B-Boy scores product placement from Montana spray paints

You love them, you hate them – product placement advertising in video games. Hey, some ideas like Pepsi in the Shire will never fly. But there are some product placements that make or should make absolute sense. Sports equipment and sportswear in EA Sports is the perfect example. Then there’s spray paint companies in B-Boy.

Yes, spray paints. Because graffiti tagging goes hand-in-hand with hip-hop and B-boy culture. (Remember GTA: San Andreas?)

Montana Colors SL, a well-known brand in the world of paint-in-a-spray can, has collaborated with B-boy dev team FreeStyle Games and in-game ad specialists Hive to get their cans in the breakdance game. “B-Boy represented a great opportunity for us to reach our target audience via an innovative advertising platform,” said CEO Ruedi Glatz. Besides the brand, even Montana’s own in-house graffiti artists, the Montana Writer Team, have contributed their artwork to B-boy.

“It is critical that prospective players from the hip-hop community view the game as a sympathetic representation of their world, otherwise people simply won’t play,” says Hive’s Rachel Norman. Adding the brand of choice for taggers and graffiti artists everywhere is just one of many steps to bring the hip-hop culture of B-boy to life, such as the soundtrack we’ve featured earlier.

You love them, you hate them – product placement advertising in video games. Hey, some ideas like Pepsi in the Shire will never fly. But there are some product placements that make or should make absolute sense. Sports equipment and sportswear in EA Sports is the perfect example. Then there’s spray paint companies in B-Boy.

Yes, spray paints. Because graffiti tagging goes hand-in-hand with hip-hop and B-boy culture. (Remember GTA: San Andreas?)

Montana Colors SL, a well-known brand in the world of paint-in-a-spray can, has collaborated with B-boy dev team FreeStyle Games and in-game ad specialists Hive to get their cans in the breakdance game. “B-Boy represented a great opportunity for us to reach our target audience via an innovative advertising platform,” said CEO Ruedi Glatz. Besides the brand, even Montana’s own in-house graffiti artists, the Montana Writer Team, have contributed their artwork to B-boy.

“It is critical that prospective players from the hip-hop community view the game as a sympathetic representation of their world, otherwise people simply won’t play,” says Hive’s Rachel Norman. Adding the brand of choice for taggers and graffiti artists everywhere is just one of many steps to bring the hip-hop culture of B-boy to life, such as the soundtrack we’ve featured earlier.