Some of the Latest Examples of Marketing With Music

Rock legend Eric Clapton has joined forces with Fender Guitars and a cell phone company to create a limited edition 3G Smartphone that comes pre-loaded with some Clapton classics as well as tunes by Wyclef Jean, Avril Lavigne and Brad Paisley. (I refuse to give the cell phone company mention here due to my horrible no-customer-service experience with them tho’ you’ll figure it out easily enough.) There is also an enter-to-win contest for a free one of these gadgets. Info here

Here’s an interesting concept partnering music-recognition app Shazam with the Dockers apparel brand. Curious to see how it, ahem, flies.

Billboard.biz reports on a slew of partnerships here

I would love to see more of these brands bring smaller, emerging acts into these campaigns! The reach is of course not as great, but with the right combination of artist & brand, the ROI of a great campaign have enormous potential. Imagine discovering a great talent, financing a tour and all that goes along with that – the promotions, the merch, the online & social networking, connecting with artists and true music fans (read: tastemakers) who are into the bands before they hit big. Imagine being part of making them big.*

And was that U2’s “Bad” heard on a TV spot for…NASCAR???

(*If you’re a brand or company interested in exploring the possibilities, contact Combo Platter.)