• MSN Today, Tuesday, December 13, 2011 10:26 AM

In The Tanning of America, celebrated ad exec Steve Stoute explains the importance to brand marketers of keeping up and effectively harnessing the cool of urban culture: "There’s often a confusion that I hear from brands about how far it is advisable to go in marketing into trends when trying to get the nuances right for embodying cool.

“Specifically, many corporations still view hip-hop culture as a trend at best and an anomaly at the least. Even as a marketing strategy, many brands visit the platform with some trepidation and hesitancy.

“The results in those cases tend to either fall flat with ads that have recycled concepts set to beats or are embarrassing because of inappropriate attempts to imitate cool—to try to use Ebonics or have people rolling their r’s to promote Latino brands or force multicultural groupings that come off just as contrived as Dell DJ’s effort to promote its own viral success. For these reasons, one of my priorities with brands and with artists is to assure them that nothing in the pursuit of cool will put their core values at risk."

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