Russell Simmons, Adweek Brand Visionary launched an in-house creative agency to help brands appeal to young audiences in a new way. This will serve as a creative unit of All Def Digitial (ADD) to attract the younger generations in a genuine way.
Russel Simmons is a man who puts himself in many business projects. He is the business man guru prospering from the Hip Hop world.
While holding that title, he is also the Adweek Brandy Visionary for All Def Digital (ADD) that assists brands in appealing to the younger audiences in a new creative way. This new agency, ADHD, will serve as an in-house creative unit for ADD. Simmons’ manages a unit of social video stars, writers, actors and hip hop artists and has 1.4 million subscribers on Youtube. Simmons told Adweek. “The idea was, if you don’t have ADD, you’re not paying attention,” he said. The goal of ADHD is to appeal to the hip-hop audience that has been misunderstood by Hollywood brands.
“No one really understands this audience. It’s multiracial, but singularly cultural. It started out 95 percent black, and now it’s 45 percent non-black, and that’s going to keep growing,” he said. “The audience we speak to is overlooked and underserved. A lot of the content Hollywood creates doesn’t serve this audience. We want to help brands frame their messaging in an honest way.”
Hip-hop is increasingly visible in mainstream culture, and brands need to recognize that, said ADD CEO Sanjay Sharma. “Last year, the three biggest media properties in America were Straight Outta Compton in movies, Empire on TV, and Hamilton on Broadway. We know that hip-hop is permeating American and global pop culture, through music, fashion and art, and language,” he said. “We’re connecting brands through authentic, immersive content experiences and helping them reach this audience in a way that a lot of traditional media outlets don’t do.”
ADD works with many companies such as, Samsung, Chevrolet, Nissan and movie studios. Through ADD’s platforms it plans to offer brands a scope in work that in similar to its Youtube campaigns for releases of The Boss, Krampus and Barbershop 3, and Vine campaigns for Jurassic World and The Martian.
The new agency has been described by Simmons to appeal to it target audience through its usage of genuine content.
Simmons said. “There’s a psychology associated with hip-hop culture that’s very brand-friendly. They’re the best brand building community in the world, and they’re also the hardest to reach. They have the best bullshit meter. You can’t patronize them. If brands don’t look honest to them, they’ll tear them down.”
Here are examples of work done by ADD:
