| Service: |
Interactive enhancement to Robbie Williams's music video, “Something Beautiful” |
| Client: |
EMI Records/Robbie Williams |
| Agency: |
Weapon7 |
| Launch: |
July 2003 |
| Brief: |
To use interactivity to enhance the appeal of the video on MTV and drive sales |
| Solution: |
Offer exclusive footage and encourage interactive voting |
| Result: |
Single entered charts at number three and album sales tripled week on week |
© EMI. All rights reserved.
Robbie was scheduled to release his third single “Something Beautiful” from the Escapology album. It is normal for each single release to sell fewer copies than the previous releases as more people already have the album. Digital advertising agency Weapon7 used interactive TV to create an effective participation marketing event and, ultimately, to boost record sales.
EMI was keen to see if interactivity could enhance the appeal of the video on MTV and drive more sales. The brief was to engage the audience in an innovative way and generate positive music-based PR for Robbie.
The video concept was developed with interactivity at its heart. The idea was to “audition” fans to appear in the video. Three of the fans who auditioned were selected to mime along to the song and the video was constructed from footage of their performances in front of a studio audience. At the end of the video, viewers were invited to vote for their favourite “Robbie”.
Pressing red took people to an interactive space where they could choose to watch extra footage of the three performers. It provided a number for sending votes by text message and a web address for online voting. The video was released worldwide with the same voting mechanism.
After one week the video was re-released with the different winners in each country being awarded their prize and a shot of Robbie mocking them at a bus stop.
300,000 votes came from the UK promotion alone with 16,000 coming from SMS. The final “winner” video saw refreshed interest in the song and the single entered the charts later in the month at number three (it was expected to debut at seven), with album sales tripling week on week.
The project resulted in extensive consumer and trade press coverage, most notably in The Sun, Smash Hits, The Guardian and New Media Age.
More recently the video received two prestigious accolades at the Interactive Music Awards, winning Best Promotional Campaign and Best Innovation.
"This is a superb example of participation marketing coupled with a perfect match for Robbie's style: bringing his persona to life.”
John Leahy, marketing director, EMI Records