Great use of a YouTuber that ties in nicely with the associated game. It was a strong campaign that proves a pop artist can branch out and reach wider demographics if they are tapped into the right channels.
Note, the text below was supplied by the team behind the campaign.
Company
Sony Music Sweden
Team members involved
Ellen Kvarby – creative/concept manager
Tove Styrke – creative director/artist
Suzanne Rapp – product manager
David Ekdahl – system administrator
Campaign breakdown
Budget: £2k – £5k
Audience demographic: 45% female / 55% male, age 13-30, Sweden
Overview of campaign
In the music game, Tove Styrke created her own game to change the album release game. To create a deeper connection with fans, a game based on the artist’s life, music and videos was created for the release of Tove’s new album, Kiddo.
People could play the 8-bit Kiddo Game on kiddogame.com; the website also featured an embedded Spotify player with Kiddo songs as a game soundtrack. Tove Styrke was creative director from idea to production and launch, so the user experience truly became a personal experience for fans all over the world.
The Kiddo Game created an additional PR tool to launch Tove Styrke’s album, presenting a new way for journalists and fans to talk about and interact with Tove’s music. But just because you build something, it doesn’t mean the people will come in today’s digital landscape.
So we strategically spread the news through six main tactics:
1. Ambassador collaboration: One of Sweden’s largest gaming streamers, YZN, launched a Kiddo Game competition to his followers on his Twitch stream. He also promoted the game through social media and his YouTube channel.
2. Partnership collaboration: Tove Styrke perfomed at Dreamhack (the world’s largest digital/gaming festival). The festival promoted the game through their website, newsletter and social channels. Gamer YZN also presented Tove Styrke on stage before her gig.
3. Offline activation: The Kiddo Game was promoted in real life at the Swedish summer festival Way Out West, where Tove Styrke performed. The game was projected on the venue wall and fans stopped by to play.
4. New PR segments: The game provided an extra PR-angle, resulting in coverage from new media segments – e.g. tech and gaming.
5. Personal PR: Tove Styrke held a competition on her own social media channels, where the top three players received a special box with personal selected merchandise.
6. Targeted digital ads: Facebook advertising adapted to target group
Results and key learnings
By adding a conceptual creative idea to what could have been a traditional album launch, new media segments and new fans can be reached. This is essential in the crowded marketing space that music already is.
For this campaign, we chose an additional cultural context that was close to Tove Styrke’s heart and mind – gaming – deepening the connection with her and the world.
Key results:
1. The game was essential to make a collaboration with powerful partners such as YZN and Dreamhack, resulting in massive spread in both media and social media.
2. The campaign period with YZN resulted in 8,487 game plays, 11,813 page visits, 27.8% returning visitors. The average gaming time was 5.35 minutes (the perfect length to hear an album track via the embedded Spotify player)
3. The offline activation extended the concert experience before and after Tove Styrke’s performance at Way Out West, making it more memorable and helped it stand out from other artists through word-of-mouth.
4. Tove Styrke’s fans and followers in her own channels responded with positive reactions and comments, and her fanbase grew.
5. Overall, the Kiddo Game campaign broadened Tove Styrke’s listener base by reaching completely new media segments, in addition to receiving major coverage in music media. But, most importantly, Tove’s fans got to know a new side to her.
Links and extra info
Play the game: http://kiddogame.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…