NBC is enlisting celebrity musicians to sound its G-E-C notes in the next phase of its
Chime In branding campaign
. The network taped spots last week with B.B. King, the B-52s, T.I. and Clint Black, among others. The promos will begin airing around the Thanksgiving holiday.
“For us it was a fun way to keep the brand relevant to the broad constituency that NBC serves with our programming and to re-imagine these three notes through the voice of musical artists,” said Adam Stotsky, president, NBC Entertainment Marketing.
Each artist will interpret the notes in their respective milieu. B.B. King will make give the notes a bluesy twang on his guitar. The B-52s will put a pop spin on them. At the shoot last week, T.I. conceived his own rap about NBC.
For NBC’s marketing executives, King was the first domino.
“B.B. really loved the idea,” said Stotsky. “Getting him to tape [a spot] really became the calling card for us to reach out to other artists.”
For the artists navigating the download driven world of music sales, exposure is key.
“I think musicians and their management are becoming really quite innovative in the partnerships they strike to expose their music and connect with a prospective buying audience.”
Once the spots begin airing, added Stotsky, “we expect there to be a lot more reactive interest.”
