Coca-Cola Taps Jay-Z to Remix Cherry Coke Brand

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Coca-Cola has tapped Jay-Z and his company Rocawear to remix its Cherry Coke brand.

Jay-Z will play a hand in all aspects of the fruit-flavored soda's relaunch, ranging from the look of the new can to the TV commercials and even co-producing and appearing at the brand's Feb. 7 launch at New York's Fashion Week. Cherry Coke Zero, its diet sibling, will also debut.

Scoring a deal with the chart-topping superstar is a coup for marketing-challenged Coke. But it remains to be seen how such a tie-in will be received as Jay-Z's varied business interests have recently been hitting consumers at a fast and furious pace.

Jay-Z is already the face and co-brand director of Budweiser Select. As part of his duties at Anheuser-Busch, he will appear in a Super Bowl spot three days before the Cherry Coke relaunch. The rapper also shilled for Hewlett-Packard notebook computers for the better half of last year. This month he unveiled a deal with General Motors and its Yukon Denali SUV.

"The more brands he fronts, the less the strategic power each of the individual appearances have," said Lucian James, CEO at marketing consultancy Agenda, San Francisco.