Alan Walker entered the music scene in late 2015. In just four months, the 18-year-old went from being an unknown gamer to a record-breaking artist with his first single, ‘Faded’. But Alan’s rise to instant success is about more than a good song. This is the story of how carefully curated content and a strategic digital dialogue united the gaming and music world – by creating an innovative digital landscape.

TARGET AUDIENCE
• From day one the gamers have been an important part of our work with Alan. Our gaming approach is incorporated in everything we do: branding, marketing, visuals, typography and influencers. We also hide gaming references in our content to engage with the core audience.
• During the campaign, we collaborated with big professional gamers (with large followings on YouTube or Facebook). Some of the collaborations included: Song/ video push from their socials, spreading/ joining the ‘Faded’ competition and specific marketing on gaming sites, such as Twitch.

PRE LAUNCH
Recording of ‘Faded’, with vocals by Iselin Solheim. Three teasers were released. An exclusive platform for gamers was created. Each invited member received an identity number based on when they joined. e.g. “Walker #62”. Platforms include exclusive preview of upcoming material and forum for discussions.

BROAD LAUNCH
December: ‘Faded’ released on all digital music platforms and the music video on YouTube. Partnered with a number of Scandinavia’s biggest gamers. Bought media on Twitch, YouTube, Swedish radio and Spotify.

January: launch of the gaming-centric ‘Faded’ competition where gamers were invited to creatively include ‘Faded’ in their own gaming videos. The competition outline was to make a short video in your favourite computer game and upload the clip to YouTube. The task was to be as creative as possible, combining ‘Faded’ and interacting in the video game in an innovative way. During the competition, we highlighted selected videos in a playlist on Alan Walker’s YouTube channel. Alan then selected three winners that won prices containing merch, Motorola smart watch, Sony headphones and STEAM gift cards.

February: release of ‘Faded (Restrung)’ and associated music video, which was performed by an orchestra and filmed in a dismantled nuclear reactor.

POST-LAUNCH
• Continue to engage with fans via tailored digital material. Curated content includes: behind-the-scenes material, video interviews, videos from live shows etc.
• Invite more listeners via ‘Faded’ remixes. “WALKERS” The EDM/House/Electro genres don’t have fans like the Swifties, Beliebers or Directioners. So we asked ourselves, what if we could create “Walkers”? To deeply engage with Alan’s core fans, we created a platform, made for Alan’s gaming fans and optimised to attract and interact with them positioned by their interests and behavior. The design is heavily inspired by programming aesthetics. To join, you need to access a special code. The goal of the platform is to share upcoming material, get feedback and create exclusive material with the fans.