It's no secret that whenever something new and hip is released, that companies are ready to line up with it. The Apple iPod Nano is no exception. The iPod literally changed the way the world thinks about music. Soon after the Apple iPod Nanowas released, you could see many people, men & women, young and old, listening to it. All those iPod uses represent a huge target audience. Many marketers soon moved to be seen and heard with the Apple iPod Nano.

Lots of companies soon tried to associate themselves with the Apple iPod. For example, there were many charities who worked together with the iPod. Many charities that associated themselves with the Apple iPod Nano suddenly appeared to be current, hip and worthy of time and attention.

Although charities used the Apple iPod Nano effectively for themselves, it was the music industry that really took advantage of the iPod Nano. 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. The danger was that to go against the iPod Nano was to go against your fanbase.

Some bands decided to directly associate themselves with the iPod Nano; U2 being the biggest and most recognizable band to do so. A special U2 version of the iPod was released, and selected songs from an upcoming album were only available to be heard via the iPod. Of course, innovative, expensive and exceptionally cool marketing and advertising campaigns were released. Because of this foresight, two goals were achieved. 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.