Wow, Mashable. As a dedicated reader of Mashable, BusinessNewsDaily, NME, TechCrunch, PandoDaily and the numerous other media platforms that describe aspects of my industry, or at least a large portion of it (amen to my Google RSS Reader), I was humbled and excited to see the recent article discussing some of my previous work with Lady Gaga’s “Born This Way” album during the time that I was running the Atom Digital agency. Even more awe-some (yes, I do mean it that way, awe-some) was the literal outpouring of kind words, outreach, contacts and connections with some pretty amazing people. So again, wow, Mashable! And double WOW BusinessNewsDaily, where the original article was published.
And if we’re just “meeting” because of Mashable, or Fox News, or even word of mouth, I’d like to welcome you and let you know that I plan to stay interesting enough to hopefully keep you coming back. I have a lot to share.
My blog has been a little silent lately because in addition to speaking/consulting and the associated travel, I’m hard at work on a Webisode series (found an amazing editor who matches my sense of humor) and I thought that might be more engaging than just words on a page. Time crunch aside, what I did want to take the opportunity to do, here, was to add more context and color to the strategy work that I did with Lady Gaga and hopefully give people (or you, who’s reading) more info that they can use.
First, the “Born This Way” album was a major, major release. It had so many touchpoints that were worked on by so many people, it almost could be the subject of its own book (or its own Mashable post that you can access here). The directive for the team (including the management team, my team which was the Atom Digital digital/social media marketing and strategy agency, the label, and the PR team) was to bring the album to as many people as possible. But, that’s the directive for most albums. Where this strategy differed, was to bring the album to people, where they were. So, you like to hang out in coffee shops? Great, we’re going to bring you the album in the coffee shop and give you the opportunity to hear it there. You like to play Farmville? Great, we’re going to place the album in the middle of your game play in a compelling and interesting way, authentic to Gaga’s brand. You like to shop? Great, come see what’s on Gilt and by the way, check out the album. The same philosophy went for the iTunes countdown, the Google Chrome commercial, the HBO Concert and everything else. In fact, if we had managed to pull off everything we planned, you would have truly had your socks and shoes knocked off. But this was all in the effort to make it easy for you the customer, and you the potential customer, fan, friend, follower and listener, to have access to a product that everyone felt we could stand behind, because of the quality and the devotion in putting it together.
And, I guess the results speak for themselves. And like I said in the Mashable article, I would never take the credit for the success of something that large. I did my best and played my role, as did everyone else, with tireless effort. Props to the team, and most of all props go to Gaga for her vision + passion and work ethic that I had the privilege of observing on numerous occasions.
Anyway, I’m breaking my own rule of brevity, but I wouldn’t feel right if I didn’t take the time to acknowledge that I might have a few new readers and friends these days. Stay tuned, I’ll make sure to keep it coming. My best, Jaunique
