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Whenever something new, exciting and revolutionary is introduced to the general public, it's nearly a given that other corporations, companies and interests want to hitch their branding wagon to that train. One such item is the iPod Nano. The power of the iPod Nano is so great that it changed how the world thinks and listens to music. Soon after its release, you could walk around any hip metropolitan street and see those instantly recognizable white ear buds poking through the collars and jackets of many people, young and old, male and female. It didn't take long for marketers and advertisers to realize that all those Apple iPod Nano users represent a big time target audience. Fortunately, or unfortunately depending on your point of view, a marketing genius did realize that.

Soon after its release, many businesses who wouldn't normally be seen with the iPod, were suddenly hand in hand with the world's most popular digital music player. Before you knew it, there were charities working together with Apple to create an iPod Nano with that charity's logo and colors on it. By hooking up with the Apple iPod brand, charities could appear current and important.

However, even though charities recognized the power of the iPod, it was the music industry itself that has taken the greatest advantage of the reach and visibility of the iPod. Now, the music industry generally frowns upon downloading music from a computer onto an iPod without paying for it. However, some people in the music universe soon deduced that there were many people who only used the iPod for their music, and nothing else. So, if you aren't working with the iPod, you are working against certain segments of your target audience.

Some bands decided to directly associate themselves with the iPod Nano; U2 being the biggest and most recognizable band to do so. Apple released a special U2 version of the iPod Nano. Of course, there was the obligatory super-cool ad campaign featuring the band, the songs and the Apple iPod Nano. This achieved two very important goals. One was to get the songs and iPod Nano introduced to the buying public. The second goal was that U2 did not appear to be anti-download and embraced the iPod and everything it can do.

In the early days of music downloading, there were many bands who scoffed at the idea of having their music listened to for free. This had a negative backlash against the image of the band. But, with the advent of the Apple iPod Nano, it is now imperative that if the whole world is going to be listening to this little device, then they might as well be listening to you.