To celebrate the 10th anniversary of One Direction’s formation, Syco led a global campaign with the objective of driving catalogue streams by re-engaging their fanbase as well as bringing in new audiences. We did this through new content, digital and social activations, partner campaigns, paid advertising and huge media presence, resulting in unprecedented engagement and numbers.

The centrepiece was a ground-breaking interactive and chronological scrapbook website, timelining their unequivocally successful career, unearthing never-before-seen content and rarities, including raw band footage, performances, annotated video treatments and director interviews, behind-the-scenes photos and anecdotes from songwriters.

The site, powered by Spotify and Apple, allowed fans to connect via their DSP and build a bespoke playlist customised according to the era and band members interacted with. We executed a celebration campaign across the band’s socials, posting about activity, including a YouTube Premiere of a new celebration video charting the band’s story, their first-ever Instagram story, interactive quizzes, refreshed playlists, upgraded HD music videos, a livestream concert and so much more.

Partnerships included outdoor, online and press advertising with Spotify and YouTube, a Twitter emoji, a custom Amazon Alexa skill, an Apple Music comp and radio ad spend as well as editorial takeovers with Global radio.

For Spotify we created 86 unique Canvasses, a vertical video for ‘What Makes You Beautiful’ and storylines with songwriters revealing the process behind the hits.

On TikTok we encouraged a frenzy of influencer activity, resulting in fans using ‘Story Of My Life’ to showcase their glow-ups, whilst fans who Shazammed a One Direction track unlocked a new piece of content. The effect of this and many more innovations was an undeniable and unmissable surge of affection and nostalgia from fans and media alike – and, of course, the boys, who took to socials to share gratitude to the fans in celebration of a decade of the world’s biggest boyband.