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Music-Based Advertising Since the early ass’s, the sneaker industry has become one of the most competitive industries on the planet. Tennis shoes went from sporty function to high fashion and became icons among pop culture demographic. Professional athletes, rappers, break dancers, and the general youth were the main reasons for the outbreak of sneakers in the fashion industry. Sneakers became one of the most sought after accessories not only In America, but all around the world.
Actors or professional athletes were once the primary sources of advertising for maker companies. Actor Will Smith advertised for the French sneaker brand La Coo Sportier on his sitcom The Fresh Prince of Bell-Air, which appealed to a young African American audience. Mike brand signed NAB rookie shooting guard Michael Jordan and began a series of Air Jordan sneakers to attract aspiring, young African American athletes. Executives of the basketball shoe company Converse signed a deal with basketball legend Larry Bird to target white basketball fans of all ages. Just For Kicks: Documentary On The Sneaker Culture” demonstrates a change In advertising, a hang that relies heavily on music to attract a specific demographic. In 1 983, just while becoming one of the most popular rap groups across America, Run-D. M. C. Made a fashion statement by wearing Ideas tennis shoes with no laces. They even made a song titled “My Ideas” and started a fashion trend among the hip-hop community. Ideas Marketing Director Angelo Anastasia witnessed the widespread popularity of Ideas tennis shoes when thousands of fans took off their Ideas and raised them In the alarm at a Run-D.
M. C. Concert. As a result, advertisers of the conservative athletic shoe brand Ideas signed Run-D. M. C. , who appealed to fans of the hip-hop culture. Their $1. 000,000 endorsement deal became the first shoe deal ever made with a rap group. Following Run-D. M. C. Came a generation of rappers and music artists who claimed their own brands and talked about sneakers in their songs. Solo rapper Fresh Gordon responded to Run-D. M. C. ‘s “My Ideas” with a single called “My Fill”, a strategy that boosted sales of the tennis shoe brand Fill. Fresh
Cordon’s advertising of Fill sneakers gained the attention of the youth culture, primarily because he was a young new rapper who kids were able to relate to. He rapped about everyday problems, teenage life, and sneakers, which jumpstarted the Fill fashion among thousands of teenagers across the country. Another demographic that major shoe corporations tried to target during the ass’s and ass’s were skateboarders. The white rap group Beastie boys obtained a skate-punk fan base by promoting the wear of the Ideas Campus II, a skateboarding sneaker.
The Beastie Boys advertised the Ideas Campus II in their music videos by doing various skateboard tricks in the highlighted shoes. Even though they were a rap group, they attracted a lot of skate-punk fans who followed the trending rappers and bought Ideas Campus Sis’s. This boosted the sales of Ideas sneakers even more, since they now attracted the interest of the skateboarding culture along with the hip-hop of popular music artists such as Run-D. M. C. Fresh Gordon, and The Beastie Boys, advertisers of major sneaker corporations used the popularity of these musicians tit different social groups to create a new development in music-based advertising. This new type of advertising is used to sell many other products such as clothing, drinks, and cars. Music has become the basis for advertisement because it relates to certain demographics on a national level. The transition from traditional advertising to music-based advertisement has become a major development the past couple of decades and will lead to an even more advance form of advertisement in the near future.