This year, Sony CG signed an exciting new joint venture with WTW Music and released UK country duo Ward Thomas’s second album, Cartwheels.

The duo – made up of 22-year-old twin sisters, Catherine and Lizzy Ward Thomas – independently released their debut album in 2014, which sold 25,000 copies in the UK. From the moment they were signed, we focused on getting the girls to fully embrace social media and develop an authentic tone of voice.

We also ensured a presence at video shoots, TV promos and gigs to create bespoke behind-the-scenes content, ensuring a constant stream of high-quality activity throughout the summer and beyond. The girls always understood the importance of their online presence: with practice, they really took to Facebook Live and used it each week in the lead up to the album release, growing in confidence each time, whilst showing their endearing and quirky personalities.

Facebook HQ and Brooklyn Bowl both hosted them for special Q&As and performances. All live sessions saw record spikes in reach and engagement.

They launched their Snapchat presence around their Glastonbury performance and we released a personalised geofilter on the recent UK tour as well.

On top of an extensive digital marketing campaign targeting country and pop acts, we also put a strong focus on video content, to showcase their amazing vocal craft and harmonies. We revamped their Snug Sessions and unveiled acoustic videos every week, with a mix of original tracks and covers done in their own unique style. We were the first Sony label to deliver a 360 video to Vevo, with a great performance shot ahead of their media event at the Roof Gardens. We continued the 360 theme with a special reveal of the album track listing, also emphasising the importance of their lyrics.

The cherry on top of this campaign was when we managed to get them social support from the likes of Carrie Underwood during week of release, whilst Carole King mentioned her love for their cover of ‘You’ve Got A Friend’.