On March 11 2010, Lady Gaga unveiled her latest video for the song “Telephone”.  The song has garnered some very mixed reviews, critics calling Gaga “ground breaking, bizarre, inspirational, and grotesque.”

Unfortunately, I won’t be discussing Gaga’s fashion sense, sexual ambiguity or attention grabbing music, today that’s already been covered a thousand times over. 

However, I am very interested in discussing “Telephone” as an important milestone in branding history.For those few of you, who have yet to see “Telephone” I’ll fill you in, this “video” could also be mistaken for a commercial; it is heavy on product placement.  I counted eleven brands in total, displaced explicitly throughout the song. 

• Virgin Mobile – the song is called “Telephone”, so I suppose a mobile carrier was expected
• Pelco – a brand of security camera
• Hewlett Packard  ‘Envy’ laptop –  A limited edition laptop from the Haus of Gaga*
• Polaroid –  Lady Gaga have joined Polaroid officially as their new creative director
• Chevrolet
• Diet Coke
• Miracle Whip 
• Wonder Bread
• PlentyofFish.com – A lesbian dating site Gaga personally endorses
• Monster Heartbeats – Haus of Gaga designed headphones
• The Honey Bee Logo – U.S Brand of honey

*Haus of Gaga – Lady Gaga’s official creative team; who help her turn her quirky concepts into quirky realities.

This is obviously not the first time the music world has crossed over to with the corporate world.  

However, unlike the early music videos of the 1980’s Madonna “Like a Prayer” or Michael Jackson’s “Thriller”, known more for their classic irreverence, “Telephone” is the opposite; it’s a self- indulgent ode to pop culture and consumerism wrapped in a somewhat rebellious pretence.

The brands most prominently featured in the video are the ones that have to work hardest to stay “hip”. It’s Virgin Mobile not AT & T, its HP not Apple, when you think of Polaroid, Miracle Whip, Chevy do you think cutting edge and fashionable? No. So what does that say about Lady Gaga the brand? Is she or the Haus of Gaga prepared to compromise her image for the sake of making money? 

Of course they are! Gaga’s ironic/sincere embrace of celebrity, glamour and everything else excessive about American culture is a perfect fit for the anxiety-ridden brands populating “Telephone”.

But could this partnership work against the brands? I don’t think so. Gaga, no matter how “grotesque”, she is or becomes,Gaga is the 2010 definition of “cool”. 

“Telephone” has over 20 million hits on YouTube and counting, is number one in over five countries and growing and Lady Gaga’s two world tours have all sold out in minutes.

Could HP overtake Apple or Virgin Mobile challenge AT&T because of  their association with “Telephone”? We’ll have to wait and see, but one thing I do know, they have a lot to thank Lady Gaga for.

If you’d like to try and count the multiple brands yourself, why not checkout the Lady Gaga’s “Telephone” video for yourself, maybe you can spot a few more? (WARNING: Probably not appropriate content for work hours).