How brands are harnessing country music’s popularity

Brands have been putting on their cowboy hats lately. As country music crossovers draw more fans into the genre, marketers are taking note and partnering with country music artists. Oreo, Flipz, Coffee mate, Tubi, Whataburger, Nerds and Hardee’s are among the marketers striking new deals. “The sound of country is adapting to pop and other genres, so it's more familiar and accessible,” said Greg Silverman, global director for brand economics at Interbrand. “Brands are covering all bets for attention.” Flipz, which sells chocolate-covered pretzels, recently inked a deal with Breland, a hip-hop country artist. He recorded an original song for the brand and appeared in a video that he shared with his more than 237,000 Instagram followers. The goal was to drive demand for game-day snacking. View this post on Instagram A post shared by BRELAND (@breland) Flipz liked that he embodied two genres. “We are a sweet and salty brand and that duality is important,” said Ahad Afridi, chief marketing officer at Flipz’s parent company Pladis North America. “We didn’t start with ‘let’s find a country artist,’ but what artist fit our duality? Breland is a fusion of country and hip hop. He’s also an NFL fan and has a good social media presence.” “I knew we were on the right track when I was recently in a hospital and asked the nurse what music he liked, and he said country hip-hop,” Afridi added. “And that was in an urban city in New York.” Cultural crossovers The rise of cowboy and country culture can in part be traced to the pandemic, when quarantined TV viewers binge-watched “Yellowstone,” the Paramount Network drama set on a Montana ranch starring Kevin Costner. Country singer Lainey Wilson joined the cast for its fifth and final season. Fashion brands have taken notice of the trend, including Louis Vuitton, whose fall-winter 2024 men’s line was inspired by Western wear. NextGen Marketing Summit Join us for a crash course on Gen Z, DTC marketing and the creator economy Register today Crossover music has also been a huge driver of the trend. See Beyoncé’s “Country Carter” album, which recently won country album of the year at the Grammys. Levi’s jumped on the fact that she mentioned the brand in a song title and lyric, striking a deal with the superstar that includes a campaign featuring retellings of the denim brand’s historic ads. Concertgoers turned to Western wear for Beyoncé and Taylor Swift’s tours. Rapper Post Malone dropped country album “F-1 Trillion” featuring country singers including Morgan Wallen and Blake Shelton (and appears on Beyoncé’s “Levi's Jeans”). Shaboozey’s “A Bar Song (Tipsy)” went viral on TikTok. “Brands go where they feel the heat is, and for the last 10 years, that was pop or hip hop,” said Marcus Collins, an assistant professor of marketing at the University of Michigan’s Stephen M. Ross School of Business, and the author of “For the Culture,” a book about how powerful cultural norms are when it comes to human behaviors. Lately, “the cowboy aesthetic became popular, and country music is an auditory expression of that,” he said. The trend was evident on advertising’s biggest stage, with several Super Bowl spots featuring country acts. Shaboozey starred in Nerds’ ad for gummy clusters, Coffee mate tapped Shania Twain for a song, and Tubi’s ads featured a guy born to love Westerns. Post Malone (if you consider him a country artist) was featured in Bud Light’s ad. Last year, only two Big Game ads featured a country or country crossover artist—Post Malone had a cameo in Bud Light’s “Genie” ad and Lainey Wilson appeared in Coors Light’s “Chill Train” ad. Nerds had a similar reason to Flipz for working with Shaboozey—his mixing of genres. “Shaboozey is the embodiment of the campaign’s core idea: an unexpected union,” Katie Duffy, VP of global brands at Ferrara, Nerds’ parent company, said in a statement. “He brings together multiple genres, blending country, rap, hip-hop and jazz.” Oreo partnered with Post Malone a few months after he dropped his country album. In a campaign for salted caramel swirl cookies, Malone was cast as a miner looking for the best raw materials to make his Oreos. @postmalone Now you can decide for yourself: is this the best @OREO ever?! Available on shelves everywhere 😎 #ad ♬ original sound - Post Malone “Partnerships have become a mainstay of our playbook,” Michelle Deignan, VP of marketing for Oreo U.S. at Mondelēz International, previously told Ad Age. “We look at consumer trends and who will fit the brand ethos of ‘playfully provocative’ to put us in the cultural zeitgeist. Post’s playfulness comes through in his self-expression and he has a way of bringing together genres that just felt very right.” Crossovers are also happening in the creator space. Creator talent agency Sixteen says it is seeing brands work with creators living in the Sun Belt, especially creators who used to live in California or New York and moved during the pandemic for more space or to avoid income taxes. More: Introducing Ad Age’s TikTok Trends Tracker “Those creators are having a halo effect on other smaller creators in those markets like Dallas, Nashville, Austin, Kansas City,” said Victoria Bachan, global president of Sixteen. “From a consumption standpoint, these folks are now in markets where there is more space and these creators often have kids, which also require a certain level of consumption. Those are big opportunities for brands.” Bachan says that in 2019, the majority of brand requests were for creators based in Los Angeles or New York, but last quarter that had fallen to about 40% of requests, with the rest being for Midwest and Sunbelt creators. Classic country While beer brands have long tapped into themes of Americana and country, brands seem to be accelerating partnerships with country acts of late. United Talent Agency says it is seeing more brands ask to work with country music artists, according to Sara Schoch, UTA’s global co-head of music brand partnerships. She also points to crossover artists bringing new fans into the genre and notes that country music artists have loyal fans, which is a draw for brands. “The loyalty of country music fans is remarkable,” Schoch said. “I think there is a bit of an assurance that fans of country artists that brands might capture are not flippantly moving on from that artist.” Just look at Budweiser’s recent Super Bowl ad featuring a Clydesdale foal rolling a keg of beer through fields to pop-country duo the Bellamy Brothers’ “Let Your Love Flow.” Bud Light has previously sponsored Zach Bryan’s tour and Busch Light sponsored private concerts with Riley Green. Coors Light has a program called Chill Amplified where it partners with music artists going on tour to connect with younger fans outside of sports. Lainey Wilson and Shaboozey are both part of the partnership. Of course, these partnerships also provide the brand access to musicians’ fan bases with the goal of generating new customers. “Beer brands have always rabidly chased the elusive goal of being a contemporary brand popular with young adults,” said Marty Stock, an advertising professor at Marquette University and former agency executive who worked with beer brands. “Sponsoring someone’s live shows is nice, but these performers come with massive social media followings, often more than brands could get on their own. It’s a giant opportunity to get audience exposure and credibility.” It’s not just beer brands—Hardee’s partnered with Thomas Rhett (who has nearly 5 million Instagram followers) after seeing that the restaurant chain’s core consumers cared about quality and value and were more likely to enjoy country music. “Our brand headquarters are just outside Nashville, so country music is part of our DNA,” Sarah Breymaier, VP of brand marketing at Hardee’s, said in a statement. “Beyond that, activating in the country music space shows we understand our customers and we’re focused on giving them meaningful brand connections. Research data indicates the genre is very popular with our guests. Thomas was a natural fit because he embodies the qualities of the Hardee’s guest and our shared values—he is a hardworking, genuine and humble family man.” Whataburger signed Wilson as a brand spokesperson in January to celebrate the brand’s 75th anniversary. The chain did not know it would work with a country music artist, but Wilson became the favorite after Whataburger tested consumers to see which athletes, actors and musicians resonated with them. “We have a fair amount of fans who are also country music fans,” said Scott Hudler, chief marketing officer at Whataburger. “Lainey scored really well with them. Country is cool again, though some would say it was never not cool.” Country music strongly over-indexes with Whataburger’s locations, mostly in the South, but Hudler said he sees the love of the genre as a way to introduce Whataburger to new markets. “Lainey still does tour stops in New York, Philadelphia, Chicago,” Hudler said. “I don’t worry that country music is not popular in those places.” Wilson also has a connection to the brand: going through the drive-thru with her dad when she was young, and later eating there late at night after a show. To celebrate the partnership, Whataburger gave away free honey butter chicken biscuits for a day. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Lainey Wilson (@laineywilson) “Genres ebb and flow, but it feels like country is having a moment,” Hudler said. “Twenty years ago, people would have thought Snoop Dogg and Dr. Dre playing the Super Bowl halftime show would have been crazy.” Contributing: Jon Springer Become an All Access subscriber Get access to exclusive resources including Leading National Advertisers, World’s Largest Advertisers, Agency Report, Agency Review Tracker and TV Pricing Report. Click here

How brands are harnessing country music’s popularity

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