Going Global: Innovative Campaigns That Connected Fans Internationally
Credit: Stefan Kohli
This week, we’re talking location, location, location and how artists and labels are executing campaigns to bring fans together on a global scale.
Where Is Lauv?
Two days before the ‘how i’m feeling’ album release, Lauv’s team launched the Where is Lauv? mobile platform. On that platform, they shared selfie filters, images and video links across 250 international hotspot locations. Alongside the content, users could find 10 different five-second audio snippets of unreleased album tracks. Around the world, fans teamed up with each other to piece the audio snippets together and form one-minute teasers of Lauv’s new songs. Once users unlocked all the content from their respective locations, they were able to share their findings to socials with the #howimfeeling hashtag.
Each of the teasers were taken from songs that featured other artists, so Lauv’s campaign piqued the interest of multiple fanbases, including the BTS fan community, who contributed to the activation going viral in just a few hours. Not only were Lauv’s fanbase given an opportunity to connect and collaborate with each other across the globe, the mobile platform also encouraged interaction between multiple artists’ fanbases to build hype just before the album dropped.
Future Islands' Geo-Targeted Streams
When Future Islands’ team planned for the release of the ‘As Long As You Are’ album, they shook up the typical online listening party format. Fans were given access to a geo-targeted streaming website that would become unlocked once a minimum number of users in the same location visited the page. A tracking meter showed fans how close they were to unlocking their respective streams, and they encouraged other nearby fans to join the fun. Once fans unlocked the page, the album played on repeat for a day, and fans could use a custom Spotify-authenticated chatbox to discuss the release.
Letters To Alicia Keys
Earlier this month, Alicia Keys launched the ‘Memories of a Minor’ website to celebrate the 20th anniversary of her ‘Songs of a Minor’ album. The site invites Keys’ fans to write her letters to and publish them, alongside their photos to be seen by other fans worldwide. What’s interesting about the site is that it encourages fans to engage not only with the artist and the release, but also with each other's content, on a global scale.
While our new normal has changed the way we interact as part of fan communities, it’s great to see the inventive ways artists can invite fans to connect with their music, and each other.
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