In the build up to the launch of Newton Faulkner’s fourth album, Studio Zoo, RCA worked with Powster, OMG Management and Livestream to put fans right at the heart of the album’s production, streaming the entire process live from Faulkner’s studio home.

#StudioZoo became the world’s first live streaming music documentary.

Campaign

Four GoPro cameras were positioned throughout the house and set up using Livestream technology to stream 24/7 for five weeks. A hub page, designed and built by Powster, allowed viewers to switch between the four feeds freely, giving them unrestricted access. Guest appearances, Q&As and various fun activities were planned in addition to the recording, keeping viewers constantly entertained.

Twitter was integral to the live experience. Constant dialogue over the social network gave fans the ability to feedback in real time and even, at times, the opportunity to influence the tracks as Faulkner recorded them.

In the latter half of the campaign, Powster brought Faulkner’s house to life, connecting physical objects to Twitter’s API. Through the use of a series of hashtags, fans could unlock animal noises and see the results live. On the night of the album launch, users were even able to propel a model jeep along a path, using tweets to reveal the album artwork. This was not only instantly gratifying, but also allowed users worldwide to become even closer to the centre of the experience.

The campaign launched to a core fanbase over Faulkner’s social networks before reaching out to a wider audience with prerolls and digital ad spend. Video highlights, Vines and Instagrams were posted over social networks to keep fans up to date on the week’s events.

From the process, a music video for the first single, ‘Losing Ground’, was created, commemorating events within ‘the zoo’. The album artwork also shared a similar aesthetic to the camera feeds.