Beyonce is playing approximately no games with her comeback campaign.
With a New Years gig, Super Bowl spectacle, and HBO special all on the horizon, the tour de force has teamed up with Pepsi for the latest component of her return to the spotlight.
Details below…
Today saw the drinks giant announce their partnership with the ‘Single Ladies’ singer, a multi-year deal – encompassing commercials, music videos, tours, and much more. It’s a contract which is set to net the 31 year old millions.
Read excerpts about the unique pairing, via the New York Times, below…
In an expansion of the recent marketing experiments that have brought PepsiCo ever closer to the music industry, the company has embarked on a hybrid project with Beyoncé that will include standard advertising like commercials as well as a multimillion-dollar fund to support the singer’s chosen creative projects.
“Pepsi embraces creativity and understands that artists evolve,” Beyoncé said in a statement. “As a businesswoman, this allows me to work with a lifestyle brand with no compromise and without sacrificing my creativity.”
The campaign will coincide with a blitz of promotion for her next album, which has no title or release date so far but is expected in 2013. Sometime after she performs at the Super Bowl halftime show on Feb. 3 (also sponsored by Pepsi), Beyoncé will appear in a new TV ad — her fifth for the soft drink since 2002 — and her face will be on a limited-edition line of soda cans.
The less conventional aspects of the deal are meant as collaborative projects that indulge Beyoncé’s creative whims, and might well have no explicit connection to Pepsi products. They are still at the brainstorm stage, but could include live events, videos, “a cool photo shoot” or almost anything else, said Lee Anne Callahan-Longo, the general manager of Parkwood Entertainment, Beyoncé’s company.
For Pepsi, the goal is to enhance its reputation with consumers by acting as something of an artistic patron instead of simply paying for celebrity endorsements.
“Consumers are seeking a much greater authenticity in marketing from the brands they love,” said Brad Jakeman, president of PepsiCo’s global beverage group. “It’s caused a shift in the way we think about deals with artists, from a transactional deal to a mutually beneficial collaboration.”
The multiyear campaign is estimated at $50 million, the bulk of it for media placements and promotions around the world, and the remainder split roughly equally between Beyoncé’s fee and what Pepsi calls a creative content development fund.
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Peep the Beyonce branded (limited edition) cans which will begin appearing next year (first in Europe from March 2013)…
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Epic, epic, epic!
The branding geek in yours truly is salivating at what this already means for King B’s next project. Pepsi’s corporate muscle (and wallet) are huge and are being leveraged towards Beyonce’s new videos, tours, promotion, and a whole lot more. And not just for this upcoming “era”, but beyond.
We have yet to hear a single track, yet Beyonce continues to strut ahead of the pack, making the right power moves to ensure her iconic status becomes a reality. Now, that is diva!
At this point, all we need is for Bey to bring it as she always does musically and on-stage. Should she comply, the masses are in for one heck of an “era”.