The Tanning of America (Through Popular Culture): by Steve Stoute

Via: Tanning of America.com



As part of the promotion for Steve Stoute’s new book, The Tanning of America, Stoute has partnered with AOL HuffPost Media Group for a video series entitled, The Tanning Effect. Check out the trailer features highlights of Stoute’s interviews with Jay-Z, Pharrell, Lady Gaga, and Jimmy Iovine.



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Event: Designs by KATIYA by Katiya Babakhani (Spring 2012 Launch)

Click picture to enlarge flyer


In Toronto: Join us as we celebrate KATIYA‘s Spring 2012 Launch.

RSVP to Attend: The Launch of Katiya.Ca
Unveiling the new collection, don't miss it!!!

Goodnight Bar: 431 Richmond St West, 06.29.2011
Time/Duration: 7pm to 11pm

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A day in the life of Me: Designs by Katiya - Photo and Video Shoot (behind the scenes)

We shot some scenes along a path in a deep forest in Oakville, an assembled team of stylists, photographers, a film crew and a few friends, all of us passionately involved in the concept shoot for Canadian Jewelry Accessory Designer Katiya Babakhani (Designs by Katiya).

Setting down the gear for a minute...


Taking full advantage of the light as it flared through the forest...


It was an epic day...


The launch of the new brand image, logo and website, coming soon!!!

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Kanye West at Coachella 2011 recently: wearing DBK Collection (Designs by Katiya)

Kanye West Performed at Coachella 2011 recently, and he was seen wearing around his wrist the brand that I manage called DBK Collection. (Designs by Katiya) has newer designs coming soon at that. It's that kinda year this year...BEAST MODE!





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HIP HOP BRANDING: De La Soul will be available at 'Kid Robot' stores

Via: brokencool.com



De La Soul has teamed up with Kid Robot to celebrate the 20th anniversary of their album “3 Feet High and Rising”. The limited 3-pack of toys features all the group members (Maseo, Posdnuos and Trugoy) and will be available at Kid Robot stores on March 18th at a cost of $50

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Interview with: Donnis – (Fashionable Rappers) and how branding is a footstool

A little lesson in branding 101 and how clothing has impacted Music!

The Wisdom of Kanye West - Thank You And You're Welcome!

Available Via: Amazon.com



Kanye West comes out with his new book called "Thank You and You're Welcome" (co-authored with J. Sakiya Sandifer). It's a collection of little wisdom tidbits from the experience of a man who is currently building one of the most successful online hipster/hip hop related brands out there today.



He writes: "People always act like they're doing more for you than you're doing for them. Ask yourself the question, "Why would they do that?" Obviously, you bring something to the table for them to even do business with you".



For example: I asked someone to do a part on my album. The artist agreed and said, "I'm not even going to charge you," as if he was doing me a favor, "But, when I'm working on my album, I want you to do a verse for me." I responded with, "NO! I want to pay you for what I asked you to do and we'll talk about that verse when the time comes. Thank You And You're Welcome!"

Guilt Based Marketing...Does it make you do what it's trying to make you do?

Via: Weburbanist.com

It's called Guerilla Marketing and it has perfected the technique of catching people’s eyes and grabbing their attention, targeting consumers in unexpected ways, in unconventional places.



(Boxed Water) I’m not sure if this is a product improvement, or if it's just some sort of marketing gimmick. I know people who drink at least 8 bottles of water per day, everyone knows the co-worker whose gulping a thousand litres of water on the job, because that's what they tell you is healthy, DRINK LOTS OF WATER. But ads like these are telling people that they should start drinking boxed water, better for the environment, or just more of a gimmick?



And then...there's shit like this...lol. I don’t really ‘get’ the Bottled Water Industry. It seems like everyone has ‘the same product’, but for different reasons, people tend to ‘like’ one type over the other, I think it's all B.S.

Anti-graffiti Ad...


Ad to pressure donations...


Anti-Smoking Ad...


Pretty Drastic Measures...lol

Mike Tyson wants to write a book...

Via: NY Post


Tyson started writing while he was in prison. “Me and my cellmate would read to each other at night,” Tyson told one editor. “One night I would read out loud to him, the next night he would read out loud to me. And we would do that back and forth until the book was completed.”

Taco Bell ties in recessionary times and hip hop together

Even during a recession it's cheap food to buy...lol


The spot is called “Money in my pocket” and is now on the air. There is a 30 and 15 second version to the commercial. The beat and song was produced and performed by Producer C4 (and I'm inspired by you this year bro, but it ain't no thang...on to the next thing right?) HERE's a link to Producer C4's Blog

VLAD TV EXCLUSIVE...

Ads by way of text message...Music Artists are using text message marketing.

Rapper LiL John: “Once you get popular, you have a brand, and once that happens you have to market that brand.”

In my line of work this is called "Association Marketing" and its HUGE...with the emergence of newer technologies changing the landscape of how consumerism is translated, hip hop culture in particular is availing itself of every new technology that's out there. Never before has it been so important for music artists to focus on their ventures outside the recording studio, and they know it. In no other genre of music, has this diversification become as common or lucrative. Hip-hop fashion, footwear and accessories alone are a $2.6-billion industry and Hip Hop music is a $5-billion dollar ring tone market. Even late-blooming rap pioneers like Grandmaster Flash was said to have released a children’s book a few years ago that came with a fitness DVD.



DJ Quik said: "You've got to have an auxiliary income that far exceeds what your bread and butter is.”

$$$ Revenue is slower due to less demand - and in the world of music sales this isn't no different, layoffs within companies have hurt morale, and credit is even harder to come by - but what is truly worrisome for business owners is this question: How much should I spend on advertising? There tends to be a correlation between what is invested on advertising and the revenue that is generated. And if there isn’t, then you’ve been spending far too much on advertising.

I have heard of the coming advent of ads by way of text message, and I believe this area of marketing will expand even more with music related content. Unlike traditional advertising media, i.e. newsprint, radio, and television, text messaging can prove to be more cost effective (Just ask Barack Obama, who inspired a people-powered revolution and commanded organizers via text-messaging). This is the new age of viral marketing or what experts are calling "Social Media Marketing". I've read up on a company called Ecotextsmart (owned by parent company Salient Mobility) and they operate on a permission-based text-messaging system, urging subscribers to text in, because of incentives. Incentives typically, are things like - join our mailing list to receive discounts, sales notices, etc and it works.

This is something I'll be looking into alot more...

Product Placement: Dr. Dre and his own brand of headphones called 'beats by dre'

A company called Monster teamed up with Dr Dre and Interscope Chairman Jimmy Iovine to develop this high-end pair of headphones. This project had been 3 years in the making...to get the sound that met the perfectionist sound standards of Dr Dre. A good pair of headphones should give the avid listener a sonic quality at high volumes without any distortion, and it should give the person an isolated feeling from external noise - these headphones promise to do just that.





I've tried them on and you'd have to be deaf in one ear to not hear the difference between these headphones and, say, the industry standard in it's category (I'm trying not to diss anybody else's headphones lol). I'm around alot of studios and generally speaking, you get what you pay for with headphones just like you do with microphones, but most people would be hard-pressed, within a specific price range, to pick one brand over another. But for about $350, you simply can't beat Dr Dre's new headphones. This is smart product placement at it's best...check em out at: headphones: beats by dre

Marvel Comics - Brand New - Obama issue of Spiderman

He's expected to save the world in real life politics, and whether he'll be able to do what he's promised is a matter of debate, but he's definitely gonna move an unprecedented number of comic books off the shelf in what will become a special collectors edition, The Inaugural Special edition of Spiderman. The incoming President, who is a self-confessed Spiderman fan, will feature in a bonus story in which Peter Parker spots an Obama imposter at the President’s inauguration (which takes place on the 20th of January). “Parker decides the future president’s gonna need Spider-Man,” and will use basketball to determine the real Obama. The new comic, will be released on the 14th of January in America.


NOTE: How much larger Obama's image is in contrast to Spiderman, the question dawns on me, whose helping to market who? The pop-cultural power being attributed to this president will forever chisel him into the minds of people everywhere. And it would seem as if there is a steal for the minds and hearts of young people especially. Hopefully all of this built-up admiration and momentum will be used for positive aims. I guess you can say Barack is stimulating the economy already, weren't comic book sales down from previous years?

Jay Z - Changing U.S money for Euros

He's a rapper whose in tune with the time and what must be done...



What makes Jay-Z different from other rappers is his ability to make anything he is affiliated with relevant. He's expected to do this with the New Jersey Nets (eventhough he is not the franchise majority stake holder). Still, if he can bring out players like LeBron, just imagine what his affect on New York would be. Very casually the process of converting Knick fans is already under way. Last season, boisterous billboards for the Nets surrounded the perimeter of the Garden. Even before that, a cross marketing platform paired Net tickets with his "Kingdom Come" CD. He's always seemed one step ahead of the pack to me...especially when he did nothing more then flash a foreign currency in his video Blue Magic, sparking discussion on blogs everywhere about how even Jay thought the American dollar was worthless.



The Benjamins have gone from heroes to zeros in the last 8 years since Bush has been in power. This is what happens when you go into a fruitless war in Iraq…and Jay Z wasn't slow to adapt and change to the times. He definately sent a strong signal about how he feels about the current state of money, and that to me was the maturation of Jay Z. Jigga is the Alan Greenspan of Hip Hop, he didn't have to tell us that a stack of $50,000 in euros would equal $72,000 in U.S. currency, he only needed a few brief seconds in a video holding a briefcase filled with $500 euro notes.




And one of the last things that set him apart for me was when he got a BIG UP from the UN secretary for his water program intiatives in Africa, Quote: “My man Jay-Z has been a wonderful partner to the UN, and a champion of those in need around the world.”



That's when you can look at yourself in the mirror and say...heh I'm doing pretty damn good.

Diddy offers NYC mayor ONE million dollars, Courtesy of Diddy and Ciroc Vodka lol

Marketing Ciroc Vodka


I've missed a ton of these "Diddy Blogs" because the last one I saw was like #26. That is a lot of Diddy wisdom that I missed. Anyways, Diddy out does himself for this one...Diddy offers the city mayor of New York a 10 second - one million dollar deal...What for? to change the New Years Eve Ball to "Ciroc Blue" lol

The Times Square New Year's Eve ball


That ball is a very bright beacon for the throngs in Times Square and the millions of TV viewers around the globe, and Diddy will have to have a very well put together team of indivisuals on the street corners near by to effectually instill those 10 seconds he hopes to ingraine into people's minds with the Ciroc Brand. The preloaded give-away money-cards will create the throngs of people he'd want for the attention.

Diddy is at it again yall...

George Foreman is resilient, a true heavyweight champion in business.

George Foreman is chronicled among the greats in the pantheon of boxing, and his opinions are never far from the headlines of boxing news. George Foreman is undoubtedly one of the most recognizable names and faces in the history of the sport, and with good reason. George Foreman (the name) is a successful marketing engine that has grown exponentially; and not while he was at his height but while he was in his come-back, a renewed man with a vigor the world had never seen before. I AM IN DEMAND.Com is featuring him because of what we feel is his power when it comes to "re-invention". Foreman has known how to take adversity and turn himself into a well managed-commodity.
TV networks put the "rumble in the jungle" fight at one billion viewers worldwide, and alot of those people (Africans included) didn't know who George Foreman was, and were it not for the power of media-hype drawn by the spectacle of boxing and the allure that was then Muhammad Ali one wonders whether Foreman would have been as famous. While his loss to Ali might have been viewed as a blunder, it really was his claim to a more globalist reach. Could you lose in front of one billion people and turn that around to your advantage?



How was he a master of re-invention?

When you study the career of George Foreman intently, you realize that his greatest adversities had all come at his most opportunistic times. In his fight against Ali he suffered a six-week postponement caused when Foreman suffered a cut by his right eye during training - this was in 1979. Foreman became a credible contender again for the heavyweight title around January of 1990 after having already defeated 19 straight contenders on his road to Mike Tyson. For three years (87, 88, and 89) he took his time, honing his craft and developing his fan-base as it would grow more and more. Just when Foreman was ready for Tyson, Tyson lost against underdog "Buster" Douglas, and this literally turned the boxing world upside down - and it took Foreman's chance away, to prove to the world that he was for Tyson what Ali was for him.

With no Tyson in sight...George pursued the entrepreneurial challenge.



BIG GEORGE made a very big business move with the "Lean Mean Fat Reducing Grilling Machine" which he endorses - The George Foreman Grill. Published estimates conservatively rate his earnings at around $240 million - three times what he earned in the ring. 9 years after he couldn't get his chance with Tyson, Salton Inc bought the rights to use his name and selling skills in perpetuity for $127.5 million in cash and $10 million in stock. It stands as one of the biggest endorsement deals for any athlete. George Foreman re-engineered himself, rose from the ashes and became a true marketing success-story - and his ability to brand himself is his strongest punch.



----

I wanna give a personal shout-out to Freda George Foreman (his daughter in the picture to the far right) whose integrity I respect and whose intelligence I admire...much success to you in the new year. Check her out at: FreedaGeorgeForeman.com

Peace and longevity to the Foreman Family...

Ryan Seacrest is the new Dick Clark + Entrepreneur

Every so often as some of you know I showcase someone who I think is more then what public perception percieves them to be. TV personality Ryan Seacrest is most famous for hosting on FOX reality show American Idol, he's the guy who stands up to Simon...and now I kinda know why he does so easily...lol...Ryan is Emmy Award-nominated, a radio host, television producer, and entrepreneur. According to Forbes, Seacrest reportedly earns $32 million a year and he keeps busy doing alot of different things. Seacrest received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at age 30 and magazines call him "the American poster boy for metrosexuality and in alot of ways I see him as the modern marketed Dick Clark (a clean-cut and well dressed host). In fact he became the executive producer and co-host of Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve, and was named the legendary producer-host's eventual successor. When you can substitute host on CNN's television program Larry King Live I think you've pretty much made it. I had noticed him even more when U.S. cable channel E! announced a three-year, $21 million deal for Seacrest a few years back. This particular entrepreneur is being showcased on I AM IN DEMAND.Com because he uses his involvements as a springboard towards longer-lasting careers in television production and ownership.

Example: Ryan Seacrest is the Executive Producer for the new reality show Mama’s Boys, where 3 bachelors have the opportunity to pick and choose between 32 women…with the help of their over-protective mothers. One of the three moms cast is outrageously racist. That should make for some great TV, Right?

Seacrest's newest show...

Another Phresh Moment...Bape

I like these clean cut MA-1 Leather Bombers made by BAPE from their 2008 Fall/Winter line. Traditional black and olive green colorways are readily available, as are more interesting looks including but not limited to baby blue, purple and blue.

Bape Bomber Jackets



Phresh...

The Marketing Genius of Diddy

He poses the question to you...



Now I'm gonna break it down for all of the marketing types who are just like me. If you decide to come up with your own fragrance one day, it would be good to take a mental note of how Diddy does it...if you've read the ingredients list for I AM KING you'd crack a little smile (atleast I did) it reads a little something like this:

Cranberry, "a proprietary Imperial French berry note", premium Champagne-crème de cassis-kir royale, cooling Mediterranean water, key lime pie, and lemon cream. Other, more ordinary notes include, tangerine zest, orange, labdanum, cedarwood, vetiver, white moss (white musk?), and sandalwood.

However, after smelling I Am King, I think either Combs is trying to fool us or has been fooled himself by Estée Lauder’s perfume team of Karyn Khoury and Trudi Loren, because there’s certainly no discernible champagne (sparkle), labdanum (depth), crème de cassis (liquor-y richness) or sandalwood (or any real wood) in this fragrance, but it sure is worded nice isn't it? LOL

Scenes from his website: seanjohn-iamking.com



Irregardless of what I think...Combs is a king when it comes to marketing and self promotion; first-year sales of I Am King are expected to exceed $100 million globally. My only criticism with the marketing approach is that the ads could come across as being out of touch with the current economy, Combs maintains that it is an “affordable indulgence.” It will go into broader general release in February of 2009; and the I Am King Eau de Toilette is about $54-72; bath and body products are also available.