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The Lady's Gaga For Product Placement In Her New Telephone Music Video
Posted on Fri Mar 12, 2010 04:26 PM PDT
Streamline/Interscope
Nine minutes, nine products ... Lady Gaga's new epic music video for Telephone features no fewer than nine product placements unless you count Beyonce as a tenth.
The Lady's production team was able to get lots of advertisers on board to help finance her mini movie -- which we're told had a budget of $300 - $400K!
Telephone was shot in two days and was directed by Jonas Akerlund - the Swedish music video master who has previously worked with the likes of Madonna and U2. Akerlund's rep tells X17: "Both [Lady Gaga and Akerlund] are creative geniuses, but a lot of the ideas for Telephone came from Lady Gaga."
Akerlund's rep tells us product placement, however, wasn't really part of Gaga's creative vision: "No one likes it, but it adds money to the project. These days when there's less money from the label, it helps. We're used to it."
(Gaga's label, Streamline/Interscope, has not responded to our requests for a statement.)
And Lady Gaga's definitely no stranger to creative marketing deals -- she signed on as Polaroid's creative director back in January.
Verizon sponsored her Monster Ball tour so it's not surprising a Virgin phone with their red logo on the screen has a role in the aptly-named Telephone.
Gaga's also got a branding deal with Monster headphones and, in fact, the "Heatbeats" in-ears and an HP Envy "Beats Limited Edition" laptop -- both from Monster -- make appearances in the video.
Ad Age's Andrew Hampp says both artist and advertiser win with deals like these: "... there seems to be a commitment to authenticity among her sponsors and marketing partners. For the advertisers, they get a natural extension of their advertising relationship with Lady Gaga as well as access to her fan base of millions around the world, and Gaga, her label and director Jonas Akerlund get to offset production costs for the expensive project."
One of the more surprising placements in the vid is Miracle Whip mayo (who would have thought they could work sandwich-making into a video for a track called Telephone).
Justin Parnell, brand manager at Miracle Whip tells X17 Interscope approached the mayonnaise manufacturer about a spot in the video and they gladly accepted the cash-for-casting: "When we relaunched Miracle Whip last year, we also reached out to a new consumer for the first time, 18-to-35-year-olds, with an engaging new creative campaign. We thought integrating our new package in this music video offered a chance to also engage this same group of younger consumers we want to reach. It is the first music video for Miracle Whip."
So maybe there'll be more Miracle Whip music video cameos to come! Perhaps Metallica can somehow feature sandwich-making in their next video.
Dating website PlentyOfFish is an equally surprising advertiser but their "Director of Love," Kate Bilenki, tells us it's paid off: "We've noticed a massive jump in brand awareness (if you search for us on twitter every post is about Telephone) as well as existing users returning. We did see about a 15% increase in Plentyoffish searches so far and the numbers keep climbing."
This isn't POF's first foray into what's being labeled by some as "organic marketing:" "... we had previously been integrated into a music video by Flo Rida called 'Available' and this was the next step for us after that."
It seems the next step for music video financing (and for film and TV too) is through product placement. Large endorsement deals for artists and other celebs to represent products in various OFF-screen formats are becoming more and more common as well - remember Jennifer Aniston "caught" by paparazzi with Smart Water and Lindsay Lohan covertly promoting Ariva nicotine gum?
Hampp, who's been following Gaga's promotional deals for Ad Age, says the product placements in Telephone are definitely a trend: "Product placements in music videos have risen in popularity in recent years in hip-hop culture as having name-brand cars, liquor and jewelry often go hand-in-hand with the lifestyle portrayed in the songs and their videos."
So have a Coke and a mayo sandwich while you surf the web for a date -- that is, apparently, the Gaga lifestyle!
NME's Abby Tayleure took the time to compile all the products and their minute markers:
1:34: Heartbeats earphones.
2:06: Virgin Mobile.
2:17: Diet Coke.
4:15: Virgin Mobile (again).
4:24: HP Envy ‘Beats Limited Editon’ laptop from Monster.
4:28: Plenty Of Fish dating site.
4:44: Chevrolet.
5:37: Polaroid.
6:24: Wonderbread.
6:36: Miracle Whip.
8:31: Polaroid (again)
And this isn't the first time Lady Gaga's looked for outside funding ... Bad Romance and Love Game feature as many products as does Telephone. Check those out after the jump.
Here's Bad Romance and all of its advertising glory:
0:12: Parrot by Philippe Starck.
0:18: Ukrainian vodka Nemiroff.
0:39: Heartbeats earphones.
1:59: Burberry trench coat.
2:44: Nintendo Wii.
2:45: HP Envy ‘Beats Limited Edition’ laptop from Monster.
3:28: Alexander McQueen outfit.
3:47: White Safari Carerra sunglasses
And Love Game seems to be promoting Chanel shoes and Baby-G watches:
Does the product placement in Telephone bother you?
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Lady Gaga Says New Video Is "Bloody" Good - Jul 26, 2011
Lady Gaga On Amy Winehouse's Death: "I'm Really Sad" - Jul 26, 2011
Lady Gaga On Sex: "You Should Wait As Long As You Can" - Jul 19, 2011
Comments
That video sucked!
Shitty Video. But its Virgin Mobile not Verizon.
Who cares!!! My boyfriend thinks the same with me. He- is eight years older than me, lol. We met online at an age gap dating site- A_ge_m_in_gle @ c.o.m a nice and free place for Younger- Women and Older Men, or Older Women and Younger Men, to- interact with each other. Maybe you wanna check out or- tell your friends.
what a shitty video...
THE VID SUCKS BIG BROWN HAIRY INDIAN BALLS!
yes x 17 also forgot to mention the close up of the chanel sunglasses, just like in love game where there is a close up her her chanel shoes.
There are so many cool things about that video, it's not for the average viewer though, you need an appreciation of art to get it. Art is more than music and supporting videos. The way this video is made, it's more like the song is a soundtrack for this mini movie - and why not.
This video is definately the brainchild of Ga Ga ! love her or hate her,,I Adore Her:) she's what the dull mainstream of the music business needed,,,, off the Wall ! and a Shot in the arm!!!
PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE IT TAKES ONE SECOND TO DO!
Hey guys!!! Will you please Google " Save Better off Ted" and it should be the second link down at " go petition" and you don't have to register to sign it. It stars Ellen D's wifey Portia de Rossi. It's a great show, it just didn't get a good time slot, or good promotion. Thanks so much!!!!!
You know what? With or without the ads, the video remains no good.
Does anyone at X17 EVER proofread before you post stories? Usually spelling and grammar mistakes are annoying enough, but Verizon is not in the video- VIRGIN MOBILE is. Seriously guys- make some effort to get things right.
Art? No thanks. The concept was so one dimensional and poisoning guys again? ZZzzzz
POS
Shear Genious I love it!! She is amazing and so "out there" creative. It's about time someone took some chances and tried something ORIGINAL. She's not Britney Bitch!
Stefani Angelina's music and performances are crap. She is a cheap performer (think circus clown) not an artist. Whatever the hell has happened to our ability to judge music on its merits I don't know, but I do know when I see and hear crap and Gaga is crap.
DUH! MOST OF THE MUSIC VIDEOS (and even movies!) ADVERTISES SOMETHING. HALLUER!
@10:16PM so, what is an artist to you?
Artistic? HAHAAHAHHAHAHHAHAHAHA
Tony B ...go F yourself..........FREAK. To compare Britney to Ga Ga is pure STUPDITY!! Ga Ga makes Brit look like the lip syncing CIRCUS CLOWN she is !!
Lady Gaga, Britney Spears, Madonna, Beyonce, Adam Lambert and all of the other performers getting naked or shocking on stage to feel alive, they are all exhibitionists. Allowed exhibitionnists... Their attitude is like: 'I need attention. How can I be more outragious? What next move can I do to be more controversial now?'... That's the 'heart' of their 'art', their main motivation even over music itself. Music is an accessory to them. That's how I feel about these people. It explains why they are like more performers than real artists. They are using 'art' to justify their need of showing their body. Imagine everyday people doing the same thing they do, on the streets, at work, anywhere dressing up the same way that these people do? Police arrest you right away. Claiming 'I'm an artist' won't do. I'm not judging them but I believe they have a disorder. Identity crisis. Art is not an excuse for anything. Sometimes they are acting like strippers on TV , I mean... Come on? Are you a singer or a porn star? You don't even know what you are.
SELL OUT. just like beyonce
I like GA GA´s music..but damn! this video is just horribleee!!, I knew she wasn´t beautifullll, but take a look at Love game video or Poker Face, Stop there girl!!! Now you are soo horrible Come On! this is NOT ART, its BullShittt!!!
I can't stand artists who are so full of themselves that they need to make a 9 minute video. You suck Gaga. Beyonce sold herself out for this crap.
you forgot about the Chanel sunglasses product placement. There were a few more ones then the ones listed.
Look at me I have yellow hair, I'm so creative and oryginal. She is boring. Blah, blah, blah. Next. BTW Why do ugly people wont to be naked all the time?
The cigarette thing was AWESOME!
What a Jealous people here! Find a life!
What a Jealous people here! Find a life!
Jealous of what? Of being naked? I get naked everytime I take a bath. I don't envy anybody here, dear.
other than the telephone video i didn't notice those other avertisements
Making advert not art?
Correction:
Lady Gaga makes adverts into art.
Suck my gaga, yeah? :)
"You need an appreciation of art to get it" P-lease! Art? This is no more art than the remains left in a public urinal! If you had a true appreciation for art you wouldn't even dare to call this as such. It's cheap, self-glorifying trash! Alexander McQueen was a true artist, Lady Gaga's a child with too much money and no imagination. She poorly imitates what she sees other around her are doing, but of course they do it with a darn sight more success than she'll ever know!
Forgot one, in Telephone the food Beyonce is eating is a Honey Bun (which are freakin' delicious).
This is Crazy Waay to many in my opinion. But at the same time I did'nt even notice at first.