THE stimuli that dancehall artiste Vybz Kartel has given to the Clarks brand of footwear on the local market since he dropped his hit single Clarks a few weeks ago, exposes a long-standing culture where corporations benefit from urban contemporary music.
In the song, the popular singer declares his preference for the particular brand, which appears to have helped inspire hundreds of Jamaicans -- who have long had an affinity for Clarks -- to replenish their shoe stock. Shoe stores say sales of Clarks has multiplied since the single was released and an increasing number of persons can be seen donning the brand on the local party scene.
We have noticed a great up tick in sales. Everybody's coming here asking for the Clarks shoes because of the song that came out," disclosed Bhoomika, manager of Manhattan Shoes store in the Twin Gates Plaza on Constant Sping Road in St Andrew.Another retail store on Constant Spring Road, The Shoe Gallery, said they sold off an entire stock of Clarks in a couple of weeks.
"I sold out because the youngsters came here and bought them all after the song," Bob Chugani, proprietor of The Shoe Gallery, told the Business Observer yesterday. "We're getting a new shipment next month."
A pair of Clarks costs anywhere from $6,000 to $8,000 on the local market, depending on the design.
With those types of returns being attributed to his endorsement of Clarks, one can be forgiven for thinking that Vybz Kartel is somehow directly benefiting from his association with the brand. But according to the artiste, whose real name is Adidja Palmer, he's not getting any money from Clarks to endorse the product.
"I was just paying tribute to my Clarks collection," explained Palmer, who noted that he owned over 40 pairs of it.
"That is the realness of the music. It's a reflection of the life we live," he said, adding that "Clarks is a part of our Jamaican culture... It's as Jamaican as ackee and saltfish and roast breadfruit."
Indeed, product placement has been commonplace in urban contemporary music for decades - both locally and internationally. Pioneering US rap group Sugar Hill Gang popularised 'brand dropping' in songs when members voiced their love for "Lincoln Continental and sunroof Cadillac" in their 1979 hit Rapper's Delight, the first commercially successful hip hop song. Another rap group, Run DMC, followed suit in 1986 with My Adidas and since then it has become a trend for rappers and dancehall artistes, such as Beenie Man who once bragged about his new Suzuki.
In most instances they are not paid endorsements and, when put in a positive light of course, are invaluable to brand managers who get a great deal of exposure for a product without
having to use a red cent from their marketing budget.
"For an artiste to do it just to have a proper rhyme or lyrics in a song, it's invaluable to a corporate entity," noted Wray & Nephew's promotions and communications manager Andrew Price.
"Sometimes you can't pay for [that type of exposure because if you were to ask, say a Vybz Kartel, to sing a song endorsing your product, you'll have to pay him thousands, possibly millions of dollars," he added.
There is indication, however, that urban musicians in the US are cashing in on the power of their utterance. Former owner of Def Jam Records Russell Simmons purposely sought out an endorsement contract for label act Run DMC with Adidas after seeing how the group's song boosted sales of the brand within the hip-hop community, resulting in them receiving a US$1.5-million contract. Rapper Grand Puba earned himself a contract with Tommy Hilfiger after praising the brand in his song Top Gear, and more recently, another rapper, Nelly, agreed to a one-year deal with Nike for his own limited-edition sneaker, after singing about the company's famous Air Force Ones line of sneakers.
But while there is indication that the business relationship is changing fast in favour of the musicians in the US, it's moving at a much slower pace in Jamaica -- although it is indeed changing in the same direction, said music industry veteran Clyde McKenzie.
On one hand, said McKenzie, corporate Jamaica is still cautious about associating themselves with dancehall/reggae artistes.
"The corporations do understand the mass appeal that these artistes have -- Yes, you see greater use of reggae in corporate ads and so on," noted McKenzie. "But there is a fear because some of them still believe dancehall and by extension, reggae, is dysfunctional and because of that feeling, you find that they will use the music but they will refrain from using some of the artistes to really headline their stuff."
Price agreed that corporations must be prudent when selecting artistes to endorse brands. Wray & Nephew has arguably had the strongest relationship with local contemprary artistes, having signed a string of dancehall acts to endorsement deals, including Busy Signal, Macka Diamond and Tanya Stephens.
"We have had a lot of association with artistes because we know that they are role models and very influential persons in society. Whenever we ask an artiste to endorse a product is because we feel that there are some synergies between that artiste and our particular brand, and we feel that there will be some synthesis with the union," said Price.
On the other hand, said McKenzie, many of the local artistes are not savvy enough to go after endorsement deals.
"The artiste by themselves can become their own corporation and you see elements of that, but I don't think most of the artiste have fully recognise how to really deal with themselves as brands and deal with the kind of brand association that can really make them money," said McKenzie.
One of McKenzie's exceptions being Palmer, of course.
"Vybz Kartel seems to be at the forefront where he tries to get into business ventures and those things that are associated with his name," said Mckenzie.
Supporting McKenzie's assessment is the fact that Palmer, who already endorses his own line of rum and condoms, told the Business Observer that he will launch his own line of shoes -- to be called 'West Bank'.
"(That's) coming soon courtesy of the Unlimited Daggering Company, which is owned by Corey Todd and I," he said.
Serani has been busy pushing his profile on the international scene since the start of this year, following up his tremendous 09 achievements.
