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Welcome to the latest trend in advertising, where television commercials aren't simply co-opting rock culture, but are helping to shape it--and Nike is the new hit maker. Nike recently helped push British rock group the Verve up the charts by using the band's single "Bitter Sweet Symphony" in its Winter Olympics advertising. Just in time for NCAA March Madness, Nike is unveiling the latest installment of its corporate soundtrack with an ad campaign called the "Evolution of Skin." At a time when wilting orders for Nike shoes have forced third-quarter earning expectations to drop, the 30-second spots hype Nike's other division--apparel. The commercials star NBA giant David Robinson, WNBA phenom Lisa Leslie and track legend Michael Johnson. They also feature new music from such unlikely ad jinglers as alternative rock's the Dandy Warhols and obscure rock's Flying Saucer Attack. The reason Nike is playing benevolent DJ to the underground is obvious. Though Nike blames its recent earning slump on Asia's weak currency, the Beaverton-based company is actually confronting a more serious long-term problem: The brand has lost its hip cachet. "There's a small but very influential segment of youth culture that people look to--to see what's cool," says Jeff Jensen, a writer for Advertising Age who is writing an article this month about Nike's marketing missteps. "These are the trendsetters, and Nike has lost them. These people hate Nike now." Jensen says the reason Nike wants to appropriate these bands is because it shows trendsetters that Nike likes the bands they like. He says Nike is encouraged by the success of the recent Verve spot, and he expects other companies to follow the trend. "Advertisers are looking for ways to be relevant and contemporary. Rather than hiring studio musicians to ape hip songs and music, they're actually able to use the hip bands themselves." Rock's underground, once a haven of anti-commercial agitators, seems more than happy to loan its songs to Fortune 500 marketing strategies. The March 19 issue of Rolling Stone reported, "It's not a question of whether artists should sell out, but how much they should sell for." "The notion of selling out is passé," says Jensen. "People just expect everyone to sell out. There's really no sacrilege alarm anymore." And companies like Nike have the money to reel in the underground. The $9 billion sports-shoe and apparel company--which spent an estimated billion dollars on marketing last year--forked over a reported $700,000 for "Bitter Sweet Symphony." The Dandy Warhols weren't nearly as fortunate, but they're happy with the deal. They got an estimated $15,000 to sell their song to Nike. Singer-songwriter Courtney Taylor says the deal with Nike was simple. "I said, 'Don't embarrass us, and give us some money,'" he says. "Now that's what I call a relationship." The local rock star says he "couldn't care less" that his music is being used to hawk Nike clothing. "Think about this," he says. "We just played a gig in Seattle that was sponsored by Marlboro, and it was an all-ages show. Look, I think people are smart enough to make up their own minds. Anybody who's stupid enough to believe a rock band...." Weirdo British rock band Flying Saucer Attack is more conflicted about commercialism than Taylor, but the group is also happy about its Nike deal. (Flying Saucer Attack, on Chicago's ultra-hip Drag City label, specializes in droning guitar feedback and slow-motion drums.) "This is either the subtlest version of capitalism to date," says Gene Booth of Drag City, "or--as a Flying Saucer fan--it's great news. Nike is using music in the mainstream that would have been unthinkable just a few years ago." Ultimately, Booth says the good of having underground music in Nike commercials outweighs the bad, but he remains skeptical. "There's definitely a trend in corporate America to access this notion of cool to appeal to the young audience, and it has been cosmetic," he says. Chris Zimmerman, Nike's director of U.S. advertising, says he understands if certain artists don't want to be part of a sales pitch. He also says Nike is not denigrating pop culture by using it in advertisements. In fact, Zimmerman believes Nike has helped create pop culture. "We created a new cultural icon with the Spike [Lee] and Mike [Michael Jordan] advertising. Here was an independent filmmaker that we brought together with youth and sports." Moreover, Zimmerman denies that the company has lost its street cred with youth or that the use of underground music is a premeditated effort to win back a demographic it may have lost. He says the music isn't even the focus of the ads. "The music itself isn't the communication. The music just makes the message clearer." The message of the new campaign, Zimmerman says, is to get people thinking about apparel in a new way. "It used to be that people didn't think about what sneaker they wore. Now they do," he says. "We want to get them thinking that way about apparel." |
