million in revenues), who serves as a consultant. “He’s certainly our connection to music and the hip-hop community,” says Coleman. “He’s very influential all over the country in terms of knowing and advising people, and opening the doors for potential new business opportunities.”
Other observers agree. “The collaboration between Don Coleman’s GlobalHue and Russell Simmons is icing on the cake in terms of his capability to deliver urban audiences,” says Yvette Moyo, co-founder of the Marketing Opportunities in Business and Entertainment (MOBE) conference series. “With Russell Simmons’ Def Poetry Jam success and [his] high profile with the Ludacris/Pepsi situation, Don not only has direct daily involvement [with] a man [who] is the icon for the urban mind-set, but [who has contact] with some of the highest-profiled brand associations this year.”
Looking ahead, Coleman is in the process of starting a Hollywood-based division to provide product placement in films and examine co-branding opportunities. “So we’re looking at how we can get to the consumer with our message in more non-traditional ways,” says Coleman. “Because when you look at the advertising side — particularly television with the advent of TiVo (a digital video recorder), where people could potentially skip over commercials — you’ve got to [use] every distribution point to … make sure that our client’s brand message gets to consumers.”
In order to ensure that these messages get to America’s increasingly diverse consumers, Coleman will continue to keep his finger on the pulse of the multicultural market to identify trends and grab a larger slice of the urban marketing pie.