Branding A Corporate Image Includes Burning Custom Cds

Brandweek, May 24, 1999 by Davin Seay

"This is a line extension of the services we have long been providing our corporate clients," remarks Mike Mjehovich, senior VP of sales and marketing for BMG Special Products. "Traditionally, nearly all our business in the premium and incentive area has been providing multi-artist compilations for companies to use in giveaways and promotions. We've just refined the process with this new program."

Taking its cue from the controversial MP3 Internet technology, CUSTOMCD offers the all-important element of choice to clients interested in inventive employee incentives and customized consumer premiums. "Our corporate approach at this point is opposed to selling individualized CDs over the Internet," explains Mjehovich, "but we have no problem utilizing the technology for other purposes."

Partnering with Customs Revolutions, a custom-CD fulfillment facility, BMG requires its corporate clients to purchase a minimum of 500 CUSTOMCD certificates, each valued at $14.75 and redeemable for one 10-song customized CD, which the client can then pass on to employees or customers. Certificate holders can choose from 550 songs in 22 genres culled from BMG's family of labels. Aside from the selections they pick to include on their customized CD, the recipients can also title the album and pick from one of 30 images for cover art. Corporate-client identification is assured by brand names or logos placed strategically on the packaging.

"The possibilities are endless," enthuses Mjehovich. "For example, we've been talking to Delta Airlines about an incentive program. With thousands of employees in every possible demographic, they have to provide variety and choice that extends beyond T-shirts and baseball caps."

Meeting specific needs has become something of an art in the field of branded premiums. In some instances, music can be used to create or repair goodwill with customers, as in the case of the National Basketball Association, seeking to rebuild its fan base after the recent, long and crippling players' strike. "The NBA came to us while the strike was still going on," explains Harold Fein, executive VP and GM of Sony Music Special Products. "The idea was to create a compact disc that every team could give away at their first home game. We were able to use music from top artists, but what really made this project special was that we included computer enhancements on the disc, like home-team schedules and screen savers. We shipped over a million units, and I think it really helped get the fans back in touch with the game."

TRAILBLAZING RETAILERS

On the retail end of the equation, the handful of far-sighted companies who got into the branded-premium music game early have, in some cases, become mini-music powerhouses in their own right. Putamayo, the company whose lifestyle-enhancing products grew from a single clothing outlet, has become a force to be reckoned with in the world-music realm with its own label, Putamayo World Music. Every bit as successful as the company's clothing concern, Putamayo World Music has released upwards of 30 CDs, 10 of which have made appearances on Billboard's World Music charts.