July 22, 2013

Vampire Weekend Proves the Potential for Video Content Marketing

At the height of its popularity, over eight million bands were on MySpace. With so many artists trying to gain a leg up, it can become difficult to find new ways to stand out. In the lead-up to the release of Vampire Weekend’s third album, “Modern Vampires of the City,” the band used content marketing to get the word out to its fans (and, more importantly, to future fans).

Following a mysterious post in the New York Times’ classified section (“Modern Vampires of the City, May 7, 2013”), Vampire Weekend officially announced the upcoming release of its third album.


The New York Times classified ad placed by Vampire Weekend

The next step for the band was to march in the New York City Easter parade with actor/director Steve Buscemi. While this move seemed like a stunt to draw attention to the band and its upcoming album, it was actually part of an elaborate video content marketing campaign on behalf of the band.


Members of Vampire Weekend walk with Steve Buscemi at 2013 Easter Parade in NYC

A scene involving Steve Buscemi marching with Vampire Weekend in the Easter parade was used in a humorous fake documentary web series that featured Buscemi offering advice to the band on how the members could make their music more accessible to a mass audience. The six-part series also featured Buscemi taking the band all over New York City, handing out fliers to promote its (sold out) upcoming Roseland Ballroom concert, which also functioned as a coming out party for the band’s latest album.

At the 3:29 mark in the video below, Buscemi finds out that the concert has been sold out for weeks, and he becomes (jokingly) furious with the band members for not telling him earlier, as he’s been out on the streets, distributing physical fliers:

 

The web series works as a joke about the old forms of marketing (physical fliers, yelling from a bullhorn on the street). The real product is the series of videos (viewed 300,000 times), as well as footage of the concert, sponsored by American Express’ UNSTAGED concert series, which drew over 400,000 viewers.

By creating humorous, vital video content that people enjoy on its own merits, Vampire Weekend has been able to expose new consumers to its music, a strategy that could work for any adventurous business.




Edited by Ryan Sartor




Comments powered by Disqus


Related News