Sonic Branding / Subliminal Brand Placement? by Chris Byrne
Originally published on ukhh.com in 2008
Subliminal – …2 : existing or functioning below the threshold of consciousness
(from Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary)
''A superficial clown'' – David Altschul (president of Character, a consulting company in specialising in creating / reviving brand characters) speaking on the subject of the McDonald’s brand character, Ronald McDonald (quoted on nytimes.com in 2004).
S. Craig Watkins writes in his book ‘Hip Hop Matters’ of LL Cool J’s 1997 TV ad for clothing retailer The Gap. Dressed in Gap t-shirt / jeans and a baseball cap with the unfamiliar logo of new African American owned clothing brand ‘FUBU’, midway through the 30 second ad’s lightning fast rap he drops the line “For Us By Us, on the downlow”.
In November 2007 the Australian Broadcasting Corporation's Media Watch programme exposed Australian TV channel Network Ten's use of split-second subliminal logos during the ARIA music awards (their equivalent of the BRIT awards) for sponsors including Chupa Chups, KFC and Toyota. During the October 28 broadcast, advertisers received two award categories to sponsor, from which their logo would be featured at the start and end of each nominations package. During the introductions of nominated artists, bursts of the sponsor's logo were shown multiple times (advertisements ranged anywhere from one frame per second, to four frames per second or 0.04 to 0.16 of one second, which is less than the duration of the average eye blink). The logos are not consciously perceived by most viewers and thus are banned under Australian broadcasting laws
Act 1
“And I don't wanna let you leave
Can't say I didn't let you breathe
Gave you extra cheese
Put you in the SUV”
- Extract from P Diddy’s lyrics from his June 2004 UK number one hit in collaboration with Mario Winans entitled ‘I Don’t Wanna Know’.
The idea of the subliminal ‘dis’ has been around for a while in hip hop – and it seems as though subliminal lyrical brand placement may have been around for a while too…
When I first heard Diddy’s (BK Flaming) ‘hot 16’, I thought that the line about ‘extra cheese’ was a clever line (who was the ghost writer?) suggesting generosity (“cheese” being slang for money) as well riffing on the idea popular at the time in rap lyrics that a P.I.M.P doesn’t have to wine and dine fine ‘bitches’ as they’re happy with just fast food, his company and conversation. Around 3 years later it dawned on me this might be the first example of ‘subliminal’ brand placement in music…
My definition of ‘subliminal’ brand placement in lyrics would be lyrics echoing a corporate slogan, a company’s ‘Unique Selling Point’ or ‘brand values’ (rather than the ‘old fashioned’ mentioning of brands / products directly).
It was announced in October 2004 in Adweek magazine that film production company HSI (a major music video production company) and music label Star Trak Entertainment had formed a joint venture, Strbrst (sic), which was to specialise in advertising projects with an emphasis on youth culture and music. The venture began in August 2004.
Strbrst’s first project was ad agency Crispin Porter + Bogusky (CPB)'s "Have It Your Way 04" ‘Public Service Announcement’-style TV ad campaign for Burger King’s featuring celebrities discussing why voting is important. Strbrst solicited the talent that starred in the work, which included P. Diddy. Star Trak founder (‘super producer’ / Neptune) Pharrell Williams created the music for the five ads.
In 2004, as part of a wider ‘retro’ trend in U.S. advertising, Burger King returned to their “Have It Your Way” slogan in their TV ad campaigns. Russ Klein, BK's chief global marketing officer, said on usatoday.com that the switch was long overdue. Research had indicated “Have It Your Way” was still the theme that resonated most despite more than a few dollars spent on other campaigns over the past 30 years.
BK's vintage slogan also fitted well with the current emphasis in modern pop culture on individuality stated Andrew Keller, the creative director of Miami-based CPB, "At a time when self-expression and mass customisation are critical elements of culture, the line makes total sense," Keller said.
BK's ad slogan, “Have It Your Way” was created in 1974. The line summed up the difference with rival McDonald's – the Unique Selling Point - the idea that you can order “extra mayo” with a burger as opposed to the Fordist
standardised fodder at McDonalds. But it was cast by the wayside in favour of many forgotten themes like ‘Best Darn Burger’ (1978), ‘Burger Town’ (1986), and ‘The Whopper Says’ (2001).
In 2006, Burger King announced that it had partnered with Sean “Diddy” Combs on a multi-year cross-marketing partnership that includes the launch of a "Diddy TV" channel on the YouTube online video service. The channel was to feature tracks and video clips from Diddy’s "Press Play" album. Under the deal, Combs was to appear in a BK ad campaign, while the restaurant chain sponsored a nationwide promotional tour for the album.
Act 2
"You want it your way at BK ... You Got It!”
– Burger King Advertising Slogan From the 1990’s.
‘There's always like subliminal meaning with a lot of my [music], but there was no subliminal nothing with these records. These records were straightforward; they were straight from the bottom of my heart. "Back in the day when my clouds was gray and it seemed like my angels couldn't blow them away" — that was real.”
- Pharrell Williams in an interview on mtv.com speaking on his 2006 debut solo album ‘In My Mind’ which starts with the song ‘Can I Have It Like That’. He is quoting from one of the verses from the latter song which was
also the first single from the album.
“Can I have it like that? / You got it like that”
- the refrain / chorus of Pharrell Williams’ 2005 song ‘Can I Have It Like That’ (featuring Gwen Stefani)
The above exchange between Williams and Stefani is repeated 18 times in the song (beating the 16 repetitions of the phrase “Pass The Courvoisier” in the song of the same name by Busta Rhymes etc). It’s no great leap of the
imagination to imagine those two lines as a common dialogue between staff and customers in U.S Burger King restaurants. I won’t mention the flames as a visual subliminal in the video because they might be considered to be generic in music videos but in this context? Film production company HIS did the video.
Why Pharrell?
It was reported on guardian.co.uk in February 2004 that an August 2003 survey of British radio found that nearly 20% of songs played at that time were Neptunes productions. A similar survey in the US reported on theage.com.au in 2004 had them at 43% - surely an unprecedented domination of the airwaves?
It was reported in an observer.co.uk interview with Pharrell in 2005 that the song ‘Can I Have It…’ was initially designated for P Diddy …
Act 3
"Is this the place to eat? Since I don't cook, I'll just rock to the beat. I'm lovin' it.
At the end of the day, to relieve the stress, we add a little play. I'm lovin' it."
– Unknown rapper on McDonalds “I'm Lovin It” 2003 US TV ad (featuring Justin Timberlake on the hook).
It was reported in Advertising Age magazine in August 2003 that McDonalds were paying Justin Timberlake $6 million to appear in their first global advertising campaign. ''I'm Lovin' it'' was intended as an upbeat
expression that a meal at McDonald's ''is one of the simplest pleasures of daily life,'' said Jürgen Knauss, chief executive at the McDonald's roster ad agency that developed the slogan, Heye & Partner on nytimes.com in 2003.
Joe Mandese wrote on mediapost.com in 2006 about the ‘I’m Lovin' It’ theme, “The theme broke first as a McDonalds brand slogan and was quickly followed by the release of Justin Timberlake's rendition of the ‘I’m Lovin' It’ song” (organised by Steve Stoute and created by Pharrell Williams and Timberlake) from which an advertising jingle was made. This new five note musical ‘meme’ was also made available to consumers as a mobile phone ringtone – presumably for ambient branding purposes. It was reported on businessweek.com in 2007 that the ‘I’m Lovin It’ jingle had been incorporated into a song by Taiwanese recording artist Leehom Wang.
The video for Timbaland’s recent single “The Way I Are” if you view it on the official Timbaland site is "presented by McDonald's Double Quarter Pounder" (Timbaland and Timberlake are regular collaborators). This as Nate Patrin noted on pitchforkmedia.com fits the song's "I am broke yet I love you" theme if you act on the assumption that people of modest means may tend to gravitate towards low-cost fast food when courting, or maybe under a different assumption that a post-MTV music industry may require videos to be ‘subsidised’ by sponsors if billionaire lifestyles are to be maintained.
This song at first I thought to be a refreshingly anti-materialistic paen to the joys of pure romantic love, with neat ironic(?) mentions for the ‘charity’ credit card Red American Express alongside Visa. When I found out that the song was used in a McDonalds ad it then seemed to be at some level (at least in the context of the ad) a song praising the simple, inexpensive and uncomplicated nature of a meal at Mickey Deez –perhaps encapsulating the ‘brand values’ of McDonalds. This was before I read about that the “I’m Lovin’ It” theme was supposed to encapsulate the idea that one of the ‘simple pleasures’ of daily (yes, daily in America) life was a Murder Burger with Freedom Fries and a gallon of Coke. Lyrics from the song used in the ad include “I ain't got no money / I ain't got no car to take you on a date” The voiceover for the ad states that this half pound of beef with cheese is “classic”, has “flavor” and that “some things that are old school never lose their cool” …
Act 4 – The Grand Finale
"I like the Whopper, fuck the Big Mac!”
- Rob Base & DJ E-Z Rock: “It Takes Two” (1988)
Are Diddy, Williams, Timbaland etc now ‘satellite brands’ for their burger vendors of choice? Is this both in Williams’ case? If so, this may well have enhanced the commercial value to advertisers of what might be labelled
‘subliminal advertising’.
Trying to calculate the commercial value to advertisers is difficult. To put it into context we have an analysis of the commercial value of the song ‘Pass the Courvoisier Part 2’ by Busta Rhymes featuring P. Diddy and Pharrell (naturally of course!) from 2002 (which could be considered to be almost an ad due to the prominence of the brandy brand in the song):
“Imagine the cost of a five-minute commercial on radio or television that runs with a frequency of at least once every hour depending on popularity. In 1990, a 30-second daytime network commercial cost an average of $15,600... Even without inflation and network specificity, the cost for a five-minute commercial must be at least $156,000 for a single airing.
If it ran over 600 times like the Courvoisier video, the total cost for the company would have to be at least $93.6 million.”
- Monika Ellis from her article “Suminfonutin: The Booty of Free Advertising via the Hip Hop Name Drop” from the Words. Beats. Life journal 2004 on
www.wblinc.org Since the above analysis we have seen the rise of Internet TV in the Western world. One of the YouTube versions of the Timbaland video (with the McDonalds introduction image) had viewed been 30 million times worldwide in 5 months as of November 07.
There are regulations in force forbidding audiovisual subliminal techniques in EU advertising. The Audiovisual Media Services Without Frontiers Directive states: “audiovisual commercial communications must not use subliminal techniques”.
Is Pharrell’s ‘Can I Have It Like That’ (if it was a paid prominent subliminal lyrical reference) an ‘audiovisual commercial communication’ or a song in terms of the law?
The content of ‘Normal’ music (as opposed to ‘audiovisual commercial communication’) unlike the media of traditional advertising, TV, video games, radio etc is not regulated by law in the UK.
Subliminal lyrical references (if they exist) to products / brands (unlike lyrical product placement) arguably cannot be bleeped out of songs by broadcasters because they are ‘part of the song’. As subliminal lyrical references do not depend on the medium of video (unlike many conventional product placements for cars etc) they cannot be ‘pixelated out’ by TV broadcasters and as such is contingent to any future regulations regarding product placement in music (video). Subliminal advertising may be more important to advertisers in the future as it is thought that the younger generations are more avoidant of traditional media such as TV and radio than previous generations as well as the broader ‘issue’ of ad avoidance generally.
Subliminal lyrical references (as well as old fashioned lyrical product placement) are possibly most important to fast food and soft drink manufacturers in the UK as the advertising of food and drinks product high in sugar, fat and salt (known as HFSS) targeted at those under the age of 16 (arguably their traditional target market) from 2007 is now heavily regulated by Ofcom, the Advertising Standard Authority ’s co-regulatory partner for broadcast advertising and should not:
- encourage poor nutritional habits or an unhealthy lifestyle;
- encourage excessive consumption
- use celebrities or other characters (eg cartoons) popular with children.
Ronald McDonald is now redundant. As of 1 April 2007, advertisements for HFSS products were no longer allowed in or around programmes for (pre-school) children or that are likely to be of particular appeal to children aged four to nine. From 1 January 2008, advertising for HFSS products will no longer be allowed in or around programmes that are likely to be of particular appeal to children aged four to fifteen. Then from 1 January 2009 the exemption for dedicated children’s channels will end and thereafter full implementation will be required.
The immersive nature of music might make it a perfect tool for transmitting ideas, “When you are drawn into someone’s story, the more likely [you are] to absorb the message of the story, whatever that happens to be.” said Dr. Richard Gerrig, professor of psycholinguistics at New York’s Stony Brook University to Jonathan Rubin in an article on medill.northwestern.edu in October 2007.
Gerrig stated that normally we exert a type of mental effort to analyse stories being told to us. However, when we are ‘immersed’ in something, our defenses are ‘down’ and the message can get through more easily - how persuasion works in a nutshell. “The content is getting into your database without you doing anything to hamper the process” said Gerrig.
Post Script
In some of the press photos for UK rapper Lady Sovereign (who is almost always photographed wearing Adidas clothing and footwear) she has a 3 stripe (a trademark of Adidas) ‘cane row’ type hairstyle. She has a relationship with marketers at Adidas (though no reported official endorsement and I have been informed by her manager that Adidas have never styled her hair) – it was reported on contactmusic.com in March 2007 that she asked them to design a special tracksuit for her to wear to her sister’s wedding. Maybe this is part of Sov ‘fishing for an endorsement’ ala Lethal Bizzle in the video for Fire Camp’s 2005 song ‘No’…
The breathtaking cynicism / promotional opportunism of Pharrell Williams can be seen in an interview with Craig McLean (published July 2007 on telegraph.co.uk) on the subject of the 2006 Concert for Diana at Wembley Stadium:
McLean: Was the prince [William] talking last summer about a concert for his mother?
Williams: 'I was talking to him about something that I was doing. And we needed a purpose for it. I was promoting my record at the time, and I wanted to perform at the Palace. So he was going to get permission from the Queen Mother [sic].'
McLean: Did that happen?
Williams: 'Well, I guess it did. But it needed purpose. My album wasn't enough.'
Maybe Pharrell as an innovator in sonic branding (as well as subliminal lyrical references?) has learnt from the experience of Jade Jagger, who has been reported as his past ‘on-off girlfriend’ in the UK press. Her arguably
very unsubtle product ranges as creative director for the jeweller Garrard (‘gangsta’ diamond-studded revolver pendants ala Ice T etc) alongside some ‘disruptive’ advertising from agency M&C Saatchi may have helped contribute to Garrard losing their status as Crown Jeweller to the Queen.
It was reported on
www.guardian.co.uk in November 2002 that Garrard’s efforts to modernise its image with an ad campaign featuring rap star Missy Elliott amongst others, had seen its efforts backfire in a big way after it was ordered to pull the campaign. M&C Saatchi created a campaign featuring the likes of Elliott and actor Rupert Everett with their own versions of the royal coat of arms. Elliott’s ad stated "Garrard & Co ... by special appointment to Missy Elliott". Missy's coat of arms included two foxes, three flies and many diamonds.
The spoof warrants annoyed the Royal Warrant Holders Association, which grants the warrants and ordered Garrard to stop the campaign, saying it was in bad taste.
Then in July 2007 it was reported on dailymail.co.uk that Garrard had been told its services were no longer required by Buckingham Palace, For more than 150 years, Garrard of Mayfair had carried the responsibility of being the Crown Jeweller (Garrard was to retain its three Royal Warrants to the Queen, the late Queen Mother and Prince of Wales.) The decision was announced in a Court Circular, which said the Queen was 'pleased to appoint' Kent based jeweller Harry Collins.
"Maverick" comes to us from Samuel A Maverick (died 1870) an American pioneer famous for not branding his cattle. "Maverick" originally referred to any unbranded range animal, especially a motherless calf. Now its most
common usage is its political meaning.
- Explanation of the origin of the word ‘maverick’ from
www.theregister.co.uk in 2006. The traditional way of
‘branding’ animals is to burn a mark on them using a hot iron.
