Allstar Weekend How a Dream Team of Fans Sparked a “Sudden” Hit
Background
In the five months leading up to the release of Allstar Weekend’s debut EP, Suddenly, Hollywood Records wanted to build a large, devoted fan base that would push the album’s sales and land it on the top of the Billboard charts. But at the time, the band had 1,000 Facebook fans.
In order to grow Allstar Weekend’s Facebook fan base and raise awareness across the Web, Gupta Media used Facebook engagement ads, pre-roll video ads, and Gupta’s own click-to-listen music sampling banner ads across 203 websites. Upon the album’s release, Gupta Media also launched a retargeting campaign to reach already-interested, but not-yet-invested consumers. As a result, Allstar Weekend debuted with an album in the top 20 of iTunes and increased their Facebook fan base by over 33 thousand percent.
Approach
Gupta Media generated interest and pushed album sales with three distinct campaigns:
Targeted Messaging Attracts Loyal Fans
Through careful research and repeated discovery, testing and expansion, Gupta Media identified Allstar Weekend’s target market and used Facebook engagement ads and comparison messaging to reach out to fans of Disney celebrities, teen pop stars, and Disney Channel and Nickelodeon TV shows. With the messaging: “Become a fan of the band your friends love!” Gupta harnessed the power of Facebook’s “Friends of Connection” targeting, inspired new fans to take notice, and planted the seeds for exponential growth. With every new Facebook fan, each of whom had on-average 160 friends, Allstar Weekend’s prospects for a greater fan base widened—and, as expected, their fan count snowballed, too.
Song Samples Give Fans a Taste for More
Gupta Media launched pre-roll video ads and created audio banners to increase awareness and fuel excitement about the release of Allstar Weekend’s first single, “Dance Forever.” Both the video and audio formats allowed listeners to sample the single before visiting retail sites, like iTunes. Subsequently, Allstar Weekend’s pre-roll ads accounted for over 2.7 million impressions and 86,600 visitors, while the audio banners generated nearly 6.7 million impressions and over 38,800 visitors.
Online Advertising Drives Sales
In addition to building interest in the band, Gupta Media began to assemble a retargeting list of people that visited the site in order to “continue the conversation” with previous site visitors, spark their interest, and ultimately generate single and album sales.
Next, Gupta Media created retargeting-specific text ads, pre-roll video ads, and audio banners to reach the 110,000 members on the retargeting list, driving more than 12,100 iTunes visits from across the Web. This, in addition to traffic generated from Facebook ads and the band’s Facebook status updates, quickly made the album a hit in the top 20 of iTunes.
Results
In just 115 days, Allstar Weekend’s ads led to over 750 million impressions, generated more than 164,000 iTunes and Amazon referrals, and increased their Facebook fan base by 33,554% to 338,226--at just $0.34 per fan. So, it comes as no surprise that, with Gupta Media’s help, Suddenly became an instant hit, peaking at #18 on iTunes and #62 on the Billboard 200.
