Singer Katy Perry gets lift from Steve Madden
By Kamau High
NEW YORK (Billboard) - Steve Madden is stepping into music marketing again.
The footwear and apparel retailer is launching an in-store and online marketing campaign dubbed Steve Madden Music that will spotlight a recording artist every month or two.
First up is California singer/songwriter Katy Perry, whose single "I Kissed a Girl" jumped 16 places to No. 5 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart this week. Also in the pipeline is Little Jackie, a.k.a. New York pop/R&B singer Imani Coppola.
Although Perry and Little Jackie record for EMI Group labels, Steve Madden Music is seeking similar partnerships with other labels as well.
"The music business is very parallel to the shoe business," founder/design chief Steve Madden says. "They're after the same girl that we're after. Even the mind-set of trying to make a hit shoe or a hit record is the same. People always want to know what's cool. I figured if (Sean "Diddy" Combs) and Russell (Simmons) could get into my business, then I could go into theirs."
The Perry promotion follows her Capitol label's partnership last year with Victoria's Secret for the exclusive U.S. CD release of the Spice Girls' "Greatest Hits."
Capitol chairman/CEO Jason Flom says the label is keen on considering more such promotions. "If you're a brand and you're reading this, we're open for business," he says. "We want to work in fun and creative ways with brand partners to get emotional connections with artists."
The new Steve Madden campaign will include an unusually immersive in-store component. On June 9, the retailer will tape a live performance by Perry at the Steven by Steve Madden store on New York's Lower East Side, then air the performance at its 70 stores around the country with video screens and provide an audio feed to its remaining 28 stores.
During the Perry promotion, which will run for at least a month, video-equipped Madden stores will also show the video for "I Kissed a Girl," and all stores will play Perry's Capitol debut album, "One of the Boys," which comes out June 17. The stores will also display signs promoting the album and her status as a featured artist.
The campaign will extend to a new Web site, www.stevemaddenmusic.com, which will include the in-store performance in streaming video, as well as links to buy "I Kissed a Girl" and "One of the Boys." A download of the single will be given free to customers who spend a yet-to-be-determined amount. The roughly 800,000 registered users of the retailer's www.stevemadden.com home page will receive e-mail alerts about the album's release date, with a link to purchase it online.
Madden will cover the cost of producing the in-store events, while artists will agree to be outfitted with a selection of Madden footwear during the promotional period, according to David Passick, a former manager of Maxwell, Don Was and Herbie Hancock. Passick is advising the retailer on the campaign.
Steve Madden is the latest apparel retailer seeking to lend its brand a boost by linking itself to pop stars. Urban Outfitters features a monthly playlist on its Web site that streams songs by of-the-moment recording artists. American Eagle Outfitter recently announced it would underwrite its own New American Music Union festival later this summer. And Tommy Hilfiger is in its third year of staging "The Hilfiger Sessions," a series of live concerts pairing new and established artists. In April, Hilfiger launched www.tommytv.com, which streams the concerts for free.
Steve Madden, too, has done its share of music programming, such as sponsoring concert tours and holding a music talent search contest. The company also has a strong link to the music business via nonexecutive chairman Walter Yetnikoff, former head of CBS Records.
Reuters/Billboard
