• Brandweek, Monday, August 3, 2009 10:11 PM

Island Def Jam Music Group and Elle magazine are experimenting with integrating brands into artists' CD booklets. The first effort was created for the Mariah Carey release "Memoirs of an Imperfect Angel" on Sept. 15. It is a 34-page mini-magazine that includes lifestyle ads from Elizabeth Arden, Angel Champagne, Carmen Steffens, Le Métier de Beauté and the Bahamas Board of Tourism.

The booklet also contains Mariah-centric editorial, lyrics and other CD booklet elements. Elle contributed the editorial and designed the layout. The booklets were created for 1.5 million CDs in the U.S. and overseas and the material will be available in a digital format for those who buy music online. A condensed version of the little mag, sans the 14 pages of CD-specific material, will be inserted into 500,000 subscription copies of Elle's October issue.

Providing the experiment goes well, Island Def Jam is eyeing bigger brand deals for booklets of CDs by Rihanna, Bon Jovi, Kanye West and other artists.

Read the whole story at Brandweek »