Although The Orchard’s relationship with Jorja Smith stretched back to ‘On My Mind’, the campaign for the release of Jorja’s debut album, Lost & Found, started a mere six weeks before the announcement of the record’s release. Faced with a short lead time to roll out a global campaign we had to work fast to build a new website (jorjasmith.com), reskin her D2C store, build remarketing pools across socials and create social re- brandings so that we could be ready for the launch of the record.

To refocus attention on ‘Blue Lights’ (which was originally released two years prior), Jorja’s label FAMM commissioned a thought-provoking new video which featured cameo appearances from Mike Skinner, Benjamin Zephaniah, Jaykae and Mist and was based in Jorja’s hometown of Walsall. With this being our key asset to garner attention before release, we set up a global digital advertising strategy that not only focused on re-engaging Jorja’s existing fanbase but also looked to build awareness among associated artists (Maverick Sabre, Stormzy etc.) and similar artists that were established by our local teams on the ground in each territory. Our design team built a series of teasers and trailers to support the rollout.

To build D2C pre-orders, a pre-sale mechanic was enabled via Jorja’s webstore partner, Townsend, for a special underplay at New Slang as well as a second night at the O2 Academy Brixton (which later sold out). We created a Custom Conversions in Facebook Ads Manager that allowed us to remarket to users right through until checkout.

Doing so allowed us to optimise for an actual sale rather than a ‘link click’ or ‘landing page view’. This not only strengthened our digital advertising efforts but meant that we did not need to pursue sales from fans who had already purchased the record.

On release week we ran digital advertising in-house across Facebook (and Facebook’s Audience Network), Instagram, YouTube, Twitter, Snapchat and Spotify in order to compliment the outdoor, TV and web player advertising we had planned. These advertisements featured a black and white aesthetic that was designed to pull together visuals that were filmed in an array of different styles. These complimented outdoor advertising and in-store marketing in HMV culminating in an invitation to perform at their annual general meet. Our efforts resulted in a #3 record in the UK with the album charting in 14 territories globally.

Other initiatives on the campaign included a Vevo LIFT campaign, limited cassette (lifted from the video for ‘On Your Own’, official Giphy channel, Lost and Found playlists and cultivation of Jorja’s Collection playlist.

As 2018 draws to a close, Jorja is currently on tour in the US and we have prepared a Snapchat geofilter (based around her video for ‘On My Mind’) that is localised to every date on the tour so that fans can share a unique moment with their friends socially. This will build into the release of new single ‘The One’ which will reignite our marketing efforts leading into Christmas.