Entertainment Lions: Talking Musical Branding with Poo Bear and Jingle Punks
Cannes Lions launched Entertainment Lions this year, a spin off to the main festival that explored the ways that talent and storytelling can elevate branded content into pop culture. A large part of the festival was focused on music - celebrating creative musical collaborations between artists and brands that have the potential to turn branded music into hit records. One of the companies at the forefront of this shift is creative music agency Jingle Punks, headed up by Jared Gutstadt.
Jared recently met Jason ‘Poo Bear’ Boyd at a party. Most famous for being a close musical collaborator of Justin Bieber but also for writing records for countless other artists, Poo Bear wanted a new challenge - and that challenge lie with Jared. The pair quickly collaborated and now Poo Bear is applying his song-writing skills to the needs and requests of brands. LBB’s Addison Capper chatted with the pair after they appeared on stage at last week’s Lions Entertainment.
LBB> The Entertainment Lions launched this year and you guys spoke at it. What do you think the Lions are aiming to achieve with it and why do you think they launched it?
JG> Brands are really trying to tell different stories than they have done in the past. It’s a really weird time for content, but a good time if you’re willing to change your model. Traditional ad agencies are really feeling the squeeze because everybody makes content now for so many different channels. You really have to tell better stories. In the entertainment space, marketing looks a lot different than it did five years ago. We’ve seen early on the television market shift towards over the top - so where do the commercials fit in? Maybe they have to be the content itself. With regards to music, it really hasn’t been wholly explored yet, and that’s really the thesis that Poo Bear and I putting forward. We want to write hit records that are very much funded from the brand side.
LBB> And Poo Bear, you’re a song writer by trade. You’ve written records for countless huge artists. Why did you decide to get involved in this more marketing approach to song writing?
PB> I’m always trying to grow and do things that the general music industry producer wouldn’t do. Meeting Jared allowed me to come into this world that I wouldn’t have been able to break into so easily. I’m excited to apply what I know about writing hit records and being able to apply it to brands, without it being too obvious.
LBB> Do you feel as though you have to think differently when writing for a brand?
PB> I don’t, that’s the great thing about it. It’s more just doing what I’ve always done and doing it with someone who completely understands branding [Jared]. That allows me to be myself. It works because a lot of the music in branding is often not something you want to listen to in your car, but now we’re making music that could be picked up by the radio and be a hit record.
LBB> And I guess when you are writing for an artist, they are in effect a brand themselves?
PB> It is. I’m writing for that brand, it’s really no different.
LBB> So what are you guys hoping will come out of the new Entertainment Lions?
PB> More focus on the importance of great music - not just any music. Great music that matters, that moves your emotions, that connects with you, that you can’t live without. Like everything in life, once it becomes a necessity, it becomes a force to be reckoned with.
