MERCHANDISING Musicians feed on image to sell edibles, clothes

The question is whether the products will generate loyalty or just novelty buying.
By DANIEL RUBIN
KNIGHT RIDDER NEWSPAPERS
Eight a.m. Need fuel. What could start the day better than Pimp Juice, the neon-green energy drink made by rapper Nelly?
Make my way downstairs to fry up some George Jones Country Sausages -- "pure pork, no possum," the once-bad boy of Nashville proclaims.
It could take all morning to choose among threads by Eminem, 50 Cent, the Wu-Tang Clan and P. Diddy.
My costar, meanwhile, lounges in J. Lo, spritzes Celine. The house is fragrant with floral top notes.
This works up a hunger for lunch.
Again, so many musical choices. Bakersfield Biscuits, from country honky-tonker Dwight Yoakam, come with chili or gravy, chicken or beef stew. It being afternoon, I'm thirsting for a soda/energy-drink hybrid, and reach for a 12-ounce can of DefCon3, the "healthy carbonated alternative" made by hip-hop mogul Russell Simmons.
Sure, it's blue, but so am I. Nothing that a Chubby Checker Sugar Twist couldn't cure. Like to keep my beef jerky local.
Time to get going on tonight's marinade. Pinch some ideas from "Eat Like a Byrd," the new cookbook by country singer Tracy Byrd. Happen to have a couple of jars of his sauces and spices, debuting this month at 1,350 Wal-Marts. But before I chill and grill, time to mix a vodka and Liquid Ice, Ice-T's new energy drink.
You need energy to keep up with this stuff.
Brand wars
With the recording industry in the tank, music celebrities -- bored with their forays into fashion -- are finding a new future in food and beverages. The idea, marketers say, is to strike while the brand is hot, transferring the public's interest in performers to their pet products.
The leader of the band is Jimmy "Big Bad John" Dean, the former Nashville countrypolitan who 34 years ago introduced his country sausages. The line got so big that Sara Lee bought it, and Dean is now better known for his links than his larynx.
"I hope I'm always remembered for my music -- it's going as good as it's been in five to six years," says Byrd, on a break between a marketing meeting in Chicago about his culinary line and a concert in New Orleans. Still, the small-town Texas traditionalist whose summer release, "The Truth About Men," reached the country Top 10 considers food "a great marketing tool for the music side ... it's win-win."
Greg Kirrish, chief marketer for Vista Management, which worked with Byrd, 36, envisions using in-store signs to direct those buying Byrd's sauces to his cookbook to his CDs.
"It's this whole branding store-shopping experience," Kirrish said. "Retailers like that. Everything is tied together. It's a beautiful thing."
The singers are taking a lesson from super-marketers such as Oprah and Martha, said Christie Nordhielm, marketing professor at Northwestern University's Kellogg Graduate School of Management. "They've really been the teachers in this area. There's no rule that says a brand only works in one category. We're finally starting to recognize that."
Is this really necessary?
Does the world need two new blue energy drinks, not to mention one called Pimp Juice?
Don't underestimate the power of hip-hoppers to move units, Simmons says.
"They're the best brand-building community in the world," he said. "If my wife brings home a diamond platinum watch, next my partners have to have it."
The man whose Def Jam and Phat Farm labels have been attached to clothing, music, film, television, a Broadway show and comedy concerts now feels in his bones that "the younger generation wants healthy, carbonated alternatives."
Simmons pauses to give props to Pimp Juice, whose naughty handle has prompted boycotts by religious groups in the black community, free publicity and production shortages. "Good name," says Simmons, adding that in hip-hop, pimp means someone who exploits his or her own talents.
Will they last?
Beverage analyst John Craven isn't so sure the energy drinks being marketed by Simmons, Nelly and Ice-T have staying power, though any should go nicely with the line of chips that rapper Murphy Lee, Nelly's St. Lunatics compadre, is developing.
"I really think a lot of people are getting into this purely because they're looking at the next place to make a lot of cash quickly," said Craven, who edits the online industry magazine Bevnet.com. "It's certainly not a quick path to riches."
Red Bull, the dominant force in the energy-drink market, may seem like a newcomer, but it was doing business in Europe a dozen years before hitting the States, Craven noted.
It's too soon for Simmons or the rappers to know how their energy drinks are going over, Craven said. Developing a brand is "a slow road that they're not really used to. I see a lot of these products as something people are going to buy to put on their desk. They'll think it's funny to have a can of Pimp Juice.
"The key is repeat buying. I just can't see someone going out and buying a case of Pimp Juice because he's got to have it every day."
A huge fan base doesn't guarantee success: Who remembers Bing Crosby's ice cream or Frank Sinatra's spaghetti sauce?
But the novelty of star power might benefit energy drinks more than country cooking, because such drinks are "badge" products that people consume in public. In their case, Nordhielm said, "the question is whether the celebrity can stay hot. ... As goes the celebrity, goes the product."
Being patient
Chubby Checker, the Philly dance icon who scored 32 hits on the charts between 1960 and 1966, preaches patience.
"It's not like show business," says Checker, whose picture graces a line of hot dogs, jerkies, steaks and crunchy snacks. His three-year-old venture is about to spread into bottled water, barbecue sauce and chocolates.
"You have to be a very humble person. You have to have a humble heart to go in the food business and deal one-on-one with those that have the power to say yes or no. They don't care about your singing. They care about making money."
So, what's next? we ask, while gorging on a late-night fistful of Chubby Checker's Gold Hits Popcorn.
A line of dog clothing from DMX, the rapper called the human canine?
Actually, yes. Coming soon to fine pet stores.