GOALS
The term “prodigy” is thrown around pretty often these days when speaking about young talent. However, when Quincy Jones calls you one of his “favourite young artists on the planet,” you have the real deal on your hands. This is precisely the case for jazz multi-instrumentalist Jacob Collier. Launching his career on YouTube, Jacob gained a following through videos that displayed his otherworldly ability to build complex vocal harmonies and use almost every instrument under the sun. He quickly caught the eyes and ears of jazz legends like Quincy Jones and Herbie Hancock and, for obvious reasons, the hype surrounding Jacob’s debut record In My Room was huge. With Jacob’s prowess in front of the camera and behind the mic in mind, The Orchard’s Interactive Marketing & Audience Development team formed a campaign to engage fans and raise awareness for In My Room.
TACTICS
When it came to garnering buzz around In My Room, one tactic the Interactive team turned to was Jacob’s promotional forté: video. We pulled rich content from three different sources to make album trailers that could be spread on socials and used in advertisements. The first source was Jacob’s amazing #iharmu campaign in which fans submitted melodies for him to build off of. Simple phone videos of singing fans lead to unbelievable vocal compositions through Jacob’s ability to build five part harmonies, all of which were displayed using his signature split screen method. Check one out here. The second source for video content was Jacob’s supremely creative music video for his track “Saviour.” We partnered clips alongside his album artwork, displaying release dates and pre-order links as well. Lastly, we incorporated quotes of praise from renowned musicians (Steve Vai, Carleen Anderson and more) regarding Jacob’s music to reveal the In My Room album art. Using these sources, we made multiple unique videos for socials and ads that directed fans to preorders.
The next platform our team took advantage of was Jacob’s Spotify presence with the goal of putting his new music in front of current followers and fresh ears. We worked with Jacob to create a playlist titled “Jacob’s Optimum Musical Feast” that allowed him to connect with his fans through his musical tastes while on tour. We also made Jacob the cover of our Radial “Jazz It Up” playlist. To coincide these playlist developments, we ran ads on Spotify using a dedicated voice message from Jacob encouraging listeners to head to his profile.
To round off this campaign, we sharpened up Jacob’s social profiles and optimized his social strategy around the release. To top it all off, we added a countdown clock on his site that ended with a live album launch at YouTube’s 360 space. Our College Marketing team also carried out a two week digital campaign in New York City, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Boston, Chicago, and Denver. College reps/local tastemakers posted about the release on socials, linking to videos, playlists and more.
Our Physical Retail and Digital Retail Marketing teams also developed unique strategies for In My Room. Our Physical Retail team focused on driving sales through Amazon, promoting the album at sale price for the first two months after release. They also nabbed placement at Transworld and Barnes & Noble in key markets. Our Digital Retail Marketing team helped Jacob achieve spots on Spotify’s “New Music Friday” and Apple Music’s “Best of the Week” playlists, as well as a new artist spotlight on iTunes.
RESULTS
- Boosted Jacob’s Spotify following 289%. His “Jacob’s Optimum Musical Feast” playlist also accumulated 3,177 followers to date.
- Jacob’s social following also swelled. As of the end of the campaign, he had a 90% jump in Facebook and Twitter followers as well as a 135% jump on Instagram.
- From March 2016 to his album release on July 1st, Jacob earned more than 1.6 million views on YouTube.
- Physically, In My Room was on of our top 10 selling titles of 2016 at Amazon.
- In My Room landed at #1 on iTunes Jazz in 23 countries, #1 on the Billboard Contemporary Jazz Charts and earned two Grammy Awards.
- Our efforts secured a 3-page “Behind the Campaigns” feature in Music Ally’s music industry marketing magazine Sandbox.
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