BROUGHT TO YOU COURTESY OF 05–06 Tools Apple Music For Artists 07–08 Campaigns Deutsche Grammophon, Beyoncé/Jay-Z, The WaveVR, Fortnite 09–13 Behind The Campaign- Jory Boy

IN ASSOCIATION WITH sandbox JUNE 27 2018 MUSIC MARKETING FOR THE DIGITAL ERA ISSUE 207

GOD SAVE THE STREAMS WHERE PRE-SAVES ARE MOVING NEXT COVERFEATURE

In 18 months the pre-save has gone from niche experiment to standard practice in marketing. But in that time, the thing that made it special – a way to stand out from the rush of albums every Friday – has been diluted by ubiquity. Now that Apple Music is tentatively entering the fray with its own twist (termed “pre-adds”), the need to bring something else beyond a simple save mechanic has never been greater. While some marketers are already asking if this is more about pleasing the DSPs than the fans, there is still plenty of life in the strategy. We look at how it has got to this stage and where it needs to move next.

t is a mark of how quickly the digital music industry moves that the pre-save Icampaign has gone from being wonderful novelty to standard marketing tool in the 18 months since Kobalt first debuted the concept in support of Laura Marling’s Semper Femina . Inevitably, with this swift rise has come a fair amount of dissatisfaction with the practice, which lets music fans pre-save forthcoming albums and tracks to their streaming libraries and playlists (mostly, but not exclusively, on Spotify). Some

GOD SAVE THE STREAMS WHERE PRE-SAVES ARE MOVING NEXT

1 | sandbox | ISSUE 206 | 13.06.2018 COVERFEATURE marketers have complained, Getting maximum physical album once represented. “With a for example, that pre-save impact release, as soon as we have got the record campaigns are an expensive delivered, we actually have an end point distraction which generate So how can marketers make the for people to go to connect with,” he says. little in the way of cut- most of the ubiquitous pre-save “In digital marketing, if you are self-aware, through. to ensure their campaigns stand you know people don’t see your whole “We’ve done [pre-saves] out in 2018’s crowded market? campaign. More than likely you hit people a couple of times, but can’t music:)ally director of digital once in a campaign. The idea is that when really see a major benefit to strategy Patrick Ross co-created you hit them once, make sure there is a them,” says Mute head of the idea of the pre-save campaign quick place they can go, do one action and marketing Neil Blanket. “If with David Emery (now at Apple they are done.” anything, they just seem to Music in the UK) when the two With this in mind, Kobalt made sure show that DSP that you’re worked together at Kobalt. He that fans who signed up for their pre-save engaging with them and says that many of the people campaigns had the option to enter their driving traffic to that service.” running pre-save campaigns email address. This, according to Ross, is Another concern is the these days are missing the point the most powerful part of the pre-save cost. Spotify in itself doesn’t “We wanted to do something a little of the exercise. mechanism. “When the record comes out have a pre-save tool, which means labels more interesting with this [pre-save] other “The reason that we made the pre-save it sends you an email notification,” he says. must either build their own – an approach than save the album to Spotify or follow was that Spotify used to notify you about “People going into their email, open up favoured by the majors and large indies a playlist,” Corey Zaloom, head of digital stuff,” he explains. “When you used to and, ‘Oh, what is in there? Cool, I will go and – or use a third-party tool. This can be marketing at Domino Recording Company, follow an artist, every time that they did listen to that now,’ on the Friday that it was expensive, and one marketer recently told sandbox earlier this year. something, you got a notification. Now you released, driving a whole bunch of streams suggested to sandbox that it didn’t “We have seen pre-saves be a are beholden to the algorithm: occasionally on day one.” represent value for money for the impact it successful tactic when they’re a you get notifications. The idea was: ‘How Ross believes that by adding email made and that some they had tested were part of any campaign, but we just do we go back and put in the features that capture, labels can significantly improve full of bugs. wanted to make it a little more their notification system used to put in?’” the quality of their pre-save campaigns. And yet the pre-save is unlikely to interesting.” One of the key benefits of the pre-save, “The big miss that some labels don’t do,” be going away any time soon. A recent Cindy James, VP of streaming at Ross explains, was to give marketers he explains, “is you spend this marketing campaign for Shawn Mendes’ self-titled Island Records in the US, says pre-saves an “end point” to which they could drive money to drive someone to this pre-save third album was said to be among the represent “a great way to incorporate our music fans around a campaign, much like a before a release, you go on there, you click biggest pre-saves in history – although streaming partners into the pre-release Island, his label, did not wish to comment marketing messaging”. on this – while Apple Music quietly “With the data we’re currently receiving from launched its own “pre-add” function for our streaming partners, it’s difficult to quantify albums at the start of June. a one-to-one, click-to-stream relationship, Meanwhile, Domino’s campaign especially tracking a click that takes place for Franz Ferdinand’s recent Always off-platform to consumption that happens as Ascending album turned the Spotify a result on that platform,” she adds. “However, pre-save into an online fan club – an based on the number of pre-saves, newsletters initiative that showed how the that are opened and click-through rates, we pre-save campaign can serve as a wider believe this is quickly becoming a valuable marketing tool. conversion marketing tool.”

2 | sandbox | ISSUE 206 | 13.06.2018 COVERFEATURE a button or tick a box and sometimes you as well as links for the tour dates. The don’t even get an email notification.” pre-saving fans got a handwritten note in Jeremy Da, director of marketing at Cinq the email from the band thanking them for Music agrees. “The reason why we do pre- saving the album and for following along.” saves here is to get emails,” he explains Guillaume Crisafulli, co-founder of in Behind The Campaign in this issue of customer data advertising platform sandbox. “It is a very valuable data capture Make The Link , says that marketers mechanic. We have built fanbases and got should be creative when rewarding fans. superfans thanks to this.” “What works well is the pre-save campaign tied with an incentive – such as release The value of the party access, gift card or signed vinyl,” he value exchange says. “For example we’re currently running the Lecrae & Zaytoven Let The Trap Say Oliver Muoto, founder of Nashville social Amen pre-save coupled with the chance to media marketing specialist Metablocks, win a $300 sneaker gift card in the US. And which operates its own pre-save platform, that then makes sense to ask for an email says that many labels expect pre-save address for the fan to be contacted in case campaigns to work by themselves, with they’re the lucky winner.” nothing in the way of additional support. However, Crisafulli cautions against “We say, ‘Little incentive, little action; no over-selling them. “You need to be careful incentive, no action,’” he explains. and organised with the type of content “People are not pre-saving purely [you offer], concrete follow-up [strategic for the novelty of pre-saving any planning] and exclusives you’re delivering,” more. We ask people running he says. “Be clear with the fans on what to campaigns, ‘What is the value expect. Over-promising marketing has been proposal?’ Over the last two years, seen too often in that game.” our platform has evolved into more of a marketing tool, as Pre-saves around artists far as building incentives into rather than albums pre-saves.” The idea of a value exchange is THE MUSIC ALLY CHECKLIST FOR PRE-SAVES Ross links the idea of the pre-save fan important, as marketers start to create Zaloom told music ally that Franz club to the streaming artist subscription :) Make sure your pre-save campaign: extra incentives for fans to sign up to pre- Ferdinand fans “were really rewarded for that Kobalt developed for its pre-save l Saves a selection of back catalogue to user collection save campaigns. The Always Ascending fan committing to save the album, staying campaigns, whereby fans subscribe to the upon signup club offered exclusive photos, videos and engaged and checking back for updates”. artist themselves rather than just pre- l Follows an artist’s owned-and-operated playlist lyrics from Franz Ferdinand; Kylie Minogue This included a neat email campaign to saving a particular album. upon signup fans who pre-saved her recent album on thank fans for their loyalty. “We had these pre-saves and we l Follows artist upon signup Spotify were entered into a competition to “When [Always Ascending] was released, realised we had this second level. If you l Subscribes to mailing list (artist + brand/label, if possible) win a signed copy of Golden on vinyl and we segmented our email lists,” she are subscribing to one thing, in this case l Sends email on day of release Camila Cabello ran a T-shirt competition explained. “The general email list got a a track or album release, why can’t you l Saves track on day of release for fans who pre-saved her debut album, standard message about the album being subscribe a level up and make it the actual Camila, on Spotify. out that day, with links to hear or buy it artist?” he explains. “We realised there

3 | sandbox | ISSUE 206 | 13.06.2018 COVERFEATURE was the same functionality; save campaigns indefinitely. PRE-ADD POWER but in this case, instead of it “We would say, ‘Use that URL being a specific product from everywhere and shout about it music:)ally’s Patrick Ross on an artist you subscribe to, it is as much as possible because it the power of Apple Music’s every product from an artist.” never becomes irrelevant.’ If you “pre-adds” Kobalt used this mechanism click on it and the album is out, for acts including Aqualung, it is very clear that it is out now. Apple sort of had an in-built NVDES and Lauv. Under There’s literally a button to play pre-save function. It wasn’t the banner of “streaming it, there is still a functionality to great, though. Apple still lists subscription”, Aqualung’s pre- go, ‘Boom – add it to my library’, things like Spotify used to and save page promised: “Subscribe without having to follow it, take like iTunes does. When a new for free to automatically add all it into Spotify and manually add record is not out, but there are new releases by Aqualung to it to your library.” two tracks out from it, on Apple your Spotify Library when they By taking these steps, Ross Music you get all of the tracks come out,” adding in the small says pre-saves can continue to greyed out apart from the ones print: “By subscribing you will drive day-one streams, which in that are available. They are have these tracks, it will send automatically follow the artist turn help artists onto Spotify’s all- still called instant grats in the a notification to your phone to on Spotify. If you allow access Language is key important algorithmic playlists. system. You can nominate these tell you that this album is now to your email address this will be passed to “That was so fascinating to watch when you deliver something released. the artist and their team.” As you can see, the language used around – the things that we did pre-saves with Apple. The power of Apple’s tool Ross believes artist subscriptions can pre-saves is also important, with the on, how they would dominate On Apple Music you have is it is native. It is less about offer lasting value. “There is stuff I have “pre-save” name more an industry term the algorithmic charts and the always been able to add that having this conversation: “Go subscribed to a year ago and I still get than a consumer proposition. “A lot of the dynamic charts, things that are album to your collection – and now and pre-save through notification every time they release so I success of a pre-save comes around the recommended to people,” he says. as the new things comes out some third-party tool”; you can am still up to date every time a new track copy used in the communication telling “From being released they had a spike they are in your collection. literally send an Apple Music subscriber a link. If I were comes out,” he says. “I don’t even use people to participate,” says music:)ally of people listening to them within a very Spotify used to list albums like Spotify. I go and listen to it in Apple Music. head of training and development Wesley short time span. That is how you game that, greyed out, but people running a campaign these But it works either way.” T. A’Harrah. “Saying ‘pre-save this music’ is the algorithm.” thought that they didn’t have days, I would make a Linkfire, Ross says that the artist subscription not the same as ‘listen later’ or ‘be the first So far the idea of pre-saves has been the rights to the track. So they drop in a Spotify pre-save from idea works well for both new and catalogue to hear it’.” largely focused on Spotify, which makes pulled that function. wherever that comes from, such artists. “I used it with NVDES, a frontline Messaging around pre-saves should sense, given its vast user base. But Deezer On Spotify you have to put as a third-party tool, and that artist releasing new singles and EPs. That also reflect the passing of time. Ross also allows pre-save campaigns and a new song out as a single, would be the link I would use is good for him because he has got a lot of explains how Kobalt pre-save tools would Muoto says these can be big in certain then when the album comes for Spotify. flow that you have to keep checking back change their messaging to “save for later” territories. “We work in Latin America and out, all the previously released But for Apple Music I can for,” he says. when the album in question was released. that is where you are going to see Deezer tracks are in it but the album is literally link to the same product. “Take Aqualung, a re-release campaign “We started using ‘save for later’, which is traction,” he says, citing a recent campaign a brand new product. On Apple So now I can talk about both for a catalogue artist where we have what all pre-saves from Kobalt will turn for a Brazilian group where Deezer pre- Music you have one product platforms; but for Apple Music’s multiple albums coming out in the next into,” he says. “Automatically, on release save numbers were half that of Spotify’s for that album and you put the you don’t have to go to a year: how do we keep people in touch, date the pre-save changes to ‘out now’ – a very respectable result. With Apple “singles” live within that piece. third-party tool – which, for an without having to keep messaging, ‘Next and pulls in the Spotify widget, so you Music now slowly moving into the same What Apple Music has now indie, you have to pay for or, album, next album?’ It was a one off, ‘Hey can actually play right from the page.” territory (see box, right), the future looks done is if you add this album for bigger labels, you have to maintain yourself. subscribe to this to keep up to date’.” This, Ross adds, extends the life of pre- very interesting indeed. :) to your collection and it doesn’t

4 | sandbox | ISSUE 206 | 13.06.2018 TOOLS APPLE MUSIC FOR ARTISTS

Much talked about but rarely seen, Apple Music For Artists is slowly being rolled out to the artist and management community. At the same time, the service has quietly launched its “pre-add” functionality (akin the evolution of streams, listeners and to pre-saves on Spotify) and so we look at followers to other artists, a feature that what these significant changes mean for Apple Music has (so far) decided to not marketing on the second-largest music include on its dashboard. subscription service. The milestones are also a feature that stand out here. These milestones come Overview from the aggregation of iTunes sales data along with streaming data. Also, the When first landing on the dashboard, quantitative nature of these milestones you see a few overview topline stats is interesting and differs from Spotify (streams, radio spins, song purchases, For Artists, where the only milestones album purchases). There is more flexibility outlined are shown when a track has with time overviews as this dashboard been playlisted. Apple Music For Artists allows for better tailoring in time views. seems to focus on simplicity and the In comparison, Spotify only allows for visual impact of data reporting, with a lot data views in three time brackets: the last of weight put on comparative analytics. seven days; the last 28 days; and over Milestones seem to embody this perfectly lifetime. and are useful to assess the impact Crucially Apple Music combines historic that new tracks are having on an artist’s iTunes data with Apple Music streams streaming strategy. in the overview and allows users to click Another original feature of Apple through to graphs showing the evolution Music’s dashboard lies in the data filters. of each data set. You can tailor and filter your data by, for Beyond being able to view data at a example, choosing to view the streams specific point in time, there are a few (called “plays” on Apple Music) and their other differences between the stream evolution by gender, age group and/or evolution graphs on Apple Music For location. Artists and those on Spotify For Artists. While Apple Music For Artists has a Heatmaps series of milestones on the Overview page, Spotify incorporates some limited Managers already using Apple Music For playlisting milestones on the graph itself. Artists have spoken to sandbox about Spotify also allows the user to compare their experiences here and have sung

5 | sandbox | ISSUE 207 | 27.06.2018 TOOLS

you decide to view, along with the previous period, revealing the percentage change from one period to the other. Furthermore, Spotify For Artists informs users of the playlist type, sorting them in personalised, editorial and listener playlists. This information is not given by Apple Music For Artists; you can basically only see the title of the playlist your track is on and the number of streams it has generated for you. On a more positive note, we must praise the tailoring and filters available to view the data. You can choose specific timeframes and even view playlist the praises of the milestones and the evolution by gender and age. heatmaps features. While milestones are Apple Music for Artists generally seems not completely new to DSP dashboards, to have focused its efforts as a platform the way heatmaps are set up on Apple on comparative, visual and tailored data. Music for artists is a first. At sandbox we particularly like the visual With this tool you can view where aspect of the data reporting that the new streams are coming from at both a Apple dashboard provides. Evolution data, country level and a city one. Clicking on particularly when represented visually, each city or country opens up a list of allows users to sift through the copious the most-streamed tracks in that area, amounts of data they already receive in showing specific stream numbers for the the digital world. top 10 tracks. Spotify has been the go-to DSP data Marketers have already been keenly dashboard since its launch. Recently using these heatmaps to extrapolate more though, with rival players coming into the granular data about listeners around the space and the launch of Apple Music For world. Combining this with geographical Artists, Spotify’s analytics dashboard has data coming from airplay or Shazam can been put under increased scrutiny. Spotify became a key new identifier of new and For Artists, however, still remains strong existing audiences, something that can spill in some of its core value offerings, such as over into live and touring for many acts. the evolution of plays attributed to It is not the same to receive 100 plays playlisting data. each individual playlist over a period of from a 100-follower playlist than it is to Hopefully Apple Music For Artists can Playlisting data time with a graphical representation – receive 100 plays from a 1,000-follower catch up with the playlisting data aspect something Spotify For Artists doesn’t playlist. This is an important number to and incorporate functionalities revolving When looking at playlisting reporting, do – you cannot see data on the number miss out on, especially as you cannot around comparisons with other artists. Apple Music For Artists has also of followers that each playlist has. This is calculate the per-head stream frequency. We are very much looking forward to taken a different approach in the way an important figure to be informed on as The only figures you can see regarding seeing where Apple Music will take this it shows playlisting data. While this it puts the number of plays attributed to playlists are the streams the playlist has dashboard, especially seeing as the initial DSP’s dashboard allows users to see each playlist into context. generated for your track in the timeframe impact has been so positive. :)

6 | sandbox | ISSUE 207 | 27.06.2018 CAMPAIGNS The latest projects from the digital marketing arena DEUTSCHE BANKED: CLASSICAL LABEL MARKS EVERYTHING IS LOVE IS… ALL AROUND: 120 YEARS WITH DIGITAL ARCHIVE PROJECT BEYONCÉ/JAY-Z’S SHORT-LIVED EXCLUSIVE

in the early 1900s and making them available online. Around 400 shellac records will be digitally updated and they include historically important recordings such as Russian author Leo Tolstoy reading from one of his novels as well as early recordings by jazz pioneer Louis – is not sure what to do with potential Armstrong from 1934. On the classical exclusives. side there are also rare recordings As we noted in the previous issue of from Russian bass Feodor Chaliapin sandbox, most services have washed their Deutsche Grammophon is 120 years old this and Austrian violinist/composer Fritz hands of exclusive albums but instead year. It was set up by US-born Emile Berliner Kreisler as well as a 1927 recording of Pietro want bespoke tie-in content from artists – inventor of the flat-disc phonograph record Mascagni conducting members of the Berlin To coincide with their joint tour, Beyoncé so they have a point of differentiation – as the German arm of his own Berliner Staatskapelle. and Jay-Z (listed as The Carters) surprise- from their rivals. Tidal was fast becoming Gramophone Company. It has a storied history “As inventor of the gramophone and released a new album, Everything Is Love, an outlier – the only service taking a hard and has become a byword for a certain quality founder of the world’s oldest record labels, on Tidal on Saturday 16th June. line on exclusives; yet some were fumbled in classical music. Emil Berliner brought music into everyday (Rihanna’s Anti) or became a PR disaster life,” said Philipp Justus, VP of Central Europe But by the Monday, it was everywhere else (Kanye West’s The Life Of Pablo). The only To mark this anniversary, it is digging deep for Google in a statement. “We are excited – Apple Music, Amazon, Deezer, Pandora constant in all of this is Lemonade. into its plump and varied archives and has about Deutsche Grammophon’s collaboration and even SoundCloud. It was, however, So is Everything Is Love a fumble? Or no shortage of treasures there as it has with Google Arts & Culture to digitise only initially available to Spotify premium a PR disaster? It certainly got Tidal more witnessed literally every twist and turn in the hundreds of the world’s oldest records, and to users; but it is understood that it will just coverage on traditional media and social evolution of recorded music. make this important chapter of music history be windowed for a fortnight and then will media than it has seen in a long time – but There are a series of concerts planned more accessible to people everywhere.” be open to users on the free tier. So it had that quantitative uptick was not necessarily for the rest of the year, but it is what is Classical is a genre that we cover an extension of sorts to its “exclusivity”. glowing. There was such limited time to happening digitally that is of most interest in sandbox only occasionally, but this Much media mileage was drawn out draw in new subscribers or even trialists, so to sandbox readers. The label, now part of partnership is proof that classical labels can of a line from ‘Nice’ on the album where one wonders what the point was. Universal Music Group, has partnered with absolutely twist digital to their advantage Beyoncé – referencing her 2016 album that And yet… maybe, just maybe, there is Google Arts & Culture for a rolling archival and will serve as an important bridge into remains a streaming exclusive on Tidal – something else brewing. This could have project that will see obscure gems in its classical music online for consumers. sings: “If I gave two fucks about streaming been a warm up for something bigger, vaults digitised for the first time. Under the numbers, would have put Lemonade up on something bolder. If there is something umbrella of The Shellac Project (no, nothing Spotify.” These are lyrics that will dog the more coming, this could be a great to do with Steve Albini’s hardcore band), it is marketing around the album as it seems marketing sleight of hand. But if there’s not, taking rare Galvano metal masters recorded Tidal – given Jay-Z is the face of the service then it’s the sound of one hand clapping.

7 | sandbox | ISSUE 207 | 27.06.2018 CAMPAIGNS The latest projects from the digital marketing arena GLITCH, PLEASE: ELECTRONIC GROUP PARTNER A FORTNITE TO REMEMBER: MUSICIANS PILE ONTO THE HOTTEST NEW GAME WITH THEWAVEVR FOR NEW CUSTOM ALBUM Unless you are a dedicated gamer or In the background, “This show have kids under a certain age, then several music expands upon Epic Games’ Fortnite is probably experiments in VR what we’ve learned something you only have passing are happening. Many from doing several knowledge of, perhaps from hysterical are simply shooting others but goes media coverage about its potential a concert and hoping much deeper into threat to The Youth Of Today. In people will don the environmental short, it is a “co-op survival” game, requisite helmets storytelling and where players can team up against or goggles to watch interactive design,” opponents in a near-future world them. said TheWaveVR where most humans have been wiped CEO and co-founder out and zombie hordes are intent on But then sometimes, Adam Arrigo in a obliterating the few remaining survivors. although not very statement. “Part often, something a bit film, part concert and It was a slow burner on launch, but in more interesting and part art installation, September 2017 a standalone version substantial is pulled out the show explores was made freely available on PC as well as of the bag. themes fundamental Xbox and PlayStation. Then it exploded. TheWaveVR has to immersive As Twitch and Pokémon Go have played Duos together on YouTube (current partnered with The technology, such shown, as soon as there is a gaming hype, views: 9m) so this was an inevitability. Glitch Mob to build a as the relationship pop stars scrambling onto the bandwagon Obviously Marshmello can draw EDM VR experience around between isolation are never far behind. Drake (of course) has fans into the game but, really, this was more their recent See and social interaction already hitched his deft self-promotional about reflected glory for him. As far as the Without Eyes (note in the digital world. wagon to the game and earlier this month youth gaming community is concerned, the keen irony of the It’s far and away EDM star Marshmello took part in a “pro- Ninja is the superstar in this pairing and title in this context). So our most ambitious am” Fortnite tournament in LA where he many might be left scratching their heads what exactly is it? “A VR odyssey of shifting endeavour to date.” was paired with Ninja, a huge gaming star trying to figure out who this guy with the dreamscapes choreographed to a 20-minute It is – both visually and sonically – highly on Twitch and YouTuber (where he has bucket on his head is. custom mix of the album,” is how TheWaveVR impressive and hints at a future for music 14.1m subscribers). At the peak of the Rock Band/Guitar ostentatiously puts it. Still none the wiser? to be properly woven into the VR experience Ninja (real name Tyler Blevin) and Hero franchises, music (mainly older acts) Well, you can see it on TheWaveVR’s app for rather than, as is too often the case, Marshmello (real name Christopher were the big draw. But in the live-streamed Oculus Rift as well as the HTC Vive headset; crowbarred in. It is all still early days here, but Comstock) stole the show and landed gaming world, the gamers are the rock stars. but if you don’t have the hardware, it is also hopefully the creative pace is being picked up. the $1m top prize, which went to charity. Artists jumping on board are smart to do so, available on the VR company’s Facebook page Possibly, just possibly, this could be a new type Across the three hours they played, Twitch but they’ll be smarter still if they understand (although, obviously, this will not be the full of formatting for albums that warrant it – the reportedly had 1m concurrent viewers and accept where in the pecking order they immersive experience). standard edition and the VR-centric mix. watching every move. The two had already really sit.

8 | sandbox | ISSUE 207 | 27.06.2018 BEHIND THE CAMPAIGN JORY BOY BEHIND THE CAMPAIGNJORY BOY

Setting up a video-enabled pre- For the release of Puerto Rican save page reggaetón star Jory Boy’s latest album, We have been working with Jory Otra Liga 2, the plan was to drive Boy for a while. We distribute pre-sales and reward super fans. all his music, but this is the first JEREMY DA, director of marketing record that I have marketed for at Cinq Music, explains how video- him. enabled landing pages were used I love to use Metablocks; I feel in different ways and at different people don’t use it to their full moments in the campaign to push capacity. I prefer it to Linkfire. I tested lots of services and, from singles and then the album, how what I saw of Metablocks, it was fans were encouraged to bombard a one-stop shop for everything. Instagram to reveal the album ahead For the landing page , we built a of the “official” announcement video background for the page. This is and why this album is laying the something I wanted to do at the company groundwork for Jory Boy’s imminent – making the coolest things in landing gaming platform. pages. It is just a segment of the video playing in the background, but you can make the videos as long as you want. It is a link that we create, we load the video up onto one of our company servers and then we send Metablocks the link. Within seconds they can activate the background and it shows up.

10 | sandbox | ISSUE 207 | 27.06.2018 BEHIND THE CAMPAIGNJORY BOY

We deliver the video with sound, but once it gets into the platform it shows up without sound. That is fine by us. We just want the images, really.

Pre-saves and superfans The reason why we do pre-saves here is to get emails. It is a very valuable data capture mechanic. We have built fanbases and got super fans thanks to this. Super fans are invaluable to us. To me that is what the real driving force behind what the pre-save is. What they did that was special in the There are also ancillary benefits, video for that was they actually blew up obviously. A lot of artists still want to a police car in Miami. No urban artist do an iTunes pre-sale. A lot of artists, had ever done that before – so they were especially in urban, have fans who still it was all fresh buy records. We try to promote as many information. That platforms as we can; but for those was all in preparation platforms that actually offer a way to for the album coming buy in early – we just don’t want to out. There was a ignore them. separate landing It is also a way of showing Spotify page for the album that we are doing what we have to do – when it came out. which is to show love to the platform. Everything is self- It is communicating with the major serve on their platforms in the world and showing [Metablocks’] them that we are driving people to their platform – except for platform. We do it all through Metablocks. The only issue with this right now is the video part. So with the video, I sent It is our one-stop shop. that it doesn’t show up on mobile; it just the actual video file to our video team. works on desktop. But you can get a really They edited the video so that it rendered Using Instagram videos to good analytics page where you can see well because of the landing page strip power the album announcement the percentage of people who actually use in the middle of the screen [with links and turn fans into sub-marketers desktop. It’s probably around 40%, which is to various DSPs]. Often with videos, The general idea for the marketing good enough for this [campaign]. everything is centred. That would have behind Jory Boy was that I really This landing page was for the second meant that the singer’s face would appear wanted to put out stuff that was single [‘Yin Yang’] which came out in April. behind the strip and that would look bad. obscure first but also cool. The first The album itself came out on 15th June We edited it to look good with that setup – single was ‘No Me Busques’ which and we had an album announcement with that strip down the middle. We have translates as ‘Do Not Look For Me’ [and a few weeks ahead of the release – so done lots of these for different artists. that became the motif].

11 | sandbox | ISSUE 207 | 27.06.2018 BEHIND THE CAMPAIGNJORY BOY

very proud of it. For the first teaser, I strategy for each of the singles. was excited about it, we decided we had had these cars exploding everywhere. I tried to think of ways we could to try and get as much of this content It was a black and white video with the really make a big splash with the album as we could. From that came the idea of instrumental in the background and announcement. At that point Jory Boy and doing a contest. all you saw was cars exploding. It went his management shared the album cover At the same time we were talking to a crazy. with me. It was super colourful and I said company [Backstage Play] who do video I feel we had good engagement for that we should do something to make use games campaigns for artists. They can so we decided for the next singles to do of all these colours. I took the cover and design any game. So the idea became the same thing. For ‘Yin Yang’ , which is expanded it and had the idea of putting that the winner of this competition would very Asian and martial arts-based, we did OTL2 – which is like a pseudonym the get to design the first official Jory Boy fan a couple of mashups featuring Bruce Lee fans have for this record [in reference to game. and Jean-Claude Van Damme and they Otra Liga , the previous album] – on it. We spoke to Metablocks and put also got a lot of engagement. That included the artwork, the title, the together a campaign around the pre-save In the two weeks before release, I was logo of the management and the artist that already existed. So if anyone used taking the video and creating posts using and so on. I thought it would be good if Spotify , all they had to do was pre-save more of the video content with the song. each part was a separate video. the album, we would get their emails That was the progression of our release That same week Jory was talking to and we would know they were entered me about video into the contest. There were two ways games. We decided to enter: either you pre-saved or you just to create old-school entered your email. video games for each part [of the nine-square album artwork frame on Instagram]. I have never seen that before. We got our design team to build it. When it came back and everyone

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The next screen you came to [after part here is promoting the record – the submitting your email] was with links to album, the pre-save, all that stuff – and download each of those nine videos in also promoting a single off the record that that post. drops on the same day. We don’t want to Jory Boy announced that he would mix the messaging too much and confuse let his true fans make the album people. We want to separate them and announcement post before him – he keep on the same lines as the previous would allow them two hours to do that. two singles which were these obscure That was an extra little thing on the side posts. just to show love to his true fans. They could announce the record before him. Gaming as the next phase Then two hours later he posted it Gaming really drives great himself. The reaction was incredible. engagement. I think it is the We got a few hundred people entering future. I really believe in video the competition, which is really good gaming becoming a big part engagement for us. We also raffled off a of marketing for artists. I am few other prizes – and the winner got to really happy with what we do with design the official fan game. Backstage Play . They’re able to build The competition part just had a nine- any game. hour lifespan. We basically wanted to I am going to segue out of this record get Jory Boy fans to put this up [the nine into pushing the gaming side as hard as I video squares to make a grid] on their Fans who uploaded the videos to our engagement all that much because can. That nine-square post on Instagram own Instagram accounts and to reach lots Instagram were told to tag Jory Boy so we those instructions were there and we was the precursor for getting Jory on the of people who aren’t necessarily fans of could enter them into the contest. had thought ahead. But I have to be gaming platform, pushing that through Jory Boy. Android users can download video honest and I am sure we gave up some to his fans and getting everyone excited. Rather than have them put up one content to their phone super easily. We engagement because of that. That was the whole idea – building video, we wanted them to inundate knew ahead of time [we would have The files were relatively small in size momentum around the gaming angle Instagram with all these videos. That issues with iOS] but we circumvented and were only 30 seconds long [and so so that, when he launches his gaming meant people in their feeds would get one that. On the web page before you entered would download quickly]. They were platform, more people will be engaged and of nine videos and, if they liked that video, your email and got to the download page, simple video games in 8-bit. excited about it. Getting a fan to design the algorithm would start to feed them there was a checklist and you had to tick This was directed at superfans the first official fan game was also part of the other eight parts. the boxes in order to be able to pre-save – fans that we knew would go out that whole idea. :) The whole point was to populate and go to the next screen. of their way to post nine videos Instagram with as many people and fans There was a series of instructions about on their own Instagram account. as we could get and to reach as many asking you to tag Jory Boy and explaining Those guys we expected would read all WANT TO FEATURE IN other people, who aren’t necessarily fans, how the different videos would be the instructions. BEHIND THE CAMPAIGN? as possible. We made it a nine-hour numbered. There was also a note telling Marketing people: do you have a campaign you are working window – running from noon to 9pm. iOS users that it was much easier to Leading into the album on that you would like to see featured in Behind The Campaign sandbox Once 9pm hit, the contest was closed. The download the videos from their desktop We had a focus track [‘Tu No Sabes’] in a future edition of ? If so, send a brief synopsis of content was on his official Instagram and and then email the videos to themselves. come out when the album was released. it to Eamonn Forde for consideration and your work (and your you could repost it, but after that point Unfortunately we had no choice; we had So when the record came out, we would words) could appear here. you could no longer download the videos. to do that. I honestly don’t think it hurt have a third single with a video. The tricky Email: [email protected]

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