Mix Sherpa
Saturday, August 18th, 2007 |
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OK. . . The truth comes out. Ian Westbury’s one hit wonder from the 80′s was actually a viral marketing campaign for Sprint conceived by Organic.
Back in August of last year, Sprint came to the ad agency Organic looking for a way to create buzz and raise awareness for their recently launched Music Store.
They started the process knowing two things:
1. the space was very crowded – Verizon, T-Mobile, AT&T/Cingular, Walmart and even my very first web design client FindBliss.com offer music downloads. Whatever we did, it had to stand out.
2. the audience they wanted to reach, called “Advanced Connected” in Sprint terminology, is extremely averse to traditional advertising and blatant promotion.
Their solution was to create an entertaining and engaging online destination featuring two “music experts”: Ian and the DJ. Each has a back story – Ian is a washed up pop star from the 1980s running a record store on Melrose and DJ is an aspiring turntablist, working in Ian’s store. Users participate by creating playlists and getting a personalized “expert” review of their choices.
To further embellish the story they created a music video for Ian’s one and only hit from the 80s, “Under the Moon”. Launched simultaneously on YouTube and Ian’s MySpace page, the video has gone viral, currently appearing on 25 sites. Music video legend Nigel Dick, (Tears For Fears, Guns N’ Roses, Britney Spears) directed both the “Under the Moon” video and the Mix Sherpa video performances.
The added value to the user – Sprint integrated a discovery and recommendation engine into the story about Ian:
Users engage with Ian and the DJ by creating their own playlists and in return getting an “expert” review of their choices. Users also get recommendations based on the newly created playlist. The added value for the users is the discovery of new music that fits their tastes and the reaffirmation of who they are and what their musical taste says about them.
Finally, piling a playlist and getting exposed to new music while interacting with a cool character will (hopefully) generate Sprint music downloads! Who wouldn’t want to take the playlist to the mobile? Especially if the recommendations will prove themselves as precise, or in Ian’s words:
You go to the site and select your own custom playlist. Through the magic they call a “logic engine” –
“I’m able to analyze your playlist – and maybe analyze what’s going on in that head of yours too. I’ll offer you everything in my arsenal with humor, wit and charm – naturally. My longtime employee DJ Supahboy5 is also online to interject with his own opinions on songs and styles. We’ve got information on bands and songs, and links to download everything you need to take your mobile phone to the next level“.
Visit the site:
http://www.mixsherpa.com/
See the entire Ian experience:
http://www.sprintspecialoffers.com/ian/index.html
Fierce Blue Ascot
Friday, April 13th, 2007 |
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In a hedonistic decade of excess, “Under the Moon” tells the simple and innocent story of a handsome, sensitive and incredibly talented young man looking for love.
With backing from Fierce Blue Ascot’s label, Gold Lamé Records, the video was shot over a two week period in a little recording studio in Leicester. Famed British prop designer Nigel Nunn Taylor, commissioned to create the moon, handcrafted it from imported polymer laminate. The material was delayed at customs due to its volatile nature. A stand-in moon was required for the initial takes and if you look closely at the first few frames of the video, you might recognize the backside of a frying pan shining down on the band.
Visit myspace.com/ianwestbury for more information
But wait, there’s more to the story. . . If you look closely at Ian Westbury (Fierce Blue Ascot’s lead singer) he unmistakenly resembles Dominic Keating, the star of Star Trek Enterprise. If you google “
Ian Westbury” you get a lot of links to the “new Fierce Blue Ascot’s Video and if you look hard enough you’ll find a link to Dominick’s own message board.
On the board there is a ton of speculation as to what the real story is. There is even discussion on the Star Trek Fan Forums.
Actually, I know the truth but I’ll never tell. . . I have been sworn to secrecy. All I can say is that there is a reason that I posted this under my “Marketing” Category.
Check out the 80′s classic video:
