Behold, the power of boyband fans: Sony Music, with the help of IPG Media Lab, has teamed up with Kik for today’s launch of a new One Direction album, “Midnight Memories.”
Kik, a free phone messenger app and social feed aggregator, includes content only the Kik community can see by accessing a “1D Kik Card,” which will open up more in-app One Direction content. In a particularly clever promotional twist, the more content fangirls download, the more One Direction content becomes available. Nothing like getting an incentivized fangirl to do your marketing for free.
“Kik mentioned that ‘One Direction’ was one of the most discussed things on the app, so we brought that opportunity to Sony Music,” said Eytan Oren, director of partnerships at the IPG Media Lab.
The app, which currently has about 95 million users, has also seen a number of downloads resulting from the band’s promotion.
Messaging apps, like Kik, are quite a big deal among teens. As of July 2013, WeChat, a mobile messaging app by Chinese holding company Tencent, had 100 million users outside of China’s 300 million users. Snapchat, according to All Things D, is popular among 13 to 25 year olds. And, Whatsapp, a close competitor to Kik popular message app, has more than 300 million users, a large portion of which are teenagers as well.
“A massive audience is something we couldn’t overlook,” said David Rosenberg, managing partner of the IPG Media Lab. “Just looking where audiences are amassing tomorrow, the Kik platform is a very active thing. You can’t be a professional and ignore where emerging channels are focused.”
-
Can Snap make it as an AR company?
The real question Snap faces is whether adding AR elements to its platform will help it continue growing in the face of competition and uncertainty.
-
How NFTs could evolve for brands — now that marketers know what they actually are
NFTs are finally growing out of crypto novelty into next-gen loyalty tools. Tyler Moebius, founder and CEO of SmartMedia Technologies, explains where else they can go.
-
The ‘retirement’ of M&M spokescandies raises questions about viral marketing, edgy content
Marketers have mixed feelings and questions about the value of viral, stunt marketing after M&M's "retirement" of its spokescandies.
-
SponsoredHow ad tech is tackling waste by optimizing supply chains
Sponsored by Bidtellect The programmatic and digital advertising industry is well aware of the inefficiencies in buying and selling — from auction duplication and volume bias to multi-integrations and reselling — but how did it get this out of control? How can we fix it? A redundant, multiple-step process to ad delivery has become the norm, […]
-
Why digital clutter is driving brands to rethink the value of newspapers advertising
GE, Equinox, Take 5 Oil and agency TBWA New York are among those investing in newspaper ads to generate social media buzz in an ever-more cluttered digital environment.
-
With TikTok’s growing list of issues, should marketers think twice about the platform?
There is a growing list of issues that TikTok needs to resolve, but marketers seem unfazed and continue to be enthralled by the platform.
