Hippopotamus was a chance for BMG to capitalise on Sparks’ dedicated following from over 40 years of musically diverse oddball eccentricity from the Mael brothers. The challenge was to plot a campaign to match the band’s creativity and capitalise the quality of a very special record. Part of this was to prove to audiences that the band were still relevant, so a headline slot at the BBC 6 Music Festival seemed the perfect time to announce a new album.

Pre-orders were launched with inventive physical and targeting online to the older demographic with a history with the band. 6 Music were a massive supporter of the band and using a vibrant and engaged social following, the relationship with the album developed from spot plays on early singles into A-list support and the band taking over their own one-off show and playing sessions with Marc Riley. All of this played into the narrative and added to the heritage of the band as iconic artists.

Creatively, the band were paired with artists, filmmakers and designers who could capture their visual flair. For instance, BAFTA-nominated director Joseph Wallace produced a stop-motion animated video for ‘Edith Piaf’, with an animated 1930s Parisian world created for puppet avatars of the brothers. There were further videos produced by The Listeners Project – an artistic collective who worked with the band to produce four short films across four days. Each film had a different director, but was filmed in the same location – the abandoned Millennium Mills in London. Each appealed to the band’s ever–growing social following. Fortunately, the brothers are very engaged with social media and provide a unique and charming online voice. The fanbase online was utilised to create a fan video for the title track, which was shared between the Sparks community.

To engage the older audience with streaming, a collaborative Spotify playlist was opened and fans were encouraged to add their favourite animal-themed songs – with Ron and Russell picking their favourites to form an official playlist. The playlist collected over 10,000 tracks in 48 hours.

The album was released to critical acclaim and the band appeared on five prime-time TV spots, including The One Show, Newsnight and Front Row. Hippopotamus charted at #7 in the UK chart – their highest chart position in 42 years.