We wanted to do a marketing campaign that reflected the superstar that Ariana Grande is, reaching a bigger audience than ever with her amazing new album, Sweetener. We wanted to be innovative, targeted and creative.

It had been over two years since the release of her previous UK #1 album, Dangerous Woman. Ariana had grown as an artist within this period, with her sound becoming more mature, as well as her audience. The challenge was therefore to find a way to engage with this broader audience with this new album, which also included a new/more mature creative.

A crucial elements before this, of course, was to cater to the already dedicated and loyal UK fanbase that she has. We wanted them to feel special and part of the journey of this album –all across the UK.

One of our most successful digital initiatives was when we teamed up with Landmrk who provide app-free mobile web solutions for branded, mixed reality campaigns. With their help, we set up over 250 “sweet spots” across the UK, where fans were able to access a bespoke map to find their nearest one. Once at a “sweet spot”, they were given a code to unlock an exclusive filter and the chance to win top-level prizes.

There were +87k visits and 4k unlocks. (Note: this was only pushed out through Island UK socials, not artist socials.)

An important challenge with this campaign was reaching a broader audience than ever before. We wanted to be creative and innovative with how we did this. Here are some examples:

We worked with Activision Blizzard Media, to deliver a bespoke vertical advert within Candy Crush Saga –playing on the album name, Sweetener. Utilising the game’s own branding, we achieved a media first by delivering an advert that was seamlessly posed as part of the game play of Candy Crush Saga. The video received incredibly high engagement, delivering highly impactful messaging within a format that felt completely relevant and native to the user.

Another initiative was our carefully structured YouTube campaign that sequentially targeted users with different copy lengths and content based on their viewing habits. Beyond serving out our traditional TV ad, highly engaged audiences were then served behind-the-scenes content whilst less-engaged users were served an alternative advert which highlighted Ariana’s incredible vocals with an acapella video.

As Snapchat was such an obvious place for Ariana’s young teen fanbase, it was important to deliver immersive and interactive advertising on this platform. Users were able to swipe up on the top snap of the advert to unlock an exclusive lens which allowed them to pose upside down as in the Sweetener album art. Including earned reach, the lens had 2.46m views and 78k shares with an average play time of 38 seconds –incredible engagement for mobile and social advertising.

We also partnered with Seen On Screen (a dance company) to create an empowering viral dance challenge in keeping with the themes of lead single, ‘God Is A Woman.’ The campaign generated 128K video views, and was also featured on Elle Magazine’s website, which garners an impressive 6m hits a month.

We were also happy to secure a promo trip with Ariana in the UK in September for a week-long run of promo–including a bespoke Capital FM event, BBC live lounge, and a BBC1 Special (aired 1st November). With all of this happening, the most important thing was continuing the conversation online with old and new fans, continuing to build an event wider audience and making Ariana one of the biggest stars in the world.