(VIDEO) "Brand-Dropping" Agency Comes Under Fire

by phil on Monday Sep 22, 2008 1:19 AM

Kluger Agency has come under fire lately because of an accidental "automatic" e-mail they sent to Anti-Advertising Agency's Jeff Crouse.

"I'm writing because we feel you may be a good company to participate in a brand integration campaign within the actual lyrics of one of the worlds most famous recording artists upcoming song/album," the email read, offering to place Jeff Crouse's fake brand, Double Happiness Jeans, into the songs of popular artists.

The whole episode has been posted on Jeff's blog and created the wrong kind of buzz for Kluger. However, Kluger isn't really hiding what they do:

However, the agency's website shows video examples of its product placement, with brand images and names often being repeated, pointed at, praised, or being the basis of the song. The website also advertises that "a successful 'brand-dropping' campaign will imprint [the] brand name and product into your market's subconscious".

Here is a still from the video (click it to watch the full one):

I admit, I wanted to pretend that product placement was not so brazen. But then that video reminded me otherwise. It's also kind of catchy in a Girl Talk/mash-up kind of way. Read the Wikinews article here or Watch Kluger Agency's own video.

Comments

PepsiTiger said on September 22, 2008 6:41 PM:

This practice is no secret, it's been going on for years. For brands, it's gold, for music lovers that don't understand it's always been the music "business", heat will be factor the industry will have to deal with. Kluger agency is actually a really reputable firm, I think that most of these writers think they were the first ones to "break" a big story about some huge industry "secret". That is not the case.

Gcode said on October 2, 2008 12:41 AM:

http://www.24-7pressrelease.com/press-release/kluger-agency-comments-on-product-placement-66510.php

http://ipandentertainmentlaw.wordpress.com/2008/09/24/dont-believe-everything-you-read/#comment-1846