British rapper Little Simz released her third album, Grey Area, on 1st March and on each of the days leading up to it, she made a 10-second clip of a different album track available for fans to use as an Instagram sticker.

They are accessible via the Stories feature on her Instagram account and each sticker (as well as the corresponding 10-second clip) was made available for 24 hours before being replaced by the next one in the sequence.

There was also a promotion in the Stories each day for fans to win the chance to join her on the Grey Area bus, with users having to swipe up to enter their name for the sweepstakes. They had to be over 18 to enter and could be invited onto a customised double-decker bus (we presume in London, but it is not clear on the competition page – although entries require a UK postcode). There was also a little button encouraging fans to follow her account on Spotify.

Put together by AWAL, the competition is there to ramp up anticipation for the album release as well as to expand her Instagram following (sitting at 126k when sandbox checked midway through the initiative) and increase pre-saves and pre-orders. Ultimately it is about fans returning to her Instagram Stories on a daily basis so it becomes habitual.

“Since the release of Instagram Music Stickers, we’ve seen the use of these proliferate throughout the ‘storysphere’,” says Ariel Cohen, digital marketing manager at AWAL. “We felt these provided the opportunity to tease music in a more interactive way. Unlike with a traditional teaser campaign, where the fan has to go to a place or perform an action in order to hear or watch a piece of exclusive or unreleased content, our idea allows for fans to actually share their own teasers.”