CASE STUDY

FROM THE STAGE TO THE BIG SCREEN: THE EVOLUTION OF JUNKIE XL CASE STUDY FROM THE STAGE TO THE BIG SCREEN: THE EVOLUTION OF JUNKIE XL

I. SYNOPSIS

¥ A celebrated music artist and producer turned Hollywood film , Junkie XL hired Fame House to collaboratively craft a brand new identity through social media and digital activations.

¥ Fame House helped reposition his brand by conceptualizing and executing interactive fan campaigns, strengthening fan connections with the composer that have distinctly set him apart form his peers.

¥ Our efforts grew Junkie XL’s audience by 72% on Facebook and 126% on Twitter, increasing monthly engagements by 187% and 490%, respectively.

II. AN ARTIST’S EVOLUTION

For true artists, “success” is a moving target. There is no end-destination; rather, artistry is a continuous process of cultivating artistic integrity, application of the craft to new and different platforms, and the evolution of creative expression. No amount of recognition, money, or status can substitute a dying need to create and evolve the art.

Already one the most celebrated producers, and remixers of all time, Tom Holkenborg —a.k.a. Junkie XL—came to Fame House at a critical point in his illustrious career. Starting out in 1993, Holkenborg has built an incredible resume, including collaborations and credits with some of the most recognizable musicians, artists, brands, and franchises in the world, and a #1 hit in 24 countries with his rework of ’s “A Little Less Conversation” in 2002. In 1993, Junkie XL formed the band Nerv and produced hardcore and metal bands like and Fear A true artist in every sense, Junkie XL never Factory. Drawn by electronic breakbeats, he started Junkie XL in 1997, debuting the now classic album Saturday remained content. In recent years, he’s sought to Teenage Kick. Holkenborg went on to produce five more evolve his art and seek a new challenge, a new albums under the moniker while playing headline shows all platform to tell his musical stories. over the world.

Holkenborg has collaborated with celebrated artists like Dave Holkenborg set his sights on Hollywood. Gahan, , , and Tiësto, and has remixed for the likes of , , , and . He’s also created music for video games like the legendary franchise, The Sims, and SSX, as well as for commercials for global campaigns from Nike, Heineken, , Cadillac and VISA.

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III. FROM RECORDING ARTIST TO FILM COMPOSER

In 2013, having already built an impressive portfolio collaborating with on scores for , , Man of Steel, and others, Holkenberg was brought in to compose an original score for ’s 300: Rise of an Empire.

Junkie XL hired Fame House to help leverage this opportunity to grow his audience. While a film composer may typically stay behind-the-scenes, Holkenborg understood the value of connecting directly with his fans—from all stages of his career. He was also eager to share his passion for education and desire to provide opportunities for others. He knew that social media and the digital sphere would be key in doing this.

With major Hollywood reach, a loyal fan base, a proven track record, and a creative mastermind eager to participate, all the elements were there for us to propel Holkenborg’s brand to the next level.

IV. POSITIONING JUNKIE XL IN HOLLYWOOD; SETTING GOALS

Aside from his versatility as a virtuoso musician, Holkenborg possesses another key differentiator from other film composers: he is highly relatable.

To position him apart from his peers, we together sought to eschew the traditional Hollywood veil, instead accentuating his strengths as a real-life persona. Rather than associating him with imagery of fancy mixing consoles in multi-million dollar studios, we would showcase who Holkenborg really is: someone who regularly reaches out to fans and who shares his craft with the world.

To this end, we focused on two primary goals:

1. Driving meaningful fan engagement, and 2. Painting a strong narrative to shape fan perceptions of Junkie XL.

To measure our success against these goals, we sought to grow audience acquisition on Junkie XL channels, increase engagements with and mentions of Junkie XL across platforms.

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V. PLANTING THE SEEDS – 300: RISE OF AN EMPIRE REMIX CONTEST

We wanted to bring people along for Junkie XL’s metamorphosis in a way that made them feel part of his story; to feel emotionally invested in it. After auditing his channels, we found that his followers were a mix of fans of his music and other musicians, composers, and producers that aspire to gain his level of mastery. We needed to cater to both these groups in an authentic and compelling way.

To do so, Fame House partnered with SoundCloud and Dancing Astronaut to launch a remix competition. Junkie XL provided stems (individual track files) from the 300: Rise of an Empire score for fans to remix, giving fans a chance to participate in the creative process around the score.

The Grand Prize Winner would win their track featured across 300: Rise of an Empire’s social media channels (>11MM fans), a congratulatory Skype call from Holkenborg, and autographed merch.

RESULTS ¥ Almost 100 entries. ¥ 10% increase in Facebook fans during the contest. ¥ 113% increase in Twitter mentions during the contest. ¥ 213 increase in Twitter mentions during the contest.

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VI. #SEEMYSTUDIO

The release of 300: Rise of an Empire was immediately followed by two more Junkie XL-scored releases: the hit Divergent and the Liam Neeson-starring Run All Night. We needed to capitalize on this momentum while finding a new way to more deeply engage fans.

Posts sharing Holkenborg’s obsession with studio gear (hence the term “Junkie”) always garnered a huge reaction from his fans in terms of likes, comments, and shares. Clearly, we had gear heads in the audience.

With that in mind, we developed a weekly social media initiative called #SeeMyStudio, calling on fans to submit photos of their studios and creative workspaces across Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Each week, Holkenborg picked a notable studio or piece of fan gear to share with his fans.

Many of these posts turned into makeshift forums as fans discussed the gear and engaged with each other. The fan activity enabled Junkie XL to foster community conversations around the creative process, furthering strengthening his brand and direct connections with fans.

These posts were consistently the top performing content on Junkie’s channels, with multiple posts being shared virally and reaching hundreds of thousands of potential new fans in gear head / bedroom producer circles. Each one drove spikes in Junkie XL’s Facebook reach and new fans:

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VII. STUDIO TIME WITH JUNKIE XL

Next on Junkie XL’s agenda was scoring the new installment of the revered Mad Max franchise: Fury Road. The film’s massive success catapulted Holkenborg to the forefront of top Hollywood film composers.

Continuing our focus on gearheads and fellow studio junkies, we took the next step to deepen fan engagements with Junkie XL through rich media: video.

Fame House with JXL conceptualized and built a plan for the first season of “Studio Time with Junkie XL,” a YouTube series of in-depth tutorial videos on the technical aspects of how Holkenborg creates musical scores. The series offers rare glimpses into specific pieces of music he has created.

RESULTS ¥ Over 161K YouTube views—more than a 1,000% increase in total channel views. ¥ YouTube engagement increased by over 1,600%. ¥ Over 4.4K subscribers gained during Season One, more than doubling Junkie XL’s subscriber base. ¥ “Studio Time” posts averaged 1,270 engagements on Facebook, 174% more than the channel average.

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Metrics aside, fan reactions told the whole story:

VIII. #NOWSCORETHIS

After showcasing fans’ studios and then showing them how Holkenborg operates in his own, it came time to hear what fans could do in theirs.

To celebrate the release of the much-buzzed Black Mass (featuring a score showcasing Holkenborg’s more emotional and moody side), we together launched #NowScoreThis: a first-of-its-kind film scoring competition. Through it, Junkie XL gives aspiring film composers an opportunity to provide their own interpretations of his scores.

Holkenborg supplies his followers with a prompt and they then work to create a score based off his instruction and guidance. Prizes include Junkie XL celebrating and breaking down the winning entries on his social channels, Skype or in-person meetings, and more.

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With the initial announcement having taken place on Facebook via native video, Junkie saw a 46.6% increase in new likes, a 64.3% increase in reach, and an 83.0% increase in engagement in the first week. Fan sentiment is more positive than ever, with Junkie’s followers acknowledging the unique, personal nature of the initiative:

The first #NowScoreThis prompt has garnered over 100 submissions as of this writing, with 168 members in the SoundCloud submission group within just one week.

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IX. 2016 AND BEYOND

Heading into 2016, Holkenborg’s momentum only continues to get stronger.

His longtime friend and mentor, Hans Zimmer, has asked him score the cues in the upcoming Batman vs. Superman epic. All eyes (and ears) will be on Junkie XL as he enters the batcave to take on one of the most honored themes in film history.

He has also been called to compose the score for the highly anticipated film adaption of the comic book series, due out February 2016.

X. BEYOND THE METRICS

While the growth of his channels has been nothing if not impressive, it is what we see beyond the numbers—in the quality of his fan interactions—that is most exciting about what we have accomplished working with Junkie XL.

He is now positioned in a very unique light amongst his Hollywood peers. He is seen as a master and a virtuoso, but also as an educator and a personality eager to engage with the current and next generation of music makers. This branding quality has allowed his fans, followers, and admirers to become emotionally invested in his work and his career, as his success feels in some way their success, too.

With a course set in his brand identity and foundation laid for fan engagement, Junkie XL is primed to embrace the next stages in his career. Fame House will be along for the ride as we continue to help evolve this budding film titan in the making.

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