Grammy-nominated artist Estelle Swaray will be singing to the beat of Kraft-owned Crystal Light, a brand of powdered drink mix.
Kraft is building a campaign around Swaray’s newest single titled “Star.” The campaign is centered on a Website (upumpitup.com), where visitors are entitled to a free download of the song before it is available in March for music sites.
The collaboration between the musician and the marketer is not a first. Most recently, Chris Brown integrated the product Doublemint gum in a new version of his song “Forever.”
This partnership seems to benefit both parties well, that’s why it’s becoming a trend.
“On the side of musicians,” writes Stuart Elliot from the NY Times, “marketers can help generate exposure for new songs, which struggle to gain attention because of the decline in CD sales, radio play, music video shows like ‘Total Request Live’ and retail outlets, including Tower Records.”
Elliot continues, “On the side of marketers, the trend fits in with the rise of what is called branded entertainment, by which a product seeks to link itself in the minds and hearts of consumers with movies, TV shows or songs they like. The partnership between Estelle and Kraft, for undisclosed financial terms, was arranged with Atlantic by the Ogilvy Entertainment unit of Ogilvy & Mather.”
“We believe branded entertainment needs to be developed from the brand up rather than from the entertainment down,” said Doug Scott, president at Ogilvy Entertainment.
What Scott means is for the formula to work, the branded content needs to connect with the target demographic. Scott also added that the product integration of the brand to the content should be organic.
Roxanne Bernstein—senior brand manager for Crystal Light—said that, “Ogilvy Entertainment did quite a bit of legwork,” on the potential partnership. Bernstein concludes, “There’s a really great fit that exists between Estelle and the Crystal Light brand.”