Welcome to the jingle

Indie rock band fall out boy was born out of boredom in a suburban Chicago basement in 2001. Last year, when the group launched another hit music video Thnks fr th Mmrs, the already popular group shot into fame for two reasons: One, because nobody could figure out how many chimpanzees featured in the video; and, two, because a partnership with Procter & Gamble offset costs of the video.

In a first-of-its kind deal Procter & Gamble (P&G), which owns Tag All Nighter (a deodorant body spray aimed at young men), tied up with the band’s label, Island Records. Tag essentially underwrote the cost of downloads for a limited time and put a message to that effect on the band’s web site. Tag also promoted the band in advertising and helped offset the cost of making the video.

P&G recently did something similar in India. Along with SaReGaMa, the company launched a music video titled Head & Shoulders Bedhak Bade Nazdikiyan which features actress Kareena Kapoor, the ambassador for the brand. While the product is nowhere to be seen in the video, the Head & Shoulders logo is displayed at regular intervals. P&G bore the cost of making the video as well as that of the advertising spend. At a time when music labels are feeling the heat from piracy, decreasing sales numbers and reduced promotional costs, such tie-ups SaReGaMa had a similar alliance before this with Parachute Advanced’s ‘Gorgeous Hamesha’ campaign, which stars Deepika Padukone. Brooke Bond Taaza also launched a music video titled Taaza ho le on similar lines.

SaReGaMa says it has received offers from more brands for such tieups. But the question is whether it makes sense to actually create such videos in India. “We are not getting it right,” says Channel [V] head honcho Amar K. Deb. “You either need to have a great brand with which a viewer can connect or you need to have content which the viewer will remember you by. If you are losing on both the counts, you should not be doing such a product placement,” warns Santosh Desai, CEO, Future Brands.

— Pallavi Srivastava