The Tanning of America: How Hip-Hop Created a Culture That Rewrote the Rules of the New Economy

When Fortune 500 companies need to reenergize or reinvent a lagging brand, they call Steve Stoute. In addition to marrying cultural icons with blue-chip marketers, Stoute has helped identify and activate a new generation of consumers. He traces how the "tanning" phenomenon raised a generation of black, Hispanic, white, and Asian consumers who have the same "mental complexion" based on shared experiences and values, rather than the increasingly irrelevant demographic boxes that have been used to a fault by corporate America. Stoute believes there is a language gap that must be bridged in order to engage the most powerful market force in the history of commerce.

The Tanning of America provides that very translation guide. Drawing from his company's case studies, as well as from extensive interviews with leading figures in multiple fields, Stoute presents an insider's view of how the transcendent power of popular culture is helping reinvigorate and revitalize the American dream.