Are musicians the new target for brand growth?

By Harvinder Saggi 

All brands and companies have their own uniques ways in connecting with their consumers. Some will give away free items in a contest, others will offer discount coupons to push incentive for consumers to come and purchase their merchandise. Then there's also a lot of companies who use personal figures to connect with the audience they are trying to attract. Not that long ago it was solely athletes that were the face of many sport apparel brands like Nike, Adidas, Puma, Reebok, etc. This all made sense too, if you're a brand thats offering apparel to be active in, it makes sense to have athletes promoting the merchandise because it's practical. Many of these companies would sign deals with famous athletes that many consumers were fond of in a tactic that would connect the audience with their favorite players. Although now this tactic is not exactly the same. As time has progressed and culture begins to change, companies are learning to adapt and learning new ways to keep up with the new digital era.  

In doing so there has been a vast transition on the type of people that these companies work with. Just last year the rap/hip-hop industry overtook the rock and roll genre as the most popular music genre in the country. This was an extremely big deal as this has never before occurred. Rappers and hip-hop artists continue to be the eye of the public. So it only makes sense that these companies like Nike and Adidas have begun targeting these artists to promote their products. Kanye West has probably been the most influential in this transition with his collaborations with Adidas and creating the Yeezy Brand that so many people throughout the world flock to get their hands on. 

Kanye West has played a tremendous role in revolutionizing the Adidas brand and helping the brand climb back to the top of most popular brands amongst the athletic apparel world. Through the use of his digital media popularity and vast following he has converted many people back onto the Adidas line. 

This trend is being seen with many other musicians as well. You have many musicians wearing specific shoes on their social media accounts which drives more traffic to those brands and results in more consumer purchase. There is Pharrell who also has his own line with Adidas, then there is The Weeknd who has a deal with puma, and Future who has a deal with Reebok, and so on and so on. As you can see this trend is becoming very common. Rappers and hip/hop artists are currently sitting on the biggest stage in our era and it sport apparel brands are making sure to take advantage of this popularity in every way they can. The act of these musicians promoting these brands through their own social media account is opening a market that wasn't as accessible to these sport apparel brands in the past. I don't even think we can even consider them just sports apparel brands anymore, they are evolving in the same way music is evolving and certainly making the proper changes that need to be made to keep up in this digital media era.