Bob Dylan, Columbia Records - Case Study
Brief
Columbia were releasing DYLAN, the "ultimate Bob Dylan collection" and needed a way to promote the album online.
Solution
We developed a messaging tool that allowed users to rewrite Bob Dylan's cue cards from the classic "Subterranean Homesick Blues" video (originally the opening segment of D. A. Pennebaker's film, "Don’t Look Back" from 1967). The resulting clip could then be sent to their friends via email or embedded on an external website. A Facebook application with the same functionality was also developed.
Result
The campaign was an instant success and over 200,000 messages were sent in its first 20 days, split fairly equally between the website and the Facebook application. The "embed message" function was introduced as a second stage and the number of message hits increased dramatically (there were over 90,000 more message views within a week). After 30 days, Google searches for Dylan had increased by 300 per cent. To date, unique message views on the site (excluding Facebook views) exceed 3 million. The site alone has generated more than 30,000 new additions to the Bob Dylan mailing list.
The site was very popular in the national and music press and received mentions in The Guardian, The Times, Word magazine, the NME and many more publications. It won a BT Digital Music Award for Best Artist Promotion.
Statistics
- 200,000 messages created in 20 days
- 300% increase in Google searches for Bob Dylan
- 3 million + message views
- 30,000 new names and emails added to the Bob Dylan mailing list.
Link to project
Testimonial
"With experience, expertise and enthusiasm, Ten4 have provided an invaluable contribution to the DYLAN campaign, and made a significant contribution to the future promotion of Bob Dylan."Charlie Stanford, Senior Marketing Director
Sony Music Entertainment
Featured
Awards
Best Artist Promotion 2008