Trend: Cross-branding Rocks

Trend Description:
One of the first successful campaigns in this style was the cross branding of the VW beetle and Mac’s iPod. The concept has caught on. As car manufacturer VW continues to use the fascination of the music industry to catch the attention of a hip, young crowd, other companies are also starting to cross brand their products, adding some rock’n’roll flavor or other pop-culture related coolness to their products.

Cases:

V-dubs rock
For last winters Volkswagen campaign they partnered with guitar maker First Act. Each buyer of a new Rabbit, GTI, new Beetle or Jetta model gets a custom First Act GarageMaster guitar, that features the VW logo and a seat belt as strap. The guitar can be plugged into the car’s audio system to “rock the road”. Supporting TV spots feature John Mayer, Slash of Guns N’ Roses and Christopher Guest (as Nigel Tufnell of Spinal Tap), with original music showing how the V-dub system works. The website also features “rock god” battles and guitar lessons with Dweezil Zappa.

Levis’s RedWire DLX iPod Jeans
Levi’s new RedWire DLX iPod Jeans is another example of “rocking” the branding campaign. Remember the VW and iPod campaign? The new Levi’s have an iPod dock and controller joystick built into the pockets. Hidden in a side pocket, the dock is supposed to be almost invisible. The four-way control joystick lets consumers control track and volume without having to pull the iPod out from their pocket. Of course there is also an attached wire, which enables the wearer to pull out the iPod for viewing the screen without loosening its connection to the dock. The jeans are now available for a price of $250.

Trend Impact:
We cannot imagine marketing without music. Whether a good soundtrack or a featured pop-star, most campaigns seem to benefit by including the music industry with their campaign. As new software and gadgets also enable consumers to actively produce and mix their own music, we will probably soon see more cross-branding campaigns incorporating music gadgets, instruments, and rock-star style contests. Maybe an updated version of the VW Web site will actually enable the users to exchange segments of their favorite rock compositions, kindof like shared playlists.

V-dubs rock

First Act

VW

Levis’s RedWire DLX iPod Jeans: Picture Source

Levis Store

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