By Surina Sayal
OOH

Sony Music paws cities with She Wolf teaser campaign

Teaser ambient ads and an online buzz worked like a charm for Sony Music's promotion of Shakira's upcoming single album

If you happened to see bloody animal paw prints across city hangouts and thought it was a promotion for a remake of Rahul Roy's popular 1992 film Junoon (where he turns into a tiger), think again.

Images of these paw prints grabbed attention in washrooms, cafes, clubs and coffee shops and had messages like 'Beware, She Wolf on the prowl'.

The scary images turned out to be a teaser campaign by Sony Music for Shakira's new single, She Wolf, from her upcoming album to be released in October. The She Wolf campaign was launched in three cities - Mumbai, Delhi and Bengaluru.

Sony Music paws cities with She Wolf teaser campaign
Arjun Sankalia, associate director, international repertoire and online, Sony Music Entertainment India, tells afaqs!, "The idea behind the teaser campaign was to execute the ABCs of promotion, where A stands for 'attention'– the pictures, paw sign and the message will not only grab your attention, but will leave an indelible mark as well; 'B' represents branding that is innovative, fun and mystique-laden, which are all very 'Shakira'; and 'C' stands for communication – that 'something big and exciting is coming'."

Innovative and unconventional communication was the route chosen and Sony Music realised that the audience it wanted to target through this campaign usually frequents places such as coffee shops, clubs, pubs, lounge bars and book shops. The company tied up with ADtheLOO for the execution of this campaign as it owns the visibility platforms in such high profile youth outlets. ADtheLOO is part of Gotcha! Impact Media that also runs the popular postcard promotion brand, Cards4U.

Sony Music paws cities with She Wolf teaser campaign
The messages were customised to make it more impactful – mirror stickers carried the message 'Stop being so vain, the She Wolf is on prowl', floor stickers read, 'Watch your step, the She Wolf is on prowl', while wash basins saw messages of 'Hurry up, the She Wolf is on prowl'. The teasers also displayed fine print that said 'www.shewolf.in', driving traffic to the website and blog.

Sony Music is effectively using online social media platforms to create a viral buzz. It has creatively used and integrated a WordPress blog, Facebook, Twitter, Flickr and YouTube to drive traffic to Shewolf.in and build an active and bustling She Wolf community.

Besides online, ambient and billboards in outdoor, print advertising in tabloids, magazines and mainline newspapers were also used to promote the single.

The creative campaign was mainly driven internally by the company's marketing and promotion team. For social media marketing, the company has retained WATConsult.com to consult and execute online initiatives.

The campaign was revealed on July 20 through a news leak in the print media, as well as through an online puzzle contest of a picture of the singer on Shewolf.in

The target group for this album is mainly male and female audience in age group of 15-35 years. This is probably why targeting youth hangouts and leveraging their preferred medium, the Internet, seems to have worked for Sony Music in generating buzz for the new album.

Sankalia shares that until now, Sony Music has used only billboards for outdoor promotions. However, with this campaign, the company is evaluating various innovative outdoor media for promotions in future as well.

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