Why wait ’til Tuesday? Sometimes (the best of times), demand strikes before your campaign is “ready for launch.” Cee Lo Green’s aptly titled new single,” F**ck You,” from his forthcoming album, The Lady Killer, has no respect for planned street dates. Fortunately, our friends at Atlantic/Elektra were poised to react quickly to the 2M+ plays on YouTube/4.5K+ featured blog postings and took advantage of Topspin’s flexibility to launch any offer anytime. 
Within 24 hours fans were able to purchase the Cee Lo “F**ck You Pack” featuring a download of the single + an exclusive CEE LO SAYS “F**CK YOU” T-Shirt from Cee Lo’s official site.
Get ready for the official “F**ck You” video slated for premiere next week and The Lady Killer album pre-order launching at an equally unpredictable date in the future. Regardless of your campaign strategy, Topspin is happy to help you respond to the unexpected and stick to the schedule that matters the most: your fans’.
-rian
america only? cmon now….what about the rest of us? sitting here with canadian credit card in hand.
I always wonder if artists would have more t-shirt sales if they made them a less obvious advert for themselves? For instance the t-shirt hits home with a “Fuck you” written on it anyway; people will buy it just for the novelty factor.
I would guess however that putting the “Ceelo says” on it is off putting for some, when the hype spins down many would be uncomfortable wearing a t-shirt that has a specific artists name on it if they could be considered outdated in the next month. Without the branding it could be worn for as long as the t-shirt lasts; the obvious in your face marketing is lost but interest could be gained by association if they added the “ooo, ooo, ooo”s underneath. This would be based on the assumption that people don’t want to be bill board advertising, which some do; but probably a smaller percentage than people that need clothes.
Its like the Brian Wilson “SMiLE” t-shirts; the smile graphic is lovely and as a fan I’d be quite happy to wear it (also marketing the album through association) but for those that don’t know him or care about his music the tee would just be telling them to smile. With the name stamped on the tee it just seems like your a fanboy/girl…
A large percentage of people buying t-shirts are doing it for fan boi/grrl reasons. e.g remembering a fabulous night out at a live show or because a particular album or artist has resonance in their lives. All good.
I swing both ways in that I don’t want a blatant name-branding on my chest or back, but don’t mind it so much in the name of art. The best merch is a combo of the two. Case in point, I have a Johnny Winter T-shirt I bartered off their lighting rig guy at a show in the mid nineties that puts an exact duplicate of Johnny’s dragon tattoo on your chest. The t-shirt is slseeveless and of course comes in white only, and you have to supply the arm tattoos yourself, but long after, years after the gig I snagged this shirt at, it remains my fav, mostly because of the art factor. http://www.vanishingtattoo.com/tattoo/celeb-winter.htm