Coke announcement

Coke have just announced a new partnership with Crush management, who look after Fall Out Boy and Panic At The Disco.

Boosting their "optimistic" brand positioning, they're releasing a collaboration (and using on a new tv ad) with artists from 5 different bands, including the two above as well as Ce-Lo from Gnarls Berkley someone from Gym Class Heroes.

It'll be sold as a "super single" across multiple territories and we feature on 200 million packs across UK and Europe alone.

(Sounds like they are taking a rev share though?)

Really interesting concept, the brand bringing a mix of varied artists together.

Launching in France in March.

Personally don't like the track, but it's not targeted at me. Will be interested to see how it gets received in the UK, I can imagine there'll be some scepticism, if only because we like to bash really fluffy, positive things.

[Posted with iBlogger from my iPod touch]

Music Marketing Forum

So, the reason I'm here in Cannes - the 2nd annual "Music Marketing Forum", a chance for people from both sides of the music/brand equation to get together and try to thrash out how we can work better together in the future.


It was an interesting mix of people, without listing everyone, there were representatives from all over the world, from agencies, from brands, from management and from labels.

I was pleased to see a few friendly faces in their to, including Natasha from KLP, Susie Moore (my old client) from O2, Richard from Leap Music (BBH) and Jess from AEG. Also good to meet a few new people from the likes of Havas, Frukt, Coke and EMI.

So what came out of it? I'm not sure if I'm honest, I think I need to spend some time thinking about it. However, there were a few key points that interested me straight away:

1. When discussing core objectives and how they varied between "music people" and "brand people", it became immediately obvious that for one side (music) there were a pretty constant set (exposure, distribution, etc), but for brands there was no simple answer. This creates an immediate issue, as you have to ensure that there are no broad-brush assumptions made when you enter into a partnership.

Is this the biggest issue? Do we have one group of rights holders who very simply, always need roughly the same thing; but on the other hand have a set of brands who will, every single time, want something different. You could even add another layer on to this and say that the brand's objectives could change over time - so you what you set out to do, ends up a mile apart from where you end up?

2. Seeing a brand as a marketing channel helps rights holders understand the opportunity better. To me, as someone who's worked on 3 telecoms brands now, this seems obvious, but it starts to get really interesting once you look at more traditional sectors like FMCG.

In comparison to labels, we hold relatively large budgets, but more importantly, we understand our audience or customer base - something that the music industry has been notoriously bad at. Therefore if the partnership is a fitting one, we can bring an enormous amount of value to the table.



Summary

The whole session was filmed and the chairman will be compiling a report, which I'll post up here when it's completed. Once I've had a chance to chew over where we got to, I'll post again, but in the meantime, I once again need food!

Midem 2009: Live and Brands - "Building win-win partnerships"

Simon Lewis - Live Nation
Helle Muller Peterson - Marketing Dir, Tuborg Denmark
Elizabeth Schimel - Nokia Global Head Music
Bojan Boskovic - Exit Festival
Becky Morgan - All The Worlds



HMP - music fundamental part audience's lives, need to understand role the music plays. Tuborg fan culture in eastern europe very different from western europe - brand can go in and help build that.

(note: have MacBook envy at the moment, with my huge brick laptop on knee)

BM - all about "exending the experience of the event", remembering often the pinnacle of people's years. Making a campaign work harder is key.

(Golden Squared - when is anyone going to say something new at these conferences?)

ES - Nokia excited in ways they can "light up the live sector" - content, interaction and depth of access. Looking at ways they can enable things that people already want to do - a connecting point between fans and artists and fans and each other.

BM - varying levels of consumer expectation by market, Asian market touring only just becoming established and festival experince only just breaking through. Great opportunity for brands, where they'll be welcomed in. Also applies to eastern europe and to some extent S. America.

HMP - taking experience from Western Europe and applying to Eastern Europe. Tuborg has music in it's brand DNA, so will always be at heart of what they do. UK - would be crazy to go in and build own properties, but may make sense elsewhere?

(Golden Squared - I'll scream if anyone else says "its a partnership approach", especially when they have a vested interest. Nobody can explain what a "new model" is? We've just signed off a fantastic event which has a genuine new model at it's heart, shame I can't mention it)

BB - only way to bring a big band to an emerging market is to have sponsorship money behind you.

Chair - how do you find the right sort of partners?

SL - "lots of people come to us", "there's a clutter of people who perceive themselves as knownig the live music arena", "there's lots of people who still ask us how big is our logo?".

(Golden Squared - is anyone going to mention about ROI and KPI's?)

SL - cannot afford to get it wrong, 3 yr business plan means have to be willing to accept short term loss knowing will make £ in longer term.

Chair - what about the recession?

SL - we deal with passions and fan to artist relationships - all about right artists in right places for right prices. (Golden Squared - totally agree with Live Nation for once!)

ES - everything will have to hit the mark, more focus on ROI, high profile opps will thrive.

HMP - "people drink more beer when they're depressed!!!" (Golden Squared - classic!)

(Golden Squared - wow, there's a lot of bravado about being pretty recession proof here?)

Summary:

(the day after) Right, I've now had a chance to think abot this and I don't think the session really un-earthed anything?

I'd like to have seen more debate, I'd like to have seen some genuine conversation around what works and what doesn't. For me the most interesting part was the global examples and the insight into how consumer expectations vary market by market.

I might also have liked to see Midem bring in someone from outside of the business - a genuine big thinker, someone who can take a much more strategic look at why music and brand partnerships can be effective. I keep thinking about Russell Davies' latest post and the talk he did to the folks at The Guardian "The Post Digital Age" - now that's the sort of thing that gets people thinking and challenging conventions.

I'd also have loved to see a bunch of people from the target audience there, on the stage, giving their opinions about what works, what doesn't, what they like, what they don't? Why do we never ask the people that matter at these events?

Ticketing - the big debate

Right, first session, "what's at stake with ticketing?".

Robert Richards of Glastonbury on panel, along with Nick Blackburn, CEO of See tickets (who I met at the airport earlier). Also lady from Hungarian sziget festival.

NB - most importantly, need to look at market operating in - Uk now 90% sold online, whereas Germany much less so.

RR - glasto success down to partnership with see tix. Concerns over data protection means glasto ditch all data unless people ask for it to be saved.

Michael eavis "glasto a girl guide camp with music!". Meant people buying re-sold tickets for up to 800 quid expect so much more than the festival could provide.

Now only expect c. 20 tix a year to be re-sold.

NB has a very weird way of pronouncing "glarstonbury"?

"public are stupid sometimes" need to bring in legislation to stop fake sellers as happened with Reading and Leeds last year. Touting illegal in Spain and in the uk for olympics, so why not live music?

NB - data - email 2.8m people per week.

RR - don't use glasto database or let see tix use it, more about fanbase and supporting campaigns. Interestingly he hilghlights that their current conversations are totally one way.

About to relaunch glasto website to allow them to gather feedback and generate real campaign and issue support.

NB - tickets now often sell out so quickly, how do you grow your fan base? Especially with presale mailouts to fan bases etc. Are ticket limits too high, should people be limited to 2 tix per person to stop them buying 6 then selling 4 on via sites like eBay?

NB - fees - starting to get too high. They work on 10 to 12.5% depending on event. People seem to prefer when booking fee includedin overall price - after all, there's a "booking fee" included in a the cost of a can of beans that's sold at tesco?

Its because promoters want people to know what the artist is taking and show how the greedy ticket agency are putting on top.

What would we prefer I wonder? I think psychologically I'd rather it was rolled in to the overall price?

NB - live nation ticketing - is it healthy for worlds biggest ticket promoter to be involved on both sides?

RR - public will walk with feet if don't want

NB - all about them as plc, have mandate to make cash for shareholders. Thinks service charges high though. Their scale means should work for them.

RR - first glasto was £1 plus free milk! Would they consider doing own ticketing? No. Need constant volume to justify putting infrastructure in place.

NB - need that constant demand as never have any idea speed at which they'll sell.

RR - need to trust your printers!!!

NB - selling tix with recorded music certainly a big opportunity, as well as "self service" models where artists look after a lot of the process themselves.

Doesn't help though in the age of free, when people can just steal music at the touch of the button?

NB - upselling - rolling everything into deal, whether booze, tshirts, food etc. Not yet done to great extent in music, much more in theatre and sport. Never really worked historically in music aparently, but I'd imagine live nation will have a different view point?

Summary:

Some interesting soundbites there, but I'd have liked to have seen someone there from the likes of live nation, someone with a 360degree proposition.

Nothing too surprising, although interesting to hear Robert Richards' comments on their need to establish a more two way dialogue with glasto fans.

Best thing was getting to say hello to Robert Richards before this years glasto, as he's been a huge supporter of Orange through the year.

[Posted with iBlogger from my iPod touch]

wanted: brands and agencies who give a toss

Already, what strikes me is the lack of agencies and brands represented here at midem? Yes, I know it's expensive, and yes I know that there's a recession, but surely music in all it's guises is worth dedicating some time and effort to?

As far as I can see, the only major agencies present are ourselves, bbh in the form of leap music, and our friends at euro rscg klp; from a brand perspective it seems to be just Bacardi (and they're primarily here to educate, not to be educated).

When you see the number of new products, new platforms and new formats on show here you realize the size of the opportunity that exists in the music space. It's just a shame most will never get the opportunity to have the right brand conversations.

(note: iblogger doesn't let me add links, which is annoying, will do when back on pc).

(note: ok, there are a few more: Frukt, Nokia and Carlsberg)

[Posted with iBlogger from my iPod touch]

midem 2009

I'm now in cannes at Midem, the world music industry conference. The main focus' are a&r, ticketing and new platforms, but there's also a big focus on the future and on how the industry can evolve the way it works with brands.

Going to try my hand at some live blogging whilst here, so let's see what happens.

Should also say I'm doing this via wireless on my itouch, so expect typos.

First, food.

[Posted with iBlogger from my iPod touch]

Superb video for a Friday afternoon

Bubblicious from Rex The Dog on Vimeo.

Thanks to the ever connected Ryan and Holy Moly.

In search of the 360 panacea

A friend at MAMA Group (Mean Fiddler, The Fly, The Great Escape, etc etc) told me last night about an enormous deal they've just done with HMV.

Check the article in The Times here.

This is an enormously brave move for both parties in my opinion. For MAMA, it's a partnership with a heritage bricks and mortar retailer (a little unfair, but their digital offering is still in it's infancy) and for HMV it's a step into both the venue and promoter business.

It's also interesting to look at how this changes the "360 degree" landscape - you've got live Nation offering the services of a ticketing agent, label and promoter, then you've got HMV/MAMA directly linking live with retail.

Expect to see some really interesting at event retail activity from here on in, as well as clever cross-promotion of digital releases with live events.

last.fm already have a great service on their iPhone app where you can see lives dates for anything that you're streaming - if you imagine this combined with a ticketing click through, it's easy to see the possibilities.

We're in the last throws of a big deal with MAMA at the moment, so it's going to directly impact us, but as far as I can see, the implications are nothing but positive for all?

EAT tunes

In an attempt to stave off my hangover this morning I popped into my local EAT on Golden Square to get an eggs benedict muffin. This was on the stereo ..



I used to be a huge Soul II Soul fan, to the extent that my mates and I would get the train down from Leicestershire to make a pilgrimage to the Soul II Soul shops (Tottenham Ct Rd and Camden).

There's so much talk today about how labels, artists and management need to be more imaginative in the way that they engage with their audience (and drive new revenue streams) - maybe we should be looking back 20 years (gulp) at the likes of Jazzie B for some inspiration.

"A happy face, a thumping bass, for a loving race."

Little Boots and her pet Tenori-on

If you've been following any of the annual "ones to watch" hype in the press and online over the past month or so, you can't have missed Blackpool's 24yr old 'Little Boots'.



Miss Boots (real name Victoria Hesketh, which clearly sounds far too middle class) certainly seems worthy of the accolades she's been showered in - whether it be the BBC's sound of 2009 or an NME one to watch (in their words "Victoria ‘Little Boots’ Hesketh is going to peel open 2009 and gobble it like a ripe mango").

What I find staggering when you trawl through her YouTube channel is the speed at which this 'fame' has come about and the relatively lo-fi way in which she's portrayed herself.

The vast majority of her early tracks were covers (albeit very good covers), most featured her perched in front of a keyboard and synthesiser and there was no sign of any live performances.

Having said that there was one thing (aside from her obvious talent) that made her stand out and that was her visually arresting synthesiser, the now weirdly famous Yamaha 'Tenori-on' - a 21st century instrument that is made for the YouTube generation of music fans.



This £600 instrument provides a constant, iconic and strangely hypnotic focus that just keeps you watching as the layers build through a track (excuse any incorrect terminology, I'm no musician).

Little Boots is name checked on the Yamaha website, but that's about as far as it goes as far as I can see? Was this a case of some superb product seeding I wonder, or simply some good luck? If luck, then I'd suggest Yamaha have a conversation with 'her people' very quickly, so as to maximise the hype that shows no sign of abating any time soon.

There's a free download here.

World's most unfortunate personalised numberplate?

As seen on Golden Square this very lunchtime. Thanks to Ryan for pointing out.

NBC, Pepsi and Dreamworks in 3D

Happy New Year!


Following on from my last post of 2008, I came across this article on Brand Republic.


In what must have been a bewilderingly complicated (and of course, expensive) deal, NBC, Pepsi, Dreamworks and Intel have teamed up to screen a variety of 3D content around the Superbowl - an ad' for Pepsi's SoBe Life brand, a 90' trailer for Monsters vs. Aliens and following the game, an specially produced episode of NBC's 'Chuck'.

125 million pairs of the Intel 3D lasses are being distributed at point of sale by Pepsi, as well as via a toll free number.

This comes off the back of the deal that Dreamworks and Intel announced last year to use InTru 3D technology for all future productions.

What I think is particularly interesting here is the involvement of NBC and their programming. It would have been all to easy to focus solely on the commercial break, but the inclusion of the show that follows means viewers have an altogether more compelling reason to pop along to their nearest Wall Mart to grab the glasses.

It would be great to see these kind of enormous, ground breaking partnerships get off the ground in the UK, but I fear that without the carrot of an audience of just shy of 100million, the benefit will never be able to justify the investment?