Drop It Like It's Hot

OMG favourite Snoop Dogg hit the Australian shores this week for his tour.

But no Snoop appearance would be complete without a big party - and Arnette sunglasses put it on for him last night at Sydney nightclub Nevermind.

Never has there been such hysteria at the arrival of an artist to a club! Snoop rolled up with his entourage (which included two of the biggest guys I have EVER seen), and on-cue with the DJ's announcement that Snoop was in the house, an entire room of girls in sky-high heels, and some very laid-back-looking guys suddenly lost their shit.

Snoop posed for photos as he walked in, wearing a hooded tracksuit, before being ushered to his roped-off booth, with icebuckets full of vodka and young girls in maid / nurse uniforms wearing Arnettes.


Spot the Snoop

I'm not sure who the DJ on the night was... but you'd think that if you were playing at a Snoop Dogg attended party, you'd try to vary your set, so that you weren't playing half an hour of Snoop hits back-to-back.

An interesting branding night for Arnette. Snoop is a huge name at the moment, and with the amount of publicity surrounding his entry to Australia, he's a good name to have on board from a media perspective. The uniformed girls gave out pairs of the new sunglasses range to everyone in Snoop's booth, and they had a mugshot wall where you could have your photo taken while wearing a loaned pair of Arnettes. The drinks were good, and the club was packed (But I'm guessing that the Arnette staff would have enjoyed the night more if Snoop hadn't made their Marketing Manager leave the night half way through to get him a bucket of KFC!). It's often hard to get people out to a product launch event, but with the lure of Snoop Dogg it's a hard invite to refuse - whether you're a fan or not.

ParkLOLs

Will Styles - Funktrust

The October long weekend was looking like a terrible time for an outdoor festival... it was cold, rainy, and it didn't seem like people were up for a party.

Luckily, the skies above the city remained rain-free, and Parklife went ahead without any mud, yet with the prerequisite hordes of questionable fashion (last year: fluro, headbands, group costumes... this year: heart-shaped glasses, vests, and more group costumes) and some good tunes.



I have always said that I prefer a side-show to a festival, but Parklife has always been a festival that I walk away from having had a great day. Last year's highlight headliner was M.I.A, and I knew she'd be hard to top this year.

It took FOREVER to get in, meaning that I missed Familjen's set which I was really looking forward to. I did however get to catch loads of music during the remainder of the day - some of the highlights of which were Soulwax's live show, Diplo, Metro Area and amazing sets from some of the locals (special mention to Kato for getting his gear off).
Diplo





Peaches put on an outrageous show complete with a bunch of costume changes, some of Sydney's great local dancers (Michael Boyd, Jack Mannix, Ms Fitz + more) wearing dildos and corsets, and Peaches shouting to the crowd: "Do you know how old I am? I'm 41. I could be your grandma!"

Michael Boyd




Peaches




Peaches crowd






The major disappointment of the day was Dizzee Rascal's headliner set. His stage presence was flat, and while the tent was packed with fans, it seemed to be missing energy.

Dizzee


And cheers to Fuzzy for including a bar at the festival that served cocktails, which were SUCH a nice change from cans of sugary vodka. But what happened to the recycling of cans and bottles? The park was a total mess at the end of the event - which was pretty different to Field Day, where punters were encouraged to hand in their cans for a $1 drink voucher.

Jack White's Coke dilemma

Coca-Cola is one of the sponsors of the new James Bond film, "Quantum of Solace", which opens October 31 in the UK.

The deal sees the brand teaming up with Sony Entertainment to cross-promote the film by temporarily changing Coke Zero's name to Coke Zero Zero 7. Bond will stick to martinis, and will not drink the beverage in the film; however Coke has managed to negotiate a music tie-in with Sony to use music by Jack White of the White Stripes in their advertising.

Jack White's music has been used in Coke ads previously (including the Nagi Noma directed TVC), but Mr White has said that he is not happy with his involvement in the latest Bond themed commercial.

The ad's soundtrack is White's song 'Another Way To Die', which he wrote with Alicia Keys as the theme-song to the new Bond film (this project was originally offered to Amy Winehouse, but she lost it due to her unreliability). However, White's management has issued a statement which claims that it was not his decision to license the song for use in the Coke promo.

"Jack White was commissioned by Sony Pictures to write a theme song for the James Bond film 'Quantum Of Solace', not for Coca Cola," read the statement. "Any other use of the song is based on decisions made by others, not by Jack White.

"We are disappointed that you first heard the song in a co-promotion for Coke Zero, rather than in its entirety."



This can be a risk for artists when they get involved in projects which are looking for integrated promotions. Looking ahead, integrated sponsorships are the way forward when it comes to promoting films, television and even music. Coke will give this film massive exposure through the themed Coke Zero products, while also managing to create buzz amongst their key target demographic of 20-something males.

I'm not sure what the solution is for artists such as Jack White in this position. On the one hand, Coke advertising will expose the track to an audience who may not be Bond fans. Yet it is also understandable that an artist such as White would want the fans of his music to still respect his musical/commercial decisions.

Personally, I think the promotion outweighs the fact that the fans are not getting to hear the track 'in its entirety'. Music blogs are always streaming tracks for promotional purposes, and quite often they will only stream 30 seconds or so. Similarly, if you're looking to purchase a track on iTunes, you will generally be given a short preview before needing to pay for the track to hear it in full. Let fans have a teaser through the Coke ads, and hope that they love this version of a 'preview' enough to go out and buy the track.

R.I.P Nagi Noda

Japanese creative artist and director, Nagi Noda, has sadly passed away at just 35 years of age.

Noda was the amazing talent behind Hanpanda, Coca-cola advertising, music videos (including Scissor Sisters, Tiga, Japanese pop-star Yuki, and her final video for Cut Copy's "Hearts on Fire"), and many more creative projects.

Sheila Stepanek, who represented Noda, said: "Beyond being a brilliant artist and wonderful talent, Nagi was one of the most incredibly unique spirits that I have known." She added that Noda passed "in her Mark Ryden dress, Chanel boots, perfect make-up with Viktor & Rolf lace black eye lashes."

Her creativity will be missed.


Scroll down for some examples of Noda's incredible work.

Animal hair hats:





Mariko Takahashi's Fitness Video for Being Appraised as an "Ex-fat Girl" (created for Panasonic's Ten Short Movies - Capture the Motion series for the 2004 Summer Olympics)



Nago's "clone" video for Yuki, which gave her recognition in the advertising world after she was featured in Saatchi's 2006 New Director's Showcase.



The concept from Yuki's video then inspired Coca-Cola's "What Goes Around Comes Around" (ft. Jack White)



Tiga - (Far From) Home [2006]



b+ab Spring Summer 2008