Soulja Boy, Have a Coke and Bombay Sapphire?

Soulja Boy is clearly the king of streaming video.  With over 500,000 million views to date on sites like YouTube, MySpace and Facebook, Soulja Boy has taken the digital frontier by storm and has left all other artists in the dust. Unfortunately, however, his music label has just recently begun to monetize his content by way of a new strategic practice that industry is now espousing.  This practice is being referred to as Hyper Targeted Ads and the science has been far from exact. Interscope Records, a division of the Universal Music Group, has worked out a business arrangement with YouTube that generates revenue for videos played on the community video site through targeted layered ads.  These advertisements are graphically embedded on the music videos.  The artists have no control or say in the advertising and many do not even receive a share of the revenue. Recently, I clicked on YouTube to view Soulja Boys Crank Dat video and was shocked to find that YouTube had embedded a Bombay Sapphire ad targeting Soulja Boys audience and fans.  Not only was Soulja Boy 17 years old when he made the video, but likewise, his fans demographics are skewed heavily towards teen-agers.  In fact, Soulja Boys manager, Mr. Collipark, even has his own children in the video and an ad insert layered over his kids promotes recipes for mixed drinks containing Bombay Sapphire. Understandably, the nascent online video industry is struggling to find ways to monetize short form or snackable video content on broadband devices worldwide.  Nevertheless, placing alcohol ads on youth-driven content is not the way to build global online ad confidence.  Artists like Soulja Boy are a brand, and if this greed meets stupidity advertising approach persists, the character of similar brand/artist entities will be tarnished due to online companies desires to build their valuations. Music Video Director Dale Rage Resteghini has produced and directed all of Soulja Boys music videosall of which have climbed to the top of virtually every music video chart.   His goal was to create high quality videos and build strong brand appeal.  When YouTube started layering hard alcohol ads within the videos, this creates mass confusion for the audience. Sadly, this reminds me of old industry, where they take a young, successful man who came from the projects and built his empire one brick at a time and uses a vice like alcohol to define him, said Resteghini when asked about the advertising practices.  Soulja Boys brand is bullet-proof when it comes to the content he delivers and the image he delivers until an irresponsible company begins to tarnish it with poor advertising  basically, they are thinking only with their check books and could care less about the artists or the content that built their site. The new digital syndication economy is in its infancy and leaders of the content space like Soulja Boy need to be treated with the utmost respect.  These artists are the reasons why the YouTubes of the world exist.  A technology is nothing unless there is content for users to enjoy. In the future, I predict that artists will begin to treat their music videos like little movies in which they take a vested ownership interest, utilizing them as revenue generators and promotional tools, as opposed to simple marketing pieces.  Soulja Boy has delivered more views than three Superbowls combined in the US.   This should mean something for the advertisers, but if companies continue to apply inconsiderate, poorly conceived ad placements without the expressed consent of the artists, the industry is bound to stalland continue to tarnish artists brands. About Global Digital Syndication (GDS) Global Digital Syndication (GDS) connects Hollywood studios, music labels and top-tier talent in the entertainment industry with brands in the new media space.  GDS distributes the branded content through new media distribution platforms from mobile to OEM embeds which touch over 3.6 billion people worldwide.  The content is primarily "snackable" (short form) content. /contact: Jonas Hudson . Global Digital Syndication . 310.200.4570  .  digitalsyndication@gmail.com


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Global Digital Syndication (GDS) connects Hollywood studios, labels and talent in the entertainment industry with brands in the new media space. The content is primarily "snackable" (short form) content.

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