Proving that a legacy band can use innovative methods to reach a new audience alongside core fans as well as establishing a way of prolonging the album campaign.
Company
Mute
Team members involved
Neil Blanket, Mute – head of marketing
Matt Dixon, Band2Market – marketing consultant
Shaun Connon, Mute – marketing & promotion
Zoe Miller (Mute) and Jack Delaney (Outside Organisation) – publicity
Paul A Taylor, Mute – art + production
Nicki Kefalas, Caroline Poulton and Nick Carling (Out Promotions) – TV & radio promotions
Sarah Gasperi (Mute) and Preeti Rajan (Outside Organisation) – social media
Claire Morel, Mute – international
Gianpiero Fiorin, PIAS – sales and distribution
Campaign breakdown
Budget: £25k+
Audience demographic: 14% female / 86% male, age 25+, UK, US, Japan, Germany, France
Overview of campaign
New Order’s first new studio album since 2005 and their first on Mute, Music Complete was released on 25th September 2015. The campaign was teased and then launched in June with a series of audio/ visual trailers.
The album pre-order campaign launched in late July in tandem with the radio premiere on the Chris Evans show on BBC Radio 2. The campaign was built around the band’s audience – targeting the hardcore fans first and then building out slowly to casual fans and a new audience.
As the band hadn’t released a full studio album in the modern digital age, the campaign reflected both the traditional side of a New Order release alongside newer approaches. Social media alongside remarketing tactics were established to directly target the band’s fans whilst traditional promotional activities complimented the marketing approach.
A strong media campaign with major press features, big radio targets and sustained marketing activities upfront of album release took place whilst only concentrating on one single.
Results and key learnings
Music Complete entered the UK charts at #2, giving the band their highest charting album since Republic in 1993. Press reviews across the board highlighted the band’s return to form, many calling it their greatest work since Technique in 1989.
The band have seen massive gains across their social media domains, with nearly 1m new likes on their Facebook page since the launch of the campaign. A brand new YouTube channel now boasts over 16k subscribers and their Spotify profile has gained over 40k new followers with their monthly listen counts now regularly passing the 1m mark.
Both singles from the album have been playlisted at BBC 6 Music, BBC Radio 2, Absolute and Radio X, showing the diverse appeal of the band and the quality of the music on the new album.
Key learnings include a deeper understanding of the New Order fanbase and what methods work with regards to the balance of preorder/sales messages versus general updates.
Outside of the music and the band, a lot of the success is down to the strength of the team assembled; from the label through to management and the external promo teams, a close working relationship and strong teamwork lead to a well-executed campaign which will see the album sustain post-release into a lengthy campaign.
It was noted in the outset that previous albums came out strong but then didn’t always have a long shelf life, which was something we wanted to avoid and as it currently stands we are planning through to at least a year post-release.
Links and extra info
http://www.neworder.com
http://www.mute.com
http://www.singularity-neworder.com
Music Ally runs popular courses on digital marketing. Click here for more information on our latest courses.
READ THE OTHER DIGITAL MUSIC MARKETING CASE STUDIES
£0 – £500 budget
Asian Dub Foundation
Health
Maná
Steve
Taylor Swift
Vild $mith
£2k – £5k budget
Chemical Brothers
George Ezra
Lord of the Mics
Ludovico Einaudi
Tove Styrke
Whitesnake
Yacht
£5k – £10k budget
Bob Dylan
David Bowie
James Morrison
Max Richter
Mysteryland USA
Tove Lo
£10k – £25k budget
Avicii
Bring Me The Horizon
Lionel Richie
Madeon
One Direction
Raleigh Ritchie
£25k+ budget
Elvis Presley
Frank Carter
Iron Maiden
Jess Glynne
New Order
Years & Years
Budget not provided
Tools: platforms to help you reach new audiences
Tools :: Wyng
Through Music Ally’s internal marketing campaign tracking, we’ve recently discovered an interesting website by the…