Sony Music Entertainment: THE FUTURE OF SONY MUSIC MARKETING

Credits & Description:

Advertiser: SONY MUSIC
Agency: MINDSHARE WW
Category: Best Use of Special Events and Stunt/Live Advertising
Advertising campaign: SWISS LIPS: THE FUTURE OF SONY MUSIC MARKETING
Social Director: Ebony Rhiney James (Sony Music)
Manager: Emily Watson (Hall Or Nothing)
Director: Ian Pons Jewell (Freelance)
Digital Manager: Catherine Conroy (Sony Music)
Media Director: David Norris (Mindshare)
Marketing Director: Matt Elek (Vice)
Epic/Head Of Marketing: Richard Connell (Sony Music)
Product Manager: Nathalie Barnett (Sony Music)
Artist: Warren Lewis (Mindshare)
Series Producer: Alex Hoffman (Noisey)
Senior Account Manager: Anthony Jones (Mindshare)
Project Manager: Becca Sawyer (Mindshare)
Head Of Production: Cate Murden (Mindshare)
Social Manager: Claire Higgins (CYOA)
Head Of Innovation: Fred Bolza (Sony Music)
Chief Strategy Officer: Matt Andrews (Mindshare)
Producer: Claire Bartelomeo (Vice)
Head Of Creation: Laura Scanlon (Mindshare)
Social Account Director: Paul Chivers (Mindshare)
Producer: Suze Olbrich (Noisey)

Effectiveness
Before our campaign was launched, Swiss Lips struggled to attract four friends to their gigs. Just one month later, over 1,000 were turning up to each gig and they had to turn many people away (including cool established artists like Pixie Lott). Swiss Lips had 21,000 Facebook fans, 164,000 views, and coverage in influential sites like Vice and The Huffington Post. And on 14 January, they made it onto the Radio 1 Playlist with their first single, ‘Danz’, being played by DJ Sara Cox. This radical approach has changed the way SONY markets music in the UK.

Execution
Swiss Lips moved into the warehouse. Together with the band, we hosted lots of live events at their new location. It was a creative, adventurous atmosphere built around a solid business aim. Content was pumped out to our audience for them to discover on Facebook. We also positioned the band within the highly-revered Vice editorial and The Huffington Post. The fan base grew. But our formula was a radical new approach to music marketing. Personal connections between the fans and the band were critical. This led to Shares and Likes on Facebook. And these were the criteria for our objective: their first single being played on Radio 1, and a new underground band going mainstream.

Strategy
Our target audience lives revolve around new music and hearing it first. To reach this style leader in London for SONY Music, we had to avoid paid media. It meant we had to turn our budget upside down - 90% production; 10% media – and attract his attention through earned media only. So, new band ‘Swiss Lips’ became our project. SONY moved them to a disused warehouse in London’s hip East End. Then we built a connection with a tiny fan base through gigs, parties, kids’ parties, recording sessions and even sleep-ins. We collaborated with Bastille and The Horrors, we made merchandise and gave it away for free. Facebook and Vice were our media channels. The live events and videos were our content. In one month, we got an underground music sensation to the Holy Grail of UK music - the BBC Radio 1 Playlist.