New Zealand indie agency Special has blended social networking, celebrity endorsement and crowdsourcing in this innovative campaign for Orcon Broadband.
Gone are the days when broadband campaigns were all about showing off download speeds. With dial-up confined to the annals of internet history, ISPs are having to find more subtle ways to entice consumers. Turning to attention-grabbing rock star Iggy Pop, Auckland-based agency Special have set out to create musical history for Orcon Broadband by offering up the chance to play live with the punk-rock legend and re-record his iconic track, The Passenger. But instead of collaborating in a studio, each of the eight selected musicians will rock out from the comfort of their own homes, as the whole event will be recorded live over the internet.
"When Special was thinking of an idea that could really get attention and help raise the profile of Orcon Broadband, we believed that we had to create something more than just a 30-second ad," says Special CD Tony Bradbourne, "something that was interactive and would create 'talk', whether that was in a PR sense, a Facebook sense or a conversational sense."
Aiming high, Special concocted the plan of re-recording a classic rock track via the web, with Iggy Pop the ideal candidate. The event was then announced with series of video call-outs from the singer himself, and a Facebook app was launched for hopeful applicants to upload their audition routines.
"Special opted for a Facebook app rather than creating a separate microsite for a number of reasons," explains Bradbourne. "Facebook has a high penetration in the NZ market so we knew it was a way to help spread the idea. It was also a way that we could keep fans updated with progress throughout the life of the idea - and on an ongoing basis. Orcon already had a strong Facebook page; it's really part of the digital life that they live and breathe so it seemed obvious to run it through that."
With the wannabe rockers now whittled down to eight lucky participants, the live recording takes place this Friday, 30 October, as each member will huddle round their webcam to rock out with Iggy Pop. It's then over to Curious Film director Darryl Ward to cut and mix the track in just eight hours.
"The most exciting challenges are all musical," comments the director, "as it's hard enough recording a band that's been together for years, all playing in the same room. So it's going to be very interesting with this band all scattered apart, in a country 13,000 kilometres from the studio… and its lead singer."
Check out the live session below.
