Why is this work relevant for for Music?

Traditionally, supporting a big band on tour was the best way for up and coming artists to get in front of new audiences and music execs. In 2018 more people listen to and discover music on YouTube than anywhere else yet the concept of support acts is yet to be replicated online. For this campaign we adapted the 'support act' model for the digital consumption.

Background

The task? Get young people talking about EXTRA again by bringing to life the ‘Time to Shine’ brand platform in the music space. With this in mind we wanted to give up and coming artists, their ‘time to shine’ moment by creating a unique opportunity for them to gain exposure and launch a career in music.

Describe the creative idea

EXTRA transformed 17.2 million crappy pre-roll ads before Australia’s most popular music videos into digital support slots for unsigned artists. If you searched for any track by one of our headliners instead of seeing an annoying ad you’d see a performance from an emerging artist introduced by the artist you were searching for. User engagement data decided 4 winners, who went on to play at the ARIA’s – voting was simple - the longer people watched the pre roll performances the more they voted. EXTRA SUPPORT ACTS – An all new stage for unsigned artists.

Describe the strategy

EXTRA was a newcomer to the music space, for our campaign to work we needed to our presence to enhance young people’s music experience rather than gate crash it. So we decided to get rid of something they hated – ads – and replace them with something they loved – discovering new music. Traditionally, supporting a big band on tour was the best way for up and coming artists to get in front of new audiences and music execs. In 2018 more people listen to and discover music on YouTube than anywhere else yet the concept of support acts is yet to be replicated online. This is where we came in. Headlining artists included; 5 Seconds of Summer, The Rubens, 360 and Alison Wonderland. EXTRA SUPPORT ACTS– An all new stage for unsigned artists.

Describe the execution

Between August and November 2018, EXTRA replaced ALL the pre-roll ads (17.2million in total) before Australia’s most popular music videos with performances from emerging artists. Every support act got their own bespoke music video featuring an introduction from the artist you were searching for. This allowed our support acts to go view-for-view with Aussie music royalty exposing them to an audience of literally millions. In a world’s first for YouTube people could vote for their favourite support acts with their view time - the longer people engaged with our pre-roll performances the more they voted. We created 16 individual music videos and 50+ pieces of supporting content including; exclusive interviews, behind the scenes, artist profiles, 15,000 street posters and a live YouTube masthead of our winners performing at the ARIA Awards.

Describe the outcome

Campaign Results: - This campaign exposed 9% of young Australians to new music and the EXTRA brand - YouTubes highest ever view through rate, globally - Average view time was 03:16mins - that’s 03:09 minutes past the skip point! - 18.7 million views - 935,000 hours watched Support Artist Results: - Southern River band are now signed…and have an endorsement deal with Wrangler - Yomi Twice featured artist on Spotify - Kwasi went on to Support 360 for real - Taylor Payne is collaborating with 5 Seconds of Summer - Ivey went on to play Falls Festival