Rising popularity of grime is no secret in music industry and don’t brands know about it? What was once assumed as an outsider is now disrupting mainstream media. Brands are well aware of current trends and pop culture. And because culture is something fluid and it changes from time to time from trend to trend also brands are adapting and evolving alongside the culture.
Brands can represent who we are, where we live, what music we listen to, what TV show we love etc. Now they know that we do love listening to grime and decide to invite the power player into the game. According to academic study “Grime is the most significant musical development within the UK for decades… powerful and disruptive as punk” (BBC Newsbeat, Steve Holden, 11/10/2017). 2,000 general music fans were questioned for the report:
73% are aware of grime
43% listen to grime
22% were fans of grime
13% attended grime gigs
(BBC Newsbeat, Steve Holden, 11/10/2017).
Brands can no longer ignore the fact that grime has become popular among young people. “One study suggests that: For(consumers) them, the more a brand symbolizes their culture, the stronger the relationship they form with the brand (Handbook of Culture and Consumer Behaviour, Sharon Ng, Angela Y. Lee, 2015, p281).
Relationships between brands and grime have reflected mainly in fashion. However, it is not impossible to see the future collaborations between other sectors such as food and drinks. It is indisputable that grime opens a new way of communication between brand and their audience “who now represent a large part of the young demographic in the UK completely influenced culturally in their political views, fashion sense and attitudes” (Disrupt Marketing, 01/11/2017).
Nike “Nothing Beats a Londoner”
In February Nike has released a new advert “Nothing beats a Londoner”. Although this ad is no longer available due to legal issues over the abbreviation of ‘LDNR’, many considered the advert as masterpiece.
Created by Wieden+Kennedy, the idea of Nike’s new ad campaign was to represent diversity in the capital city. It “captures and celebrates young people’s view of living, training and pursuing their passion in this most multicultural of cities” (The Drum, Steve Vranakis, 16/02/2018). It was fun, relevant but most of all inspired and highly influenced by grime scene and its artists such as Skepta, Giggs etc. Guess what Stormzy is missing here, because he endorses Adidas.
Nike cleverly injected grime style into its blood veins in order to appeal and relate to young consumers. On the other hand, it failed to represent London’s large demographics- South Asians. Therefore, it can be argued that Nike did not reflect London’s diversity in full spectrum. Moreover, people outside of London might have found it upsetting. What about nothing beats people from Manchester, Liverpool etc.? There are many more issues that Londoners have to face not just “running through Peckham”, there is a rising price of affordable living, homeless people on the capital’s streets and many more.
Nevertheless, we will witness more grime-brand collaborations, because brands are no longer disinterested in grime. If you as a consumer love grime, then your favourite brand will follow!
“Yo Dun kno fam!”
Nikola Do Anh 