Catching the Wave
Yesterday my colleagues Travis York and Brady Sadler launched a campaign for a side project of theirs, 1band 1brand. They were able capitalize on the buzz around the new social music sharing site Turntable.fm and earn significant media exposure for themselves, including placements in Mashable, The Next Web, Hypebot and more.
I sat down with Travis to find out more and to see if there are any lessons for GY&K clients and partners:
NG: Travis, give us the basic rundown of yesterday’s 1band 1brand Turntable.fm party.
TY: There is an unprecedented amount of clutter in the world today and every one who offers a product or service is struggling to break through it. We believe strongly that consumers are forming relationships with trusted entities to serve up relevant products and services.
The idea behind 1band 1brand is to create the audience first and then serve up a high quality band and brand in a simple way so that busy people who still have a desire to discover new and different products and music can do that. Emerging bands and brands are fostering direct relationships with fans, so cross promotion makes sense.
Turntable.fm is a new site that allows people to socialize in a virtual environment and share music in real time, and we decided to throw a 1band 1brand “party” in one of their virtual rooms.
NG: What is the opportunity that you saw with the Turntable.fm service?
TY: The opportunity to catch a wave and demonstrate relevance. We saw that Turntable.fm was getting a lot of buzz and exposure, and since it is in the same category as 1band 1brand but not competitive, we wanted to align ourselves with them to demonstrate our own innovative ideas. It required quick action, risk tolerance and a willingness to enter uncharted territory aggressively.
NG: There are plenty of Turntable.fm rooms active every day, why was this one covered by the media?
TY: Most Turntable.fm rooms so far have been for recreation. This was the first time someone used it for more overt marketing purposes, and brought an offline benefit to the online experience. We introduced brands/bands to interact directly with consumers. Those partners contributed tangible goods in the form of CDs, merchandise and clothing as a reward for participation.
NG: What was the investment required from 1band 1brand?
TY: We had to put some relationships on the line by getting our partners involved with this new venture. We had to be willing to give up some inventory and to put some time and energy into turning something around fast, knowing that we might not be able to get it all right the first time.
NG: How did this come together and what might GY&K clients learn from it?
TY: The Turntable.fm opportunity came together in a few days. This was not part of a promotional plan, it was us trying to capitalize on an immediate opportunity. The way we can help our clients take advantage of these types of opportunities is to have a collaborative relationship, an understanding of their brand and a willingness to collectively think on our feet.
Many companies are too big, bureaucratic, and focused on traditional/paid media to be open to the ever evolving earned and owned media side. For us this was a unique chance to eat our own cooking, and we felt we had an opportunity to take a strategic risk and benefit from the type of experiment that we often suggest to clients when appropriate. The success we saw lends credibility to the idea of taking those risks.
NG: How can more established, traditional brands benefit from experimental ventures like Turntable.fm?
TY: Sometimes you have to sit back and see how things play out before you dip your toe in the water. But in other cases, jumping off the diving board and doing a cannonball is the way to really create some noise. There was an obvious tie-in here for 1band 1brand given the industry connection. But we are seeing lots of marketing experiments happening in the healthcare, financial services and consumer goods industries, some of which could benefit our clients when used responsibly. We just have to keep our eyes open and be ready to move on opportunities.
Nathaniel Grimes is the Business Development Coordinator at Griffin York & Krause
