ANIMAL » Relapse

Eminem’s Marketing ‘Relapse’

Bucky Turco — Tue, 19 May 2009 19:18:58 +0000

After taking an abnormally long hiatus spanning five years, Eminem officially returns to the rap game today with the release of Relapse. As you can imagine, the landscape has changed significantly and it takes more than slickly produced videos, mixtapes, headline-grabbing interviews and song “leaks” to transform an album into actual sales. Slim Shady and company are fully aware of the brutal new environment rapper’s face and aren’t messing around for this release. From video games for iPhone fanboys to special edition comic books and streetwear t-shirts, a lot of money was doled out to make sure this album targets as wide a demographic as possible. Click below to see the huge arsenal of PR and marketing resources* it took to make one of the best rappers of all time, relevant again.

Playing on the whole ‘Relapse’ motif, a mock website for the Popsomp Hills Rehabilitation Center was launched. Eminem even posted a photo of himself “checking in” via his Twitter which was used to build buzz.

Fake ‘Relapse’ branded promotional pills—they’re actually mints—were made available.

Like a true hype-man, 50 Cent released Eminem’s mostly obscure first album, Infinite, in its entirety online.

This t-shirt collabo between cool guy outlet Undefeated and Eminem represents the streetwear outreach of the marketing plan, a must to capture the hearts and minds of the highly sought after “influencers.”

Funded by Eminem’s manager, Paul Rosenberg, Rap Radar launched about two months before the debut of Relapse and served as a great way to get the word out with an “authentic” voice. It not only got the #10 spot on the Vibe Hip Hop blog list, but also posts lots of Slim Shady “exclusives.” Examples: here, here, and here.

Why is Eminem dressed up as The Punisher on the cover of XXL? Who knows, since the movie was a flop, but it likely had to with reaching the comic book crowd and to highlight the Hip Hop magazine’s partnership with Marvel (see below).

In addition to looking ridiculous on the cover of XXL, he also did this special edition Marvel comic that was made available online.

Featured on the cover of Vibe, the rapper was basically given free reign to explain his drug addiction firsthand. It was accompanied by photos by the always popular photographer Terry Richardson.

No album drop would be complete without a specially designed ‘Relapse’ game for the iPhone. Control Eminem as he carries a 2-by-4 and beats down zombies.

An uncensored version of Eminem’s horror music video, 3A.M., debuted on Cinemax, a first for the network.

Venturing into enemy Fox territory, an animated version of Eminem sat alongside the Family Guy’s quick witted baby Stewie Griffin this past Sunday to shamelessly promote the album.

A total of three appearances were booked on Jimmy Kimmel Live beginning last Friday night. In addition to performing songs from the album, Eminem flew in 200 autoworkers from Detroit.

*We didn’t list all the print, outdoor, and online ads purchased, since it’s kind of obvious.

Side note: If all of the tracks on the LP sounded like this one, most of the above probably wouldn’t have been necessary.

Hindus Praise Eminem for ‘Relapse’

Bucky Turco — Fri, 15 May 2009 20:46:52 +0000

In what has to be one of the most unlikely endorsements semi-psychotic rapper Eminem has ever received, a prominent Hindu statesman, Rajan Zed, applauded him for agreeing to fly out 200 laid-off Detroit autoworkers to Los Angeles for tonight’s taping of the Jimmy Kimmell show, the first of three scheduled appearances where he’ll be performing new songs from his forthcoming Relapse album. Zed was so impressed by the emcee’s good faith gesture that he even quoted ancient scripture on his behalf: “Give with faith. Give with love. Give with joy,” and adds, “Wisdom means a life of selfless service.” He also suggested that celebs like “George Lucas, Steven Spielberg, Oprah Winfrey” and other A-listers could learn a lot from Eminem’s generosity during these trying economic times.

Illustration* by Freep

*This illustration of Eminem is comprised of more than 50,000 M&Ms that were scanned and arranged using computer programs.

Eminem and Stewie Griffin

Will Sherman — Tue, 12 May 2009 21:55:04 +0000

An animated version of Eminem will join Family Guy’s ambiguously sexual baby, Stewie Griffin, to co-host the Sunday night cartoon lineup on Fox and plug his new album, Relapse. The fast talking toddler had this to say about the rapper, “I was just about to meet him, but after I shook hands with his stylist, his assistant, his lawyer, his bodyguard, his other bodyguard, his photographer, his manager, his hanger-on, his flower girl, his driver, his videographer, his notary, his historian, his her-storian, his texter and his own greased-up deaf guy, I got the swine flu.” |Shockhound|

Eminem’s Cover Art Suffers From Graphic Design Relapse

Bucky Turco — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 22:00:50 +0000

Here’s the final cover art for Eminem’s soon to be released Relapse album. Prescribed by Dr. Dre and designed to resemble a smattering of pills, it looks more like a pile of spicy trail mix. Or if you prefer, here’s a version with an unnecessary watermark. |Nah Right|