The iconic label that brought hip-hop’s biggest stars to the world celebrated its 30th anniversary in 2014 with a series of global product releases, merchandise, events and initiatives. Our challenge was to look at innovative ways to engage core fans, reach and excite new fans whilst keeping true to the ethos of the brand and the iconic artists. These initiatives capitalised on social, download and streaming channels with a view of creating interest and buzz throughout the year in line with the release and events schedules.

Pacemaker X Def Jam In collaboration with the brand new DJ app Pacemaker , we developed a playlist to support Def Jam 30. Within the app, users could create and record their own mixes using a selection of DJ tools and pick songs from the playlist we curated. They could then share their bespoke mixes across social media with #DefJam30 and encourage their friends to do the same. The initiative got fantastic global support from Spotify, Pacemaker and Def Jam socials.

VVVintage Vevo – Def Jam Special: How To Make An Entrance We worked with the team at Vevo to put together a special Def Jam episode of their VVVintage show, in which the hosts pick out the five best Def Jam tracks to make an entrance to. Vevo featured the episode on their main home page across all their devices, which delivered us 5m impressions, helping us achieve our goal of reaching a younger audience with some classic Def Jam videos.

Jaguar Skills – 30 Years Of Def Jam In 30 Minutes Mix To tell the story of Def Jam using the iconic tracks from across the decades, we came up with the idea of an audio timeline. To enable this, we teamed up with the legendary mix-master DJ Jaguar Skills who created The DEFJAG Mix: 30 years Of Def Jam In 30 Mins. The mix was played on his Capital Radio show in two parts over two weeks, accompanied by a full Def Jam homepage takeover on the Capital Radio website. The mix has been played over 49k times and enabled us to engage with both the original Def Jam fans and the younger audience who listen to Capital and follow Jag Skills.

The Jump Off In August, the UK’s biggest hip-hop night, The Jump Off, staged a Def Jam takeover featuring rap/DJ/twerking battles – all set against a Def Jam soundtrack. Partnering with The Jump Off gave us great additional online reach in the form of social posts/ email sends to their large database and on the night access via competitions, photo booths and vox pops.