Translation: Jay-Z knows Hip-Hoppers Don't Dance into Cell Phone Stores

Knowing your publics is top priority in the advertising business as well as the PR business. However, it is well known that advertising companies are sometimes disconnected from communities that are not of the mainstream.

Well, hip-hop mogul Shawn Carter, also known as Jay-Z, wishes to change this. Last week, Carter purchased a 51% stake in New-York based Translation advertising and will be acting as chairman. The ad agency is part of Stoute’s Translation Consultation and Brand Imaging company. According to Carter, Translation advertising will do its best to dispel myths about several key publics, specifically the hip-hop community.

Talking to reporters, Carter expressed his desire to "talk to corporate America and have them understand our voice, really. Not any satire or any type of way like that."

Correctly identifying the best way to communicate to a specific public will undoubtedly put Jay-Z ahead of the pack.

MacBook Air: Advertising vs. Publicity

While listening to yesterday's lecture, I thought that a great example of the publicity vs. advertising topic is the media surrounding the new MacBook Air.

On TV, chances are that you may have seen this commercial:



Like the Dove commercial, the Apple company has paid to advertise with this thirty second spot. They've chosen the exact content, location, and frequency. But what is not seen on TV, is the Guided Tour on Apple's Website. Here is the video:



Like we discussed in class, Apple has not paid to get this video out to the masses. All they have done is simply post it on their website. The video probably didn't cost that much to produce. Now, the video has gone viral and is all over YouTube and other video-sharing websites. I'm sure that Apple probably bet on this happening, which is great (and very easy) publicity.

On YouTube alone, there are currently 158 postings of the "MacBook Guided Tour" with hundreds of thousands of views combined. As with anything that goes viral on the web, especially on YouTube, it spreads quickly. I know that when I first heard of the MacBook Air, it was through word of mouth. Probably from someone who read/heard/saw about it online.

This contribution exemplifies the announcement of a new product (a value of publicity).