Make It Metal

By Ogilvy Japan, Tokyo, Japan

For Sony Music Labels (Japan) Inc. Brand Crossfaith (Music Artists)

Highly Commended in category Direct

In subcategory Consumer Marketing

WPPED Cream
Project Description
Sony Music asked us to launch a new album by CROSSFAITH, a heavy metal band from Osaka, Japan. But given there are hundreds of albums launched each year, how do you sell an album in an innovative way?
We needed to engage the metal community with an authentic and personalised experience that no-one else could give them. Plus, to succeed the idea had to be authentic, memorable and digital native considering our target spends a considerable part of their time online.
To reach a young urban audience between 18 to 28 years old that are not just CROSSFAITH fans but are also interested in heavy metal, technology and new music trends, we’ve created a strategy based on the knowledge that our target responds better when they are driven to authentic unique experiences instead of traditional advertisement launches.
The limit resources and the fact that our audience is constantly online made it clear that the solution had to come to life with a new digital format to conquer the attention of metal fans as well as the tech geeks.
The ultimate goal was to gain more fans across the world through the launch of the new album.
Agency Solution
The creative idea behind Make it Metal was to leverage what metal fans love doing most, head-banging.
So, we’ve decided to give away the album’s first single DIAVOLOS, but it needed to be earned.
A microsite was created, the world’s first head-banging activated digital experience. Upon entering the microsite, fans were asked to activate their webcams. The 4 minute track would then stream as long as they sustained their head movements. But if they stopped, the track would too. 
Thousands of fans were further rewarded with a personalized artwork of their own individual head-banging motion from the image tracking algorithm. These were then shareable on social media and generated a priceless word of mouth worldwide around CROSSFAITH.
The promotion of the experience was initiated via CROSSFAITH’s digital and social channels and personally introduced to the fan base by the founding members of the band.
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