The Sunday afternoon slot at Glastonbury festival is one of the most coveted gigs of the festival season. It draws a large crowd who, after a weekend of festival excesses and rock bands, crave an iconic artist they might never normally see.
This year, Lionel Richie landed the spot. Glastonbury is world famous, a key cultural highlight in the BBC’s calendar; their coverage reached 18.5m people this year.
Opportunities Identified
l The Legend Slot is one of only three Glastonbury performances broadcast in full
l Focus on Lionel Richie’s crossgenerational appeal, re-engage existing fans and preserve his legacy by introducing new fans
l Magnify the hype, convert kitsch appreciation into sales of The Definitive Collection and sustain the campaign through to a primetime ITV interview in September. Target Audience l New audience of festival-goers
l Viewers across all BBC platforms
l Existing fanbase Challenges
l One UK performance to leverage and limited artist access
l Huge difference in existing fan and festival fan demographics
l Re-promoting an album which has been available for 13 years
l Not possible to advertise on BBC channels or target iPlayer viewers
l Cut through the Glastonbury noise Highlights
l The campaign kicked off with a nationwide campaign to Get Lionel Richie To Glastonbury, with media partners at the start of the year
l We capitalised on viral reaction to create a successful sales driver; #Lionel4Number1 l Key PR including BBC One Show, Radio 1 interview and Piers Morgan’s Life Stories was crucial for sustainment of the campaign “Dancing Security Guards” TV highlight was converted into an online viral campaign, providing longevity to a specific moment and engaged the guards directly for their set highlights and playlists for Lionel Richie’s social channels
l Personal thank you video message from Lionel added a personal touch bringing the artist closer to fans
l Video mini-mix uploaded natively to Facebook, showcased existing content
l Social “finish the lyric” competition, tapped into existing kitsch noise
l Organic and promoted messaging capitalised on social chatter with a focus on retargeting on Twitter
l The Dream Set List Creator and poll to discover and celebrate fan favourites, encouraged deeper engagement, a shared sense of appreciation and put the fan in the curator’s seat
l #1 album – Lionel Richie’s first in 23 years
l 12 weeks in the top 40, the album remains in the top 100
l First #1 album as a result of a Glastonbury Legend Slot performance l Physical 75k ship / OCC 62,300 l Digital total 19,500 downloads / 3,500 streams
l The Definitive Collection uplift 11,000% YOY l #Lionel4Number1 trended in the UK l Successful social media campaign saw CTRs in excess of 20% across promoted activity
l 78% boost in fans social response between June and September l 64k views of the mini mix (89% watching more than 30 seconds)
l Lionel’s personal thank you message is one of the most viewed videos on his socials (150k views)
l Spotify advertising, key playlist placement and a takeover of 80s Hits, contributed to a 70% increase in streams of the album l YOY stream increase of 442.3%
l 57% more streams of the collection during the campaign
Project Budget
Demographics
