.com)
-- Late last January, "High School Musical" ingenue
Ashley Tisdale entered a Los Angeles music studio to lay
down four new tracks. The odd thing: When Ms. Tisdale
opened her mouth to sing, she wasn't recording a
follow-up to "Headstrong," her album that's sold nearly
a half million copies worldwide; she was actually
selling deodorant.
Starting this June, those new tracks -- covers of '80s
bubble-gum pop such as Cyndi Lauper's "Time After Time"
and Belinda Carlisle's "Heaven Is a Place on Earth" --
will become exclusively available via Unilever's Degree
Girl brand deodorant website. Each of the four deodorant
scents will carry a pass code for a free song download.
Marketers change their tune
Ms. Tisdale's new arrangement with Unilever reveals much
about the oddly and increasingly intertwined futures of
the personal-hygiene business, tween stars and the
record industry, as well as the changing role that
media-buying companies play in telling a brand's story.
"We know that with both Gen X and Gen Y consumers, music
is their No. 1 passion point," said Brad Gelfond,
VP-brand partnerships and asset development at Warner
Bros. Records. "But we also know that they don't always
want to buy it."
Mr. Gelfond noted that one of Warner Bros.' biggest
acts, Linkin Park, had recently offered subscription
webisodes of behind-the-scenes footage of the band on
tour and in the studio. While the free previews of the
Linkin Park material on social-networking sites such as
MySpace and YouTube racked up views in the tens of
millions, paid downloads garnered only a tiny fraction
of that amount.
Said Mr. Gelfond: "People want content to be free. With
that in mind, we still need to monetize it. So,
partnering with a brand is an interesting way to do
that."
New avenues for growth
Meanwhile, for companies in the $10 billion-a-year
business of keeping the Western world free of body odor,
sales of deodorant among adults have plateaued.
According to a March report by Global Industry Analysts,
deodorant sales in the U.S. and Western Europe are
"'mature,' and have reached 'saturation,' so future
growth will be driven by gender-specific formulations,
coupled with distinct packaging and enhanced
advertising."
But the fickle nature of tweens and the fractured media
landscape they run through requires a different
approach.
"In this new world, ad agencies do not own the creative
relationship with the client anymore," said David Lang,
president of Mindshare Entertainment, North America.
"They own the advertising relationship, but these sort
of branded-entertainment initiatives are a different
skill set: It's about using different platforms and a
different type of storytelling."
From now through May 26, fans of Ms. Tisdale's can visit
DegreeGirl.com to catch up on her latest news through a
weekly video blog; share what Unilever refers to as "OMG!"
moments via video; or post their stories to an online
blog to enter a contest to meet Ms. Tisdale and attend
an exclusive concert. Come June, the free downloads and
an exclusive ringtone become available.
The success of the Disney franchise she helped
popularize is nothing short of astonishing: "High School
Musical 2" grabbed 17.3 million viewers in the U.S.,
making it one of the highest-rated basic-cable
broadcasts in U.S. history; another 17.5 million viewers
watched in Asia.
Clean kids
The appeal of the "HSM" stars, of course, isn't just
that they're plugged in to tweens. Unlike many in
Hollywood's former teen-star firmament who are in rehab,
court, jail or all three, the new Disney set are -- so
far, at least -- as squeaky clean as the hygiene
category: Ms. Tisdale has publicly vowed that she
doesn't drink, and with most 12- to 14-year-olds relying
on parents to pay for their personal-care products, a
mom-friendly spokesmodel doesn't hurt, either.
Stan Rogow, the manager for "HSM" alum Corbin Bleu (who
began endorsing the Hasbro Tooth Tunes Musical
Toothbrush), said: "It's a nice to reach out to the
audience and get them to do something that's good for
them. And if it gets kids to keep a brush in their mouth
for a couple extra minutes, why not? If you'll pardon
the pun, it's good, clean fun."