The campaign for Dreamland, the third studio album from psych-pop band Glass Animals, has been contorting for the best part of a year now as new elements are regularly added, showing their keenness to experiment as the campaign progresses. 

Last May, they created a replica of their desktop with assorted files and stems for fans to play around with; in August, they asked fans to use the Trnio app to submit 3D scans of their own heads to be used in a video; and in December, they launched an interactive Instagram filter that let fans add the band’s album artwork to their selfies and also weave in audio elements of their ‘Heatwaves’ track. 

Now they have collaborated with Minecraft personality LoverFella to create a makeover video together. LoverFella (or, as his family call him, Zach Spangler) has over 2m subscribers on his YouTube channel where he dispenses tips and hacks to Minecraft players. Chief among his moves is the “house flip” where he – like Changing Rooms reborn for the digital age – redesigns someone’s base within the game. 

In this case, one of his team (Katie) was a fan of Glass Animals so he redesigned her base in secret and invited the band – in Minecraft avatar form – along for the big reveal. They then sat in with LoverFella for a group chat in front of an online audience of 200,000. LoverFella described it as “the most psychedelic-looking build ever” and posted an 11-minute video of it on his YouTube channel on 15th February. It sailed past half a million views within a matter of days.

“The video follows Glass Animals surge of popularity within the Minecraft community after a fan fiction called ‘Heat Waves’ – about two of the biggest Minecraft influencers, George and Dream – went viral within the community,” said Polydor, the band’s label, about the partnership. 

This has been an intricate campaign that has cleverly used digital platforms and tools to vivify the album at key points. There is a risk of falling into gimmickry with a marketing strategy like this but they have managed to keep it on the right side of interesting.