Wrigley’s 5 Gum is collaborating with YouTube and French music blog La Blogotheque on an initiative called The Switch – a set of exclusive concerts shot in private US apartments and streamed live online.
Each concert features a double bill of bands/artists playing simultaneously and viewers are given the choice of which to listen to according to taste and mood.
Or to ‘switch’ between them.
Wrigley’s 5 Gum is using its sponsorship of the digital programme to promote the launch of its new RPM gum. The new product line comes in either ‘Energizing Fruit’ or ‘Relaxing Mint’ flavours and the music genres and tone reflects this choice.
Thus reinforcing the brand proposition – ‘Choose your energy’.
The cyber concerts are running through the Spring and the first twin set starred artists ‘Theophilus London’ and ‘Givers’ – each performing in two Brooklyn apartments in Brooklyn.
To date the digital performance has racked up almost 200,000 combined YouTube views.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ROWnVDWUJ7U&feature=relmfu
The second event on 23 April featured ‘Childish Gambino’ (energizing) and ‘Other Lives’ (relaxing), playing in two LA homes. Both hour-long sessions were streamed twice, and residents of Los Angeles could also enter a draw to win tickets to attend the live performance.
In addition, The Switch YouTube channel viewers can stream playlists devised by featured artists and select playlists based on their mood (as long as those moods are either energising or relaxing) and create ttheir own lists from the archives of La Blogotheque.
La Blogotheque is based in Paris and its core work revolves around filming indy and underground bands playing in unusual places. It uploads these to its blog in what it calls ‘Take Away Shows’ and ‘Pocket Parties’.
It has filmed over 300 shows since 2006.
Comment:
This campaign is part of a wider trend for sponsors to extend the digital reach of live music performances and provide the cuber viewer with interaction and some element of concert control. Other examples of this include Amex’s Jay-Z Synch Show at SXSW and Sol’s Brazilian Carnival App with Google.
It certainly creates a neat synergy between the brand proposition and the cyber concert experience.
There is also the match between the branded online entertainment and the brand name – RPM (revolutions per minute) and with the product’s synthesiser-themed pack design.
Whether indy music fans are comfortable with the link between US corporate giant Wrigley and La Blogotheque’s is another matter.
The YouTube views are perhaps on the low side, although the initiative did give the brand a chance to provide an experience and an introduction to the new variant to 5 Gum’s 6 million Facebook Likes.
Links:
www.youtube.com/user/LaBlogotheque/theswitch
www.wrigley.com/global/brands/5-gum.aspx
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