PR Case Study: Knocking Ed Sheeran off the #1 Spot
Find out how new consumer PR agency MUNCH took on the challenge to raise the profile of Youtube sensation Daisy Clark, push her into the mainstream music market and, ultimately, knock Ed Sheeran off the #1 spot in the iTunes charts.
Campaign: Knocking Ed Sheeran off the #1 Spot
Client: Music Crowns – Daisy Clark
PR Team: MUNCH
Timing: February – March 2017
Objectives
Music Crowns, a global promotion platform for unsigned, newly signed and independent music artists, launched a new management arm and wanted to give its first artist’s release – Daisy Clark – a PR push. MUNCH got the call up just three weeks before the track “dropped”.
Music Crowns wanted to generate coverage that would drive online streams of the song Hopelessly Devoted to You on Spotify from 14 February onwards. MUNCH was briefed to raise the profile of Daisy Clark as an upcoming musician and ultimately increase awareness of Music Crowns as a platform for rising talent.
Strategy
With limited time, MUNCH focused solely on achieving results that would have a real impact on Daisy Clark’s future career and the Music Crowns brand, by finding where our audience was and targeting those opportunities as a priority.
Our strategy was to strengthen Daisy Clark’s story as much as possible – “talented young person strives for fame” would not be strong enough.
“Talented young person with viral success and industry interest” was better, but knowing what worked in the media, we sought out an additional human interest element to add to the narrative, giving us the best chance of being featured by the titles we wanted.
Daisy Clark
We focused our efforts online for the click through and immediate streaming potential, as well as broadcast for mass awareness and ‘fame’. We hyper-targeted the audiences that were either passionate about new music or young potential Daisy Clark fans of the future – the people most likely to listen to the new release at launch.
Immediately, we ran two intensive media training sessions with Daisy Clark to identify her rags-to-riches story: a local girl who had barely left Cornwall, now tipped for international success – and to ensure she was prepared for live TV and confident to talk about the Music Crowns brand.
With her original viral video already viewed six million times, we needed new content that hadn’t been seen before, so we instigated the filming of an official music video to accompany the track announcement.
We placed pre-recorded and embargoed interviews with Daisy Clark in the run up to launch, working with local agency SWNS to champion her story and announce it far and wide the day the track dropped.
Results
In just three weeks from initial briefing, the MUNCH team created a global buzz around Daisy Clark reaching 12 counties across the world, driving traffic to Music Crowns’ website, building an ever-growing Spotify audience for the artist and even knocking one of the most famous musicians off his perch:
- Daisy Clark’s Hopelessly Devoted to You knocked Ed Sheeran off the #1 spot in the iTunes singer songwriter charts, and charted on the mainstream music chart
- We helped to cultivate a monthly Spotify audience of 35k
- Music Crowns was name checked as a platform which breaks new artists in all media coverage, doubling web traffic to the platform
- Views of Daisy Clark’s original viral video almost doubled, from six to 11 million views
- Blanket coverage – 80+ pieces across Daily Mail, Mail Online (top story), BBC News Online (top story), Sun Online (twice), Daily Star, Daily Star Online, Express.co.uk, Mirror Online, Maximum Pop, Ok.co.uk, Square Mile Online, MSN and more
- Six TV interviews and performances – Lorraine, 5 News, CBBC’s Blue Peter, ITV’s Scrambled, BBCSpotlight, ITV South West
- Five radio interviews and performances – Virgin Radio, Heart FM, BBC Radio, Pirate FM, Coast FM
- Story picked up in 12 countries around the world including Russia, New Zealand, China, Bosnia, South Africa, Italy, Slovakia, France, Germany
And a happy client.
Adrian Smith, founder and CEO of Music Crowns, said: “I can’t speak highly enough of MUNCH, they are truly a joy to work with. The enthusiasm they brought to the project was infectious; their work ethic and attention to detail from pre to post campaign was unlike any other agency we have worked with in the past.
“The positive effects we experienced as a result of the national, international and prime time TV coverage they generated was truly magnificent and surpassed our expectations. They really are focused on getting results for their clients and we recommend them to everyone.”
