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A New Spin on Songs of truth®
7/9/2008
New “Re-Mixed” versions of campaign songs will reach teens through the Web, TV, on CD, and on mobile phones
Washington, DC; July 9, 2008 – Songs from the current truth® advertising campaign will be getting a new twist this summer when nine innovative and well-known DJs and bands put new spins on the songs by re-mixing them in styles from house and hip-hop to electro. As part of the truth® “ReMix” project, DJs and bands such as Cobra Starship, Diplo, Kaskade, Mix Master Mike and more will re-mix songs from the “Sunny Side of truth®” - the current advertising campaign from the nation’s largest youth smoking prevention campaign. The ReMix music tracks will then be packaged as a special CD compilation and available for download online as part of a comprehensive effort to reach more of the teen audience through technology and alternative media & entertainment outlets already popular with teens.
The “Sunny Side” campaign features musical-style singing and dancing numbers performed by a combination of teens and animated cartoon characters. Despite the upbeat and playful musical tone, the ads deliver a strong anti-tobacco message and illuminate facts about tobacco. Nearly 80 percent of teens start smoking before the age of 18. The truth® campaign focuses on reaching those teens with facts and information about tobacco use and the marketing tactics of the tobacco industry, so teens never take up smoking in the first place.
The truth® ReMix project will be seen and heard on multiple platforms:
Web:
- Beginning July 9, 10 ReMix songs will be available for listening at thetruth.com/remix Web site and on truth®-branded pages on popular social network sites like MySpace, Facebook, Hi5, and others.
- A new ReMix section off thetruth.com Web site will provide information on the ReMix project, images and musician bios.
- ReMix songs will be in rotation on music Web sites like Pandora, Imeem, iLike, Spin.com, iTunes and others.
- Additional ReMix podcasts will roll out approximately every two weeks through the first week of October on thetruth.com/remix and related social networking sites.
- Banner ads online will drive traffic to the truth® ReMix page.
- Starting at the end of July, the songs will exclusively be available for download from iTunes and other digital distribution sites like Amazon, Napster, Beatport, Yahoo! Music, eMusic and more.
Video, Podcasts and TV:
- Visitors to thetruth.com can watch behind-the-scenes videos showing the DJs and bands creating the songs and discussing their motivation for being part of the program. These will also be available as downloadable podcasts on iTunes and other digital distribution sites like Podcast Pickle, Digital Podcast, Podcast.net, Yahoo!, Odeo.com and more. Podcasts with two of the artists (Z-Trip and Kenny Dope) will kick off the ReMix project on July 9 on thetruth.com and syndicated sites (see above).
- A selection of the podcasts will also be featured as special vignettes on cable channels VH1, Fuel and the N throughout the summer.
- G4’s popular “Attack of the Show” will use ReMix songs as background music during the show. Attack of the Show! focuses on technology, gaming, music, current events, pop-culture, movies, relationship advice, and comic book news. The program is known for commonly having segments where viewers can call, chat, and e-mail questions, which are then answered live on the show.
Mobile:
- Teens will also be able to share the ReMixes on their cell phones by using a special widget that gives users the ability to send ReMix songs to their friends’ phones with a personalized message included. The widget will be available at thetruth.com and truth® social networking profiles on July 9th.
Radio:
- Starting July 9th ReMix songs will be heard on various radio stations across the country, such as KTEG-FM (104.7) in Albuquerque, NM and KPLN-FM (106.7) in Billings, MT, as part of their song lists.
- “Sunny Side” radio advertisements will be tagged with ReMix information.
Summer Tour & Grassroots:
- Compact discs will be distributed at all stops on the truth® summer tour, a nationwide grassroots outreach effort covering 60 cities in 30 different states. Two truth® orange trucks and crews of young adults will set up shop at events popular with teens like the VANS WARPED Tour, a rock festival, and the Tony Hawk Boom Boom HuckJam, an action sports extravaganza. Anyone who buys tickets to the VANS tour through Ticketmaster.com will be offered a free download from the ReMix CD starting in late July
- Concert goers will also experience ReMix by hearing the ReMix songs or by watching the podcasts on the video monitors in the area around the truth® trucks at each stop. Tour DJs may also create their own ReMixes or invite the teens in the truth® “zone” to do so.
- A bonus track on the CD will feature DJ Sega
- ReMix artist Cobra Starship is touring with the VANS Warped Tour this summer, opening up the possibility of a live rendition of the band’s ReMix tune.
- Later this summer, truth® will ask fans to create their own remixes and upload them to imeem.com to be judged
- An e-mail notification announcing the launch of the project will be sent to multicultural music test market networks such as Rebelutions.com, Fusicology.com and Kissngrind.com and the truth® database, a list of teens who have expressed a strong interest in remaining in touch with the campaign.
- Bulletins from MySpace, Facebook, Bebo and Hi5 featuring the artist will be sent out as the artists’ songs and podcasts roll out.
“Many of the life-saving messages around the truth® campaign are designed to be spread peer-to-peer,” said Dr. Cheryl Healton, President & CEO of the American Legacy Foundation, which provides strategic direction and funding for the truth® campaign. “With the ReMix project, we’re pairing the innovative talents of an impressive lineup of DJs and bands, with the use of newer media outlets where teens already go to be entertained, share information, and connect with friends. It’s just another creative way that truth® is evolving as a way to continue to stay relevant and cool with teens, and get our life-saving information top of mind.”
The truth® ReMix project is part of the campaign’s overall strategy to reach teens where they live and play. Consider that, according to the PEW Internet & American Life Project, in 2006:
· 77% of teens age 15-17and 49% of teens age 12-14 owned a cell phone
· 93% of American teens ages 12-17 used the Internet
· In 2004, 51% of online teens downloaded music online
· 64% of all online teens participated in one or more content creating activities, including creating or working on a blog or Webpage and sharing original work in the form of artwork, photos, stories, and videos.
· 26% of online teens remixed content they found online into their own creations, up 19% from 2004.
“The ReMix effort was conceived out of the desire to maximize our investment in the creative assets,” remarked Eric Asche, SVP of Marketing at the American Legacy Foundation. “All of these extensions of ReMix speak to how we are able to use today’s rich media toolbox to reach teens on their own terms. Our life-saving messages stay the same, but we constantly refresh our media delivery channels to make sure today’s teens get our messages quickly and easily in ways that resonate with them.”
The impressive line-up of DJs and bands contributing their talents to the ReMix project includes:
Mix Master Mike is one of the premier scratch artists of the day. Mix Master Mike was the first West Coast DJ to become world champion by winning the New Music Seminar DJ Battle in NYC. After winning three consecutive world titles, Mike was asked to step down from further competition. Shortly thereafter, Mike and fellow turntablists Q-bert, Apollo, D-Styles and Shortkut formed the Invisible Skratch Picklz, the most influential and recognizable turntablist crew in history. In 1997 the Beastie Boys requested Mike's studio work for their multi-platinum album Hello Nasty. Soon after completion of recording, the Beastie Boys offered Mike to become their resident DJ. In 1999, the International Turntablist Federation honored Mike with a lifetime achievement award for the advancement of the turntable as a musical instrument. He has continued to record and produce for the Beastie Boys as well as create music for movie and video game soundtracks. He hosted the ESPN Action Awards and is also prominently featured in the indie film Scratch.
Pete Rock, the man who, according to Kanye West, “invented the remix,” has been a hip-hop mainstay since his debut as one half of a duo with C.L. Smooth on the hit LP “Mecca and the Soul Brother.” Since then, Rock has produced tracks for Notorious B.I.G., A Tribe Called Quest, Nas, Public Enemy, The Roots and many others. In 2004, Rock produced the sequel to his debut, Soul Survivor II, with features coming from PharoaheMonch, Dead Prez, TalibKweli, and former partner C.L. Smooth. Rock released his latest solo album, NY's Finest, in early 2008.
San Francisco-based DJ Kaskade has had a meteoric rise in the dance music world. His single “Sorry (Dirty South Remix)” was nominated in the "Best Remix" category at the 2008 Grammys. His remix work includes #1 Billboard Hot Dance Club hits for Justin Timberlake, Britney Spears and the Pussycat Dolls. Most recently, one of his tracks was featured on the Sex and the City movie soundtrack.
Z-Trip is one of the biggest DJs of our time, playing more than 100 shows a year. He is also known as the founding father of the mash-up. Z-Trip's major label debut "Shifting Gears" was given four stars by Rolling Stone—its highest honor. The first single "Walking Dead" went Top 20 and featured Chester Bennington of Linkin Park.
Kenny “Dope” Gonzales is a three-time Grammy-nominated DJ & producer. Gonzales has remixed Madonna, R. Kelly, Janet Jackson, Daft Punk and many others and has had two #1 Dance hits on the Billboard charts.
Diplo is a Philadelphia-based DJ who gained widespread popularity working with - and dating - the celebrated UK/Sri Lankan rapper M.I.A. Besides M.I.A. he has remixed everyone from Gwen Stefani to Kanye West. Diplo can be attributed with playing a key role in bringing the musical genre Baile Funke (a type of dance music from Rio de Janeiro, with deep rapid beats and aggressive vocals) from Brazil to the United States.
DJ Spooky is a musician, DJ, writer and conceptual artist. He has remixed artists from Metallica to Bob Marley, Yoko Ono to Carl Craig; composed a score for the Cannes Film Festival award-winning film Slam; and created media-based artwork that has appeared at the Whitney Biennial and the Andy Warhol Museum in Pittsburgh.
Cobra Starship is an alternative rock band best known for their songs "Bring It (Snakes on a Plane)" from their 2006 album While the City Sleeps, We Rule the Streets as well as "The City Is at War" and "Guilty Pleasure" from their 2007 album ¡Viva La Cobra!. The group will be appearing on the VANS Warped Tour this summer.
DJ Sega is barely out of his teens and is one of Philadelphia’s most respected “party music” DJs, sharpening his skills at weekly gigs around town. As an up-and-coming artist under Diplo’s Mad Decent record label, Sega’s underground remixes of everything from T-Pain hits to the local news intro have music heads talking. As hipster music blog IHEARTCOMIX says, “Trust me, this kid’s about to hit and he’s going to hit hard.”
Complete bios of all the DJs and bands as well as the MP3 versions of their remixes are available at www.thetruth.com/remix.
The ReMix Web site, compact disc packaging and Mobile Widget design were all created by Arnold Worldwide of Boston, the foundation’s agency of record for truth® advertising. The ReMix music was produced in conjunction with Rock River Music.
DETAILS OF OTHER CURRENT truth® PROGRAMS:
Advertising Campaign:
The “Sunny Side of truth®” advertising campaign, launched in January 2008, aims to shine a light on some of the activities of Big Tobacco and the health consequences of tobacco use by satirically pointing out some of the “hidden positives” associated with tobacco. The television ads unfold in a way reminiscent of previous truth® ads – with young people on the streets doing real truth® stunts like gathering in front of tobacco industry headquarters buildings. But then the spots continue in a darkly humorous fashion. When the young people consider a tobacco fact and the “sunny side” of Big Tobacco, a live singing-and-dancing musical number breaks out. For more information, visit www.thetruth.com
truth® tour:
truth® launched its 9th annual nationwide summer tour on June 13 at JubileeJAM!, an arts and music festival in Jackson, MS. On tour, truth® “crew members” interact with local youth to spread information about the addictiveness of tobacco products, the adverse health effects of tobacco use, and the social consequences of smoking. The dedicated young adults who make up the truth® crews for the tour connect with more than 700,000 teens at popular summer events every year. For more information, visit www.thetruth.com/tour
BACKGROUND ON THE truth® CAMPAIGN
truth®, launched in February 2000, is the largest national youth smoking prevention campaign and the only national campaign not directed by the tobacco industry. The campaign exposes the tactics of the tobacco industry, the truth about addiction, and the health effects and social consequences of smoking. truth®, allows teens to make informed choices about tobacco use by giving them the facts about the industry and its products. The campaign was created by the American Legacy Foundation, which was founded as a result of the 1998 Master Settlement Agreement between the tobacco industry, 46 states and five U.S. territories. Payments to the American Legacy Foundation are made on behalf of the settling states.
In February 2005 the American Legacy Foundation released the results of an evaluation of the national truth® campaign that was published in the American Journal of Public Health. The study found that 22 percent of the overall decline in youth smoking during the first two years of the campaign (2000-2002) is directly attributable to truth®. This equates to 300,000 fewer youth smokers in 2002 as a result of the campaign.
The American Legacy Foundation, which provides strategic direction and funding for the truth® campaign, received in 2003 what is likely its final payment to the National Public Education Fund established by the Master Settlement Agreement. Despite its success, the truth® campaign now faces an unprecedented funding challenge.
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Contact: Trish O'Callaghan, 215.525.1404, pocallaghan@ad-itive.com; Patricia McLaughlin, 202.454.5560, pmclaughlin@americanlegacy.org