When I worked for BFG Communications, we put hundreds of bands on stage for Camel every year, and it was my job to extend the event marketing opportunity to the web via content capture from the events. We had tons of ideas on how to grow this integrated/relationship marketing loop, and do more for the bands and for the brand’s best customers.
One of the things I used to push for was the need to provide something to the bands that they couldn’t achieve on their own. Like a one-record deal with a top notch producer. I didn’t see this happen at BFG, but J Barbush, VP and director of creative social media at RPA in Santa Monica, undertands well how this works.
Thanks to the efforts of Barbush, his team at RPA and Honda, San Fernando Valley-based Indie band Monsters Calling Home didn’t score record deal, but they did earn a special musical guest spot on “Jimmy Kimmel Live” last Wednesday.
How did they earn this amazing exposure to a national audience? The band shot a music video inside their Honda vehicles and someone at RPA took note. According to Clickz, Barbush had a passion for finding authentic, regular people that can become a spokespeople of sorts for the brand.
“Once you go in the direction where you fake it, there’s no going back. It’s like you’re done, you lost it,” Barbush says. “With social media there’s an expectation there of truth and giving something that feels real… It’s a little too touchy-feely for regular advertising metrics to quantify.”
