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Home , Brixton Academy, Get Weird, Not to Disappear, Rise World Tour, Skepta, Syco Music

06–07 Tools NY:LON Connect 08-09 Campaigns , , Kygo, Skepta 10-14 Behind The Campaign

JANUARY 18 2017 sandboxMUSIC MARKETING FOR THE DIGITAL ERA ISSUE 171

THE RISE OF GEOFILTERS COVERFEATURE

THE RISE OF AROUND THE WORLD GEOFILTERS When we spoke to marketing teams at of last year, we asked them to pick the one tool that really came into its own for them in 2016. Many named geofilters – particularly those on Snapchat – as the standout tool of the year. So we decided to speak to them in terms of both how and why they are using them. Cost and accessibility are big factors as acts of any size can use Geofilters without breaking the bank. Deploying them around seems to be the current trend for most, although everyone is keen to find a variety of use cases for them. Fans clearly like them, but those not totally sold on the idea say their success and value is often implied rather than measurable. That said, they will only become more commonplace this year and the hype around them will only get louder.

n 2017, location, location, location is not level; but new location-based filters in Foremost among these new tools are that can be submitted to Snapchat for local just your estate agent’s most wearying digital tools are allowing them to take this Snapchat Geofilters, a special overlay for landmarks and public places; and On- Iadvice; it is also a mantra for digital to ever-more granular levels, right down your Snaps that can only be accessed in Demand Geofilters, which businesses can music marketers. Labels have long known to placing bespoke digital marketing in very specific locations. Geofilters divide buy – and adorn with logos and trademarks – the advantages of marketing on a local individual venues. into two categories: free Community filters for geographical locations and events.

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Other location-based tools in the armoury include Facebook’s location targeting, which allows businesses to target adverts to people based on their location; Twitter’s geo-targeting for ads; Landmrk, a white-label platform to deliver digital content at specific physical locations; and link shorteners like Linkfire and SmartURL that offer geotargeting capabilities, overriding the default URL and forwarding the visitor to a country- specific destination. On a more basic level, marketers can also geofence text messages and alerts and segment day of Daughter’s sold-out show,” he says. their mailing lists according to “You get amazing value – something like geographical criteria. $60 for the whole day – so we were able to In all cases, the overriding aim keep their super fans who were queuing is the same: to provide fans with busy from early on.” relevant local content rather than it also coincided with the release of their The filter, he adds, was seen by more scattergun global news. “We use as latest single, so we branded the geofilter than 10,000 people and was used by one much geotargeting that is available to us,” as such,” Smith says. “This is by no means in of all ticket holders at the show, says Warner Music’s digital lead, global ground-breaking, but it’s a simple way to despite 4AD taking a low-key approach to marketing, Will Beardmore. “One of the big reach fans and their friends on a platform promotion. “We didn’t mention it before on areas we also use is localised copy in email we know they engage with constantly other socials as we wanted to ensure that marketing, which has proven to be really throughout the day. The 5SOS example people would find it naturally, rather than effective.” had thousands of uses during the show, just being a straight-up marketing thing For the moment, though, it is Snapchat including the band themselves.” that we were shouting about,” Tompsett Geofilters that have music industry marketers hot and bothered. The digital Geofilters for all? team at Polydor, which used geofilters as part of a global track list reveal for are, of course, a Bastille’s Wild World , called them superstar act – but the affordability of “undoubtedly the best new tool on the geofilters means that marketers can market” in sandbox’s best tools of 2016 upload these [Geofilters] for every artist use them for bands at almost any level round up, while Beardmore says they are show.” One recent high-profile example of of recognition. 4AD, for example, used “a must for any tour.” this came during 5 Seconds Of Summer’s geofilters to mark Daughter ’s It is this crossover with live events recent Madison Square Garden show, Academy show in October, as the label’s that has made Geofilters such a vital when Capitol released a geofilter that head of online communications, Will marketing tool. Maddy Smith, senior allowed fans at the concert to add bespoke Tompsett, explains. “Using [Daughter’s] digital marketing manager at Capitol 5SOS imagery to any of their Snaps. Not To Disappear album pack shot, we Records UK, says it is now “pretty much “Not only was it a statement for 5SOS redesigned it to create a geoflter that we par for the course that we design and to be playing a sold-out show at the venue, hosted around the on the

3 | sandbox | ISSUE 171 | 18.01.17 COVERFEATURE says. “It was more about getting people Facebook location targeting may hyped for the show and making it feel like be rather less sexy and youth-centric the big event it was.” than geofilters – Smith calls it “a lot more functional and offers less creative Going live potential” than its Snapchat cousin – but it can still play an important role in the Dan Griffiths, director of interactive location marketing mix. marketing at The Orchard, is another firm Dan Griffiths says that he has believer in the budget efficiency of used Facebook’s location targeting Snapchat Geofilters. “I’ve found that “during release week to call out specific Snapchat On-Demand Geofilters allow independent retailers that are local to marketers with strict marketing budgets potential purchasers.” to place content in destinations that a “I like the idea of doing this, as it can limited advertising spend would have soften the sales message and make it previously ruled out,” he says. “On JAWS’s more personal to the fan,” he adds. recent album tour, I placed a filter at every “The ability to target by territory is venue which allowed fans to insert an more important as teenagers move media users to show off to their friends. “If also hugely effective when promoting image of themselves within the artwork away from platforms like Facebook and they want to show off that they have a hot artist tours as it allows you to not only for the band’s new album, Simplicity.” Twitter, which are relatively easy to target ticket for the sold-out Sam Smith show, target by city but also within a distance The filters, he explains were customised and track, onto “dark social spaces” we can be part of this conversation by surrounding that city, which captures at each location, including the venue like WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger allowing them to brand their video with the fans that maybe willing to travel to name and the date of the show. and Snapchat. “[Snapchat] is the social geofilter of our choice,” she explains. specific shows.” “When placed in a 500-capacity network where fans feel closest to their venue, I believe this created favourite artists because they can clearly a pretty powerful statement see that it is the star at the other end of personal to anyone in the room the camera controlling the output,” she who was exposed to the filter,” he adds. “That gives whatever we do a layer adds. And all this for a cost that was as low of authenticity as it seems as though it’s as $5 per venue, depending on the duration co-signed by the artist themselves.” of the filter and the size of the fence. Little Mix (see Behind The Campaign The fact that these initiatives worked this issue) also used Snapchat filters so well has much to do with these as a key part of the real-world pit stop bands’ respective youthful fanbases. promotions for their most recent album For older audiences, who use Snapchat at the end of last year, an interesting less, the response may well be more example of their use at scale outside of limited: Tompsett explains that a similar the live environment. experiment with Holly Herndon, when she supported Radiohead at the Roundhouse Going viral in , provoked “a much smaller response.” The other key advantage of geofilters, For Smith, accessing a young audience Smith says, is that they allow marketers that lives on Snapchat will only become to tap into the habitual desire of social

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The inevitable downside underhand,” she explains. Another For all of this, geotargeting clearly has its problem is that On-Demand Geofilters are limitations, one of them being the age-old still simply not available in many parts of problem of mobile signal. Before the the world, including most of Asia. JAWS tour, Griffiths realised that the Syd Lawrence, co-founder of We Make impact of the filters would be affected by Awesome Sh, is among a number of the strength of signal “which is obviously marketers who are unconvinced of the something which can’t be guaranteed in worth of geofilters. “The problem with a venue, unless free Wi-Fi is available”. Snapchat is that there aren’t any ways What’s more, he realised there is little to interact with people on Snapchat,” point in having a geofilter unless the he says. “The only way to do it is to go audience is aware of it. His solution was through their official channels.” His simple. “To combat both of these points, other gripe is with geofilters’ lack of an assessment was made before doors accountability. “Can you track the results? at each show and, based on the filters’ Do they generate any results?” he asks. effectiveness, posters were placed in the “If someone can show me that they totally venue alerting fans that a geofilter was make a huge amount of results, I would available at the venue,” he explains. be impressed.” Smith, meanwhile, says that she His concerns are valid, of course. But has seen brands “land grabbing” with the use of location/geotargeting set Going interactive location-based campaign wasn’t just a the locations where artists are to increase in 2017, after Snapchat agreed digital construct: Warner also organised a playing shows, hoping to capitalise a deal with Foursquare to power more Warner took advantage of Facebook’s treasure hunt in each city that the singer on the footfall of young fans. “They Geofilters – and with advertising reporting location targeting abilities as part of was due to visit, with fans tracking down a have used our artists’ own name and partnerships set up with Nielsen and marketing plans around Birdy ’s recent signed origami bird alongside two tickets branding to release their own geofilters MOAT – there will be a burgeoning pool of visit to Asia, in a campaign that played to the show. to sell their products which is pretty evidence as to their effectiveness in music out on both local and international level marketing, particularly as marketers find thanks to a mixture of global Facebook, more creative ways to employ them. Twitter and Instagram content, as well “Snapchat Geofilters and the platform in as geotargeted Facebook posts. “As general has so much creative opportunity,” Birdy’s album Beautiful Lies was heavily Smith concludes. “I am yet to launch a more inspired by Asian culture, the campaign innovative campaign on Snapchat with our most prominently targeted , South artists, but I have a lot of ideas around Korea, , , and online treasure hunts, different , but also fed into the global locations revealing different strategy for the release,” explains WMG content and that type of junior marketing manager, Olivia Spring. thing. Mobilising a fanbase “We believed parts of the campaign would to go to certain locations in be relevant for fans globally, but we didn’t order to win or unveil new want it to be overkill so geotargeted as information, like we have seen much as possible across Facebook.” before with the great campaigns In this case, however, the idea of a from Bastille and Lollapalooza.” :)

5 | sandbox | ISSUE 171 | 18.01.17 TOOLS NY:LON CONNECT

NY:LON Connect is a brand new conference alternating between London and New York, created by music:)ally in partnership with The Music Business Association.

With only six days to go until our inaugural event in central London on 24th-25th Janu- ary (nylonconnect.com), we wanted to focus NY:LON here on four of the many startups that are CONNECT showcasing at NY:LON. JAAK

A major trends of 2016 was the steady rise it to create interactive music VR experi- of blockchain in the music industry, one ences more cost effectively. VR is another of many initiatives to try and sort out the buzzterm that’s been used in far too many increasingly-pressured issues surround- disappointing circumstances over the past ing rights management across creative couple of years. Over-hyped videos make up industries. Somewhere within the hype the majority of content, with brands getting and excitement for this bitcoin-based behind chart artists to pump money into format have been a fair few people asking an “experience” lacking creativity; but with an important question: how is it actually affordability, this startup is trying to make going to work? VR a more realistic market opportunity for Music is one of the most complicated the music industry. copyright environments. Coordination be- “The issues with VR today are market tween rights organisations and a generally reach and cost of content production,” says messy history of data-keeping are two Tom Szirtes, the founder of Mbryonic. “Mar- of many reasons why one blockchain ket reach will increase over time thanks to startup alone is not going to change the the harder markets to serve (such as apps, at a GRD-style system, JAAK will be trying massive investments from hardware manu- face of the industry. websites, social media and so on). its hand to drive the issues around rights facturers, so our job is to bring down the cost Enter JAAK. It converts rightsholders’ With an official product launch coming management forward. of content production by creating tools. This repositories of media, music, metadata and in 2017, JAAK claims to reduce the friction is our long-term strategy.” rights into “smart content.” This basically of moving payments and data around a Mbryonic One of the unique offerings from Mbry- means that manual efforts within the digital fragmented industry on a global level. The onic is the ability to make 3D VR experiences supply chain are eradicated in place of smart supply chain to the consumer is a long one, Mbryonic has been working to imagine what from pre-existing 2D video content, creating contracts on the Ethereum blockchain, demanding an efficient connection between the future of music would look like in virtual the potential for a “one size fits all” model sharing data and resources efficiently for media and metadata. After several attempts reality. Its Amplify VR technology allows within VR – the kind of model that eventually

6 | sandbox | ISSUE 171 | 18.01.17 TOOLS NY:LON CONNECT appeared in music production, then music social media. Chatbots are one of the first videos and now DIY music distribution. accessible and genuinely useful forms of AI VR takes creativity, ambition and, usually, to fit into any digital strategy, whether it’s in- a lot of money. 2017 is set to bring about a creasing engagement or encouraging sales. host of genuinely exciting VR experiences – “What is making me most excited about and Mbryonic is undoubtedly set to be at the bots right now is the actual business value root of some of those. of them,” says Syd Lawrence, CEO of The Bot Platform. “We’ve got some hugely successful The Bot Platform ROI for our customers.” The Axwell /\ Ingrosso bot commissioned 2017 is definitely the year that bots are by ATM Artists boasted a 99% read rate on set to explode; Facebook chatbots, to be broadcasted messages and a 90% subscrip- more specific. tion rate. Incredibly, the team managed to It’s been nearly a year since Facebook sell over £10,000 of merchandise in the first Messenger opened up its API for develop- three months directly through the chatbot, ers to produce chatbots themselves and proving the business value when created for the Bot Platform had all the glory when it the right audience. produced the music industry’s first-ever artist chatbot on Facebook in July 2016 for Gearbox DJ Hardwell. Since then, it has gone on to create chatbots for artists on all three ma- In 2009, Darrel Sheinman founded Gearbox jor labels, including , Zara Larsson Records. With its own on-site vinyl-cutting and Axwell /\ Ingrosso. facility, it is the ultimate vinyl-led label, with already established over 25 releases, sold they’ve even planned to enable listeners to Dark social is the new place to be, with an aim to “put the ritual back into music around the world via specialist record stores add vinyl tracks to Spotify playlists as they 77% of content being shared privately on listening.” Since its beginnings, the label has and its own online . listen, turning the point of music discovery Darrel Sheinman refers to Gearbox as on its head. “future analogue.” With a resurgence in vinyl While there is so much emphasis on and CD sales recently, the physical music streaming analytics, the last remaining niche is on the rise, offering an opportunity physical consumers offer a black hole of to start creating vinyl again from a band’s behavioural data. The Gearbox Automatic initial release. would potentially allow vinyl manufacturers Gearbox may be producing a format and labels to have access to listening habits initially used nearly a century ago, but it is behind the turntable – something that could bringing analogue into the future with a new, be used to benefit user experience and innovative turntable – the Gearbox Automat- discovery in vinyl lovers drastically. ic, which it claims to be an auto-streaming The Gearbox Automatic is currently on hi-fi turntable. Kickstarter with an £85k funding goal. If Often the issue with retro formats is the you’re a fan of high-definition and bridging inability to become streamlined with the the digital/physical gulf, then check out the convenience we expect today; however, this options. The Automatics can be pre-ordered piece of hardware is compatible with Sonos for £399 on Kickstarter, with a promise to be as well as Bluetooth headphones – and under your tree in time for Christmas 2017. :)

7 | sandbox | ISSUE 171 | 18.01.17 CAMPAIGNS The latest projects from the digital marketing arena GORILLAZ USE THEIR NOODLE CHEERIN’ FOR SHEERAN

After reactivating his social media sites If there’s a band that knows how to tell a at the end of 2016, Ed Sheeran revealed story, it’s Gorillaz. -piece virtual on 1st January that new music was band (who were born way before Oculus coming that Friday (6th January) and, Rift was even a blueprint) have been the proxy true to his word, he came back with two new day and launch a Snapchat lens with yet faces of and Jamie Hewlett tracks, a Snapchat lens and a tin of (digital) more teasers in the backing music for what and putting out music since 2001, spinning blue paint. will be the next release. animated stories across four studio Snapchat lenses cost anywhere between like a music-comic hybrid. It all started in December when Ed $250k and $750k, making this an expensive Sheeran’s tumbleweed social media way to tease a mysterious track. The lens Noodle is the band’s lead guitarist but was presence turned an azure shade of blue, doesn’t even include Sheeran’s name, just a marked dead by bassist Murdoc after the with little other detail to go on other than pair of blue glasses, further demonstrating Demon Days album in 2005. Yet five years later “In search of new sounds and new “something” must be happening. the fanaticism of his audience. in the for ‘On Melancholy Hill’, she inspiration, I found these kick-ass women who There are not many acts who could Interestingly in Sheeran’s redirection returned and was shown gunning down fighter in their own individual ways are true pioneers post a blank, blue post on Instagram and link across socials, YouTube has not been planes with a machine gun before passing out in the writing, production and creation of quickly amass over 200k likes and 40k included, despite uploading two smart lyric in a lifeboat and floating away. MUSIC,” she wrote. “They have inspired me, comments. The snippet of him silently videos there. With Spotify at the top of the It’s now been five years since the last and I hope they inspire you too.” holding a handwritten note reading “New list, it’s clear to see the priority here, with Gorillaz release and she has been at the It’s well worth a listen; featuring an eclectic music coming Friday!!” cut the blue silence Spotify launching a This Is: Ed Sheeran forefront of album teasers over the past few mix of female artists and musicians, it begins a fortnight later, giving fans a few days’ playlist and adding him to the Today’s months. In November, Noodle created an with a haunting choral introduction from the warning for the releases: ‘Castle On The Hill’ Hot Hits playlist (with more than 12m OKCupid profile, leaking a potential release Bulgarian Women’s Choir, before moving and ‘Shape Of You’. followers). It’s also interesting to see that date after the band’s first official Instagram onto Anna Meredith, Grimes, Fatima Al Qadiri Teasers from the slick official lyric videos Ed’s release came just after the addition profile had been created, populated by and ADBRA amongst others. The mix is so were posted, alongside visuals of the next of the Artist’s Pick feature on the platform. videos detailing her whereabouts – namely eclectic that it ends with the original Doctor emblem: a divide symbol (÷), spread across With two tracks, this allowed one to appear a Japanese fishing village where she’s been Who , created in 1963 by Delia the two single artworks as a dash and two first as the ‘Latest Release’ and one to be acting as a pearl-diver’s apprentice, as detailed Derbyshire. dots (following the mathematical trend of pinned by Ed himself. in the #BookOfNoodle. In October 2016, she The mix also appears in playlist form on + and X) that will be the name of his third It’s definitely worked, with Ed Sheeran also became the Global Ambassador for the Gorillaz Spotify page and on YouTube. album, due on 3rd March. jumping to the most streamed artist globally Panasonic Jaguar Racing, appearing in a video However, on it appears rather This is a super minimalist approach for on Spotify in his opening week – with both for the Formula E electric racing car as part of haphazardly within an Apple Connect post, an artist; but for one with such a web- tracks cumulatively driving 79m streams on the new brand partnership. linking to a redirect browser notice to a orientated audience, it made sense to let the service, outpacing plays on YouTube as Noodle’s latest offering is a new 28-minute separate playlist page within the Gorillaz them spread the news themselves. With Spotify (and the other streaming services) mix on SoundCloud, a heavy hint that music is profile, pointing out the difficult quirks of millions of impressions over the course of threw their playlisting and promotional being readied for release. playlisting on the service. the week, his final flourishes were to co-host weight behind him. This is all perfectly the BBC Radio 1 Breakfast Show on release setting the scene for the album in March.

8 | sandbox | ISSUE 171 | 18.01.17 CAMPAIGNS The latest projects from the digital marketing arena KYGO A-GO-GO SKEPTAPPLE

All the digital music services want to get in on . Nearly a year ago, Craig David spoke out at the about the lack of representation of certain music genres, namely grime – the hottest style in the country.

While the Brit Awards can be traced back to the 1970s epic sweep of the cosmos” and dubs it “a true (the peak of the ‘Old Music must see for music fans”. Industry’), streaming services At $1.99 for the “experience”, reviewer are modern, future-thinking, PSVR Frank (AKA Wise Guy) says explicitly not diverse platforms and they’ve to buy it, telling the gaming community, “It is all been fighting since Craig’s not interactive, it’s not very immersive, it’s not comments to become grime’s Has Kygo joined Kanye at the polymath club? very long and to top it all off, the song sucks.” new best friend. streaming service: Skepta Live Six months ago, Norwegian producer/writer/ It sounds a lot like one of those many In October 2016, Deezer and Greatness Only. performer Kygo launched his own hardware “interactive music videos” that turn out to be launched a dedicated grime Skepta Live started as and fashion line, with a slick website not very interactive at all. For super-keen Kygo channel for its users, also an exclusive Apple Music advertising items of clothing that look awfully fans, this will be well worth the price of a cup investing in bursaries, stream of his biggest gig yet similar to one another, and T-shirts that of coffee, but for those interested in genuinely mentorship and guidance at in London, look suspiciously similar to his own music immersive VR experiences, it’s unlikely to be for emerging artists in the but now fans can relive it merchandise. The brand is called KygoLife. ground breaking. genre, seeing as the bulk of traditional grime with the archived recording. Meanwhile, Kygo-branded bamboo boxers, anyone? Regardless, it’s always interesting to artists aren’t signed to a label. Spotify’s Greatness Only has been dubbed “the see VR used more frequently in music, and grime playlists have increased in the definitive Skepta film” – a documentary 2017 for the 25-year-old artist is looking even launching it with on the PlayStation past year, with the word building hype. In presented by Beats 1 DJ covering his career more expansive as he delves into the hottest platform opens up Kygo’s music to a whole September, Spotify’s senior editor of content so far. Celebrity contributors include Pharrell trend around – virtual reality. In a partnership new community already equipped to watch programming hailed the genre as the “most Williams and DJ Semtex. with Sony, ‘Carry Me’ has been created into a it. What we need is an artist with a little more potent since Britpop”. It’s clear that 2017’s dynamic is going to VR experience for the new PlayStation VR set personality and imagination to push the Joining the game, Apple Music has be led much more by exclusive videos. We and Oculus Rift platform. It claims to transport visual possibilities. Luckily, October 2016 saw partnered with -winner can expect Spotify’s short-form content gamers into “a stunning visual world that rumours that OK Go are finally working with Skepta, whose audience in the UK and US is to continue expanding and Apple Music to immerses you within beautiful environments Within’s founder & CEO, Chris Milk. Watch this growing steadily. Two documentaries have continue creating long films with partnered of oceans, forests, mountains, skies and a final (virtual) space. been launched and promoted on the Apple artists for its subscriber-only userbase.

9 | sandbox | ISSUE 171 | 18.01.17 BEHIND THE CAMPAIGN LITTLE MIX BEHIND THE CAMPAIGNLITTLE MIX

audience was ageing up and we were very much breaking outside of our core audience. The core audience was [previously] nine to 16, but now we are hitting a demographic of women in their 40s. They did a world tour [around the last album] and it was the biggest-selling arena tour in the UK of 2016. When you went to the shows and saw the audiences, it really was from little kids to 50-year-old women and their friends.

Speaking to multiple fanbases simultaneously Because we know that fanbase burns through content online, it was about putting out a high level of content; something that would be appealing to a young fan – as it was something new from Little Mix – but would also be something that a woman in her 20s wouldn’t be shy to share. Glory Days is Little Mix’s fourth album and arrived five years after they won in the UK, quickly growing to become Aesthetically we wanted everything to look one of country’s biggest pop acts – with further international success on the horizon. ANYA DU SAUZAY, senior digital marketing really strong. manager at , explains how the previous album took them into an older audience which they built on this time round, why the group are “always on” as regards social media, where both Facebook Live and YouTube became key streaming partners around UK TV performances and how a pit stop saw a digital idea being transferred into the real world.

Moving swiftly and seamlessly four albums in five years since winning the X music was really working – the new from album three into album four Factor as there was a two-year gap between sound had moved it on – and it was There was quite a tight transition period the second album and the third album. them being true to their pop roots. between the third album [ in We wanted it to feel like a That is what people liked and it was November 2015] and the fourth album seamless campaign [between the seeming like people had an affinity [Glory Days in November 2016]. It was a third and four albums]. Because the with the girls both as individuals and one-year turnover and we hadn’t been out of previous album campaign had been so as part of a group. campaign. There were four singles from the successful, we didn’t want to change too The third album campaign started third album that took us very neatly up to much. Our audience analysis on the things with ‘Black Magic’ which was a the fourth album. With the first and second people liked about Little Mix were what we massive #1 single. It continued to be albums [DNA in 2012 and Salute in 2013], it have been trying to push forward in terms of very successful with the next three had been an album a year. They have done getting to know the girls’ personalities. The singles. From that we saw that the

11 | sandbox | ISSUE 171 | 18.01.17 BEHIND THE CAMPAIGNLITTLE MIX

With the campaign for the fourth album, Fans knew that a new album was coming stream had happened [on the Sunday]. No it was about how we activated that core but we very much led with ‘Shout Out To one could hear or buy the track until after fanbase – who want visibility with the My Ex’. they had watched the performance – and band – but also pushing out content and that obviously made a massive impact for activating a marketing campaign in a way Using the X Factor in a new way (with us. It went straight to the top of the iTunes that felt mature, but also felt relevant and Facebook) to launch the new album chart in the UK and their iTunes positions right for the audience. Our first big look for the single was an X globally were the highest they had ever been Factor performance [on British TV]. All of the for the group. An “always on” strategy activity for the launch of the single globally It was trending worldwide and the They finished the Get Weird tour in July was tied into that X Factor performance in chatter online was huge. We were making 2016 and that very much marked the end October 2016 during one of the early live sure we were making as much noise as of that campaign. That coincided with the shows in the series. possible to lead up to that X Factor moment. final single as well as the end of most of Because this was a big single and We put together a teaser campaign that we their promo activity. The girls then were very had references to a high-profile breakup ran online. Because no one had heard the vocal and actively pushing out information [supposedly about the group’s Perrie track by this point, it was about using the about being in the studio and who they were Edwards and of ], lyrics in a clever way. Because there were working with – so the fans knew there was that was a massive talking point that got the some cheeky, provocative and telling lyrics, something else coming. press interested and the fans excited. We we seeded them out with press and we put The way we describe it in our team is that knew that was going to be our high moment some nice assets online that got massive Little Mix is an act that is always on. So that in terms of relaunching Little Mix with their pick up. ITV – just featuring Little Mix. In it they said means that our marketing campaign never new album. We wanted to create a global they were performing on the show that really stops. We operate as if we are always moment with that X Factor performance Music videos are the springboard Sunday. We had that massive platform for in campaign. That’s because we know that where we activated the global fanbase at for multiple forms of content all our social content. We had four days their fanbase needs to be fed with content the same time – which is quite difficult to do When they shot the video for ‘Shout Out of web teasers so their performance was and activity; we need to keep them engaged as X Factor is UK promo and is aired on ITV. To My Ex’ and did the album photoshoot announced five days in advance. as we know how valuable they are to Little That impacted on the strategy around in Spain, we went along and filmed That was our first big look and we went Mix, so we need to ensure we are keeping how we launched the single. We did a deal some extra video content. We created straight to #1 on iTunes in the UK. We had them active. with ITV and Freemantle to live stream just teaser videos featuring each of the band three fewer days of sales than everyone but We put out messaging across all of the performance of ‘’ on members, telling the story as a prequel to it went straight to #1 in the Official Charts. their socials that there was a new album Facebook. That was the first time that the video. There were 10 teasers featuring The nature of how the teenage audience coming and they were talking about the had ever been done; they were the all the girls, telling how they came together use social media is all about memes and sound of the album. ‘Shout Out To My Ex’ first act to have a performance live- to start the Glory Days road trip. They were gifs. That is how they share content now; encompassed what the new album was streamed globally on Facebook. It all seeded out online. that is what goes viral and is what people all about. We let that do the talking for us. was ex-UK as they wanted people watching We also managed to secure a slot on are talking about. We know who Little Mix’s We made the it on ITV. That was our big moment and we ITV on a TV ad – which they don’t ever do core audience are and we know the core announcement let fans know that everybody was going to for artists. Usually as it is the X Factor, age group that watch their videos over and about the be able to watch ‘Shout Out To My Ex’ for they are promoting the show, but we had over again. That was massively important. single before the first time on Facebook via the X Factor’s two TV slots over that weekend in the lead We wanted to have a lot of moments in we made the Facebook page. up to the Sunday performance with just the video that were core to the values of announcement In the lead up to that, nobody had heard Little Mix on the set of the video calling out Little Mix – so it was all about friendship about the name the track. Singles now come out on a Friday, about their performance. and togetherness, as well as fun and of the album. but we did a timed release for after the live It was a standalone X Factor advert on cheeky moments which was very much in

12 | sandbox | ISSUE 171 | 18.01.17 BEHIND THE CAMPAIGNLITTLE MIX keeping with ‘Shout Out To My Ex’. All of that official D2C store and then could get a ticket caps, Little Mix air fresheners and T-shirts to together just made for a video that had so code that allowed them to buy the Glory create a road trip experience. many really nice moments in it. Days tour tickets early – even before the pre- How this campaign differed from the last Lots of the things that the fans gif are sale. It was huge and was a massive driver one was that we wanted to activate fans the moments when the girls are doing of the physical album. and do something physically as opposed to something together, like where they are We wanted to run a big global digital just keeping it living online. We created a hugging or laughing. They lend themselves campaign. One of the objectives with microsite that showed where all the Glory really well to gifs. As we were teasing the this campaign was to do something that Days pit stops were happening around the video release – which came out a week after activated the fanbase globally. This is the world during the album release weekend. the X Factor performance – we didn’t tease it first time we have done a proper worldwide That was around a week’s notice. We with any long clips; we just teased out gifs. release – where the album is released on showed them where the pit stops were so Because there are so many different the same day around the world. With the the fans could organise with their friends to set ups in the video, different outfits and previous album campaign, the timings were go to them together where they could get different locations, we didn’t want to give too slightly different. the bespoke merchandise and they could get much away. We wanted to give the fans just Their big markets are the US, UK, Japan their makeup done like the girls in the video. enough – like half-a-second gifs of a number and the key European markets like Germany, They could also get their photo taken in the of different scenes to let them know that the Spain, Italy, France, Sweden and the car from the music video. scale of the video was going to be massive. Netherlands. We wanted to do something For Little Mix, we have never done I think that was enough for them and then that really activated that global fanbase. anything on that scale. It required local the fans just take it and run with it. It is market activation as it needed the Sony definitely a very gif-able video. The road trip aesthetic ran through teams in every office participating to build everything – including real-world pit stops these pit stops and to get retail partners on Driving pre-orders with bundled offers From our audience research, we knew that board to secure their spot in-store for the pit Streaming for ‘Shout Out To My Ex’ what people liked about them was the fact stops. It was the biggest physical activation was really strong – stronger that that they were genuine friends and their we have ever done for Little Mix. The results we had seen on any other of their togetherness. We wanted to see how we were amazing. singles – but it was predominately could create a campaign around that and In London, we basically shut down the on downloads. With Glory Days, we include the fans in it. world. That included Brazil, Chile, Argentina, as 1,000 fans turned up at had two weeks at #1 on the album chart. In The campaign aesthetic from the video Singapore, the Philippines and Japan – all the pit stop. It was open for the whole of the first week it was 90% physical. That was is around a road trip with the girls in a car in our key markets. We created retail stores Saturday and we had fans queuing from around the same with the Get Weird album. the desert. That aesthetic was something and in London we took over a spot on the 9am to have their photos taken and to get That is partly down to the time of year and that we wanted to carry through everything South Bank to make the pit stops. In London, their merchandise. In London, we had the going into the gifting market. that we were doing in terms of our creative we also had the car from the music video, band show up and surprise the fans as For Glory Days, we also did a tour-ticket- assets online. bespoke Little Mix-branded road signs and a reward for coming down and showing and-album bundle. The Glory Days tour We created a campaign called The Glory so on. support for the album as well as being part is happening in 2017, so in the lead up to Days Road Trip. It was a global four-day road We branded up those spaces with of the road trip. We also had a press photo releasing tickets we did a bundle incentive trip frenzy which mixed Snapchat filters, Little Mix Glory Days assets. We also had call opportunity with the girls in the car and where people could pre-order the album via real world locations and different campaign bespoke road trip merchandise which was that got seeded out. Little Mix’s music store and they could get activations in different countries. all stuff that couldn’t be bought. They were access to tickets early. That was the biggest We created Glory Days Road Trip pit effectively pop-up shops but nothing was for Enhancing real-world locations with ticket bundle offering that Sony had in 2016. stops – physical pit stops – in 20 different sale – it was all given away for free as part of Snapchat filters and Facebook frames Fans could pre-order the album via the countries and 30 different cities around the the fan experience. We had branded trucker We had some online elements that worked

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The results were amazing. Once again it was ex-UK. Five In London, we had a bespoke Little Mix minutes after the performance Snapchat filter around South Bank and 4m finished, the video was processed people viewed that filter over the course of and became VOD. That was open the one day it was activated. We definitely to people in the UK as well. We had achieved what we wanted to do in terms of over 20,000 people tuning in live to getting the word out there and showing the watch it. The chart reaction was great. power of Little Mix fans. It has been a slow but steady increase in They all have their own Instagram sales as it went up the chart. That was a pages and a group page. Instagram is their good start for us before we released the fastest-growing platform. But in terms of promo video. volume, Facebook is their biggest platform in and around that. We had Snapchat filter and Twitter is also bigger. In terms of where Carrying the campaign into 2017 hotspots in different cities around the world. they focus their activity personally, it’s very A big focus for them in 2017 is the Some of those were where the pit stops much on Snapchat and Instagram. A lot of US. They will be there a lot in 2017, were and some were standalone. content gets pushed out there. particularly in the first half of the year. On Facebook, we created bespoke They are supporting Ariana Grande on Facebook frames which fans could add to Moving into the second single – her North American tour from February their profile pictures. It was all branded up and using the X Factor again in until April and then they will be doing their as the Little Mix Glory Days road trip to show a different way (with YouTube) own headline tour across Europe, they were participating online if they couldn’t In December, we moved onto the second the UK and Australia. get to one of the physical pit stops. single. ‘Shout Out To My Ex was still in the Now we have a wealth of information It was really interesting to see pockets of top 5 in the UK charts, but we felt it was time in terms of audience insights, we can the fanbase that we didn’t previously know to [go onto the next single]. As the album see what people are streaming and existed. Chile really surprised everyone – to was already out, we could see from our downloading. We can also see the have 300 fans show up at the pit stop even analytics what tracks people were loving and retention rates and we are going to use though they knew the band wasn’t going we knew we needed to move onto a second that to our absolute maximum. be there; but the opportunity was enough single. ‘Touch’ became that second single We think we are going to get at least for the fans to come together to show they and we were able to use the X Factor final as four singles from this album. We’re in a were fans of Little Mix. a platform to launch it. really good position. It’s got legs. :) It was a digital activation because it It tied in nicely as it was exactly five years issues. Because the one we did on Facebook started online. since they won X Factor so it felt like a bit was a first and a big moment, the publishers The pit stops were happening over a few of a homecoming. They performed ‘Touch’ gave us some allowances [as videos are not different days. Australia activated first when and the album track ‘Oops’ which featured monetised on Facebook] and let us to do it WANT TO FEATURE IN the band were in market a few days before Charlie Puth – and he performed a medley of and keep it on Facebook as VOD for 24 hours BEHIND THE CAMPAIGN? Marketing people: do you have a campaign you are working album release, so the content from Australia ‘Oops’ that went into ‘Touch’. and then take it down. on that you would like to see featured in Behind The Campaign trickled out first and that made the other Because of the success of the live It was through the X Factor’s YouTube in a future edition of sandbox? If so, send a brief synopsis of fans excited for when their pit stops were streaming of ‘Shout Out To My Ex’ on the channel. We worked with the Google team it to Eamonn Forde for consideration and your work (and your going to be launching and they’d got an idea X Factor, we managed to negotiate with X on that and we worked with to words) could appear here. of what it would look like. Factor again to allow us to live stream the execute it. Again, it was massively successful Email: [email protected] Local markets did things that were performance. But with that we did it through as it was creating that moment in time customised to themselves at their pit stops. YouTube and that was down to publishing where everyone could tune it at once.

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