(Jon Kane writes) As an introduction to this post, I should provide some background. When I was down in London a few weeks back, I met with Will King, and the conversation that followed dovetailed nicely with some of the thinking I have been doing about the current state (and future) of the music industry (read these posts for a heads up: The Music Industry - An Introduction, and The New Music Industry - Part One). This blog post is the product of that conversation (and a couple of others). I hope it’ll spark some conversation. I think it will.
It’s official. The world is turning into a meritocracy – only the good will thrive. Within the next couple of years, Spencer’s oft used quote will have to be updated. Rather than ‘survival of the fittest’, it becomes ‘survival of the best’. With the emergence of Long Tail economics and people using the Internet to break down the barriers to creation and distribution of creative media, it’s no longer a competition to see who can shout the loudest, or throw the most money at the problem. With more and more demanding the attention (and hard earned cash) of the masses, the buying public will no longer accept anything less than great, and it’s becoming increasingly obvious that bigger isn’t necessarily better. The challenge to bands (or, for that matter, any company that wants to sell something) is helping people find out that their product exists in the first place. Will King, the CEO of King of Shaves, has come up with an interesting way of trying to find an audience online – both for an unsigned band, and his new razor. If he succeeds, 20 million people will be exposed to his product, and an unknown band will have unprecedented exposure.
Using music to market a new product isn’t anything new. Advertisers have been using the power of music and bands to support their brands since the advent of mass media. For a lot of companies, however, getting a track from an established act is not only difficult, the cost makes it downright prohibitive. Will King is only too aware of the pitfalls of this kind of strategy:
“In 2006, we ran a regional TV campaign featuring John Terry that used the track ‘Dirge’ by Death in Vegas. It was the only track we wanted to use, and the whole campaign nearly faltered as it was a nightmare for our (then) ad agency to agree usage terms with the copyright owners, plus it cost literally tens of thousands of pounds. It was pretty stressful.”
Looking to avoid these problems when launching his new Azor – his first foray into the razor market – he looked to try something different, and went to one of his employees, Matthew Bean, for help:
“When I knew we’d have a campaign bus to launch the Azor, and thought about using Guitar Hero on the Wii as an audience activator, I thought it would be good to involve a band. Matt (and his brother and drummer, Doug) were good musicians, and I simply asked Matt if he could arrange some music that sounded ‘right’ - and he did, writing the lyrics later.”
Bean (a sales support executive by day) took up the challenge, pulling a band together (called Beanius), writing the track (called John Tracy) and playing a series of live sets for King of Shaves at various promotional events for the Azor. The initial impact of the track online is relatively minor – the band’s video on youtube.com has had 459 views, and John Tracy has just over 2000 plays on Myspace – but King sees potential in the band, and isn’t afraid to throw the considerable weight of his brand in with Beanius’ lot:
“Using music appealed to me, but in a genuine way - not signing up an established band, but seeing if we can get an unsigned band signed. King of Shaves (the brand) is all about ‘being the best you can be - being a king - winning’ not ‘already won, telling people about it’. We back challengers to titles, not defenders…I like music, and it’s satisfying to be in a position to ‘impart momentum’ to a band that I think is good.”
So the question was raised as to the best way to go about getting both Beanius and the Azor out to a wider audience. This is where Chris Kempt of Kempt comes in; a company that specialises in ‘advergames’, online flash-based games which advertise a product. As Chris himself puts it:
“Put simply, at Kempt we believe that the secret to a great ad campaign is to be engaging rather than interruptive, or rather that a campaign will be more successful if it somehow manages to be interesting and relevant to the consumer. If well executed Advergames are an excellent way of achieving this, they setup what I call a “fair value exchange”. The game entertains the user and the user in return feels more positive towards the brand, it’s human nature really. When this is done well the resulting trust built up translates into much higher than average click-throughs, long interaction times, huge numbers of registrations and simply immense levels of traffic.”
With the involvement of Kempt came the introduction of King of Air Guitar, a Guitar Hero inspired game that gives prominence to King of Shaves, whilst shifting John Tracy to centre stage – literally - along with a mixture of unsigned and established acts (Eureka Machines, The Dead Petal, The Wildhearts and Electric Six). The thinking goes that if you can get the right ‘advergame’ with the right product and the right band, the effects could be startling. But the risks are there, as Kempt points out:
“It should do well, as it’s a very good example of its genre, but with viral we’re always at the whim of the internet. So it could be 20 million visits, but there’s always a real danger that it’ll flop, too - that’s kinda what makes it exciting and rewarding, at the end of the day. Viral (in the strictest sense) is a meritocracy, you will only do well if what you’re producing is genuinely good.”
It’s clear that the success of the venture will only be guaranteed if both the Azor and Beanius have the quality to interest the volume of traffic that they will soon be experiencing. King is philosophical about their chances.
“I believe they can build on John Tracy, but that, my friend, is down to them. They’ve got the makings of the band, but they’ve got to make it happen. I’m just providing the springboard.”
Chris Kempt echoes the sentiment – it’s all down to the quality of the music.
“A piece of marketing can only ever be as effective as the product it promotes lets it be. So… would a viral game be a great way of promoting a relatively unknown band? If they are crap, no. If they are any good, then absolutely.”
So how does Matthew Bean feel about the avalanche of traffic that could soon be coming his band’s way?
“I believe this is going to be a really good thing for the band. Yes, in an ideal world we’d have more professionally recorded tracks. However, I’m a firm believer that if you turn down all the opportunities which come your way because they aren’t perfect, then the perfect one will never come along… I feel confident about the band’s future because KOS are bringing us lots of opportunities and Beanius have got the goods to back it up.”
So if 20 million people play King of Air guitar, and 0.2% of them were to buy the track, it would be a number one hit. For frame of reference, according to the official chart company, in it’s first week of sales last year, Kanye West’s single ‘Stronger’ sold just under 37,000 units. If this experiment is a success, is this something that King of Shaves would look to repeat in the future? Definitely, according to King:
“We could sort of be an X Factory brand, a ‘we want you to realise your dreams - convince us that you can, convince others you’re worthy - and who knows’. I like the King of Shaves & New Music angle. It appeals to me. King of Shaves has always been about ‘Important: Enjoy’ and music is a great source of enjoyment for many.”
Circumventing the traditional record company model of a band gaining exposure was always going to be a result of elimination of the barriers to creating and distributing music. Record companies say that they still have a part to play, even though the industry has moved from selling the tangible product, but if King of Air Guitar is successful, it could open the floodgates to the possibility of countless bands promoting and marketing themselves through partnership with businesses, rather than record executives. The labels used to be the tastemakers – filtering the vast volume of music available to the public so that only the best makes it through. The filters are now shifting away from the record companies, and it’s down to the people to decide if Beanius and King of Air Guitar is worth their time.
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Thanks Jon, great blog post.
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It's like the story of rise and fall of American hubris itself: once upon a time, in the heady days of 2005, Procter & Gamble decided that consumers would not be satisfied with a mere four-blade razor. So they launched Fusion, which boasted five blades and an embedded mini-vibrator, so that American men could enjoy the closest shave in the free world and then pleasure their wives, secure in the knowledge that Osama bin Laden is a hairy bastard shivering in a cave with no sex toys or women, so there. But our shaving pride came before the fall! Now that the US economy has collapsed, all these terribly expensive five-bladed razors are, like Hummers and Steve Schwarzman's birthday party, sad symbols of a nation gone astray.
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Well, so there you have it. The Gawker today posts an article on "Gillette's Folly of Five". An overpriced, overbladed 'Hummer' of a razor. See the full post (and comments) here.
Amazingly, the track from Beanius (John Tracy) is taken from their forthcoming album, 'The Folly of Five'.
How delightfully prescient.
King of Shaves Azor = Shaving Simplicity without the Cost.
Gillette Fusion = Shaving Complexity with huge Cost.
Even if I wasn't the guy behind King of Shaves, I know what razor I'd choose. Shave closer, longer, and for much less with new King of Shaves Azor!
Are YOU the King of Air Guitar? Prepare for our best game yet...
Following the outcry (quite right!!!!!) in July about the King of Shaves amAzor bus tour only taking in England, we listened to the hundreds of emails requesting a visit to Scotland, and are delighted to announce the following (confirmed) dates.
03-Oct: Glasgow, The Fort, main entrance.
04-Oct: Glasgow, Buchanan Street / Galleries, Donald Dewer main entrance.
05-Oct: Edinburgh, Fort Kinnard, Outside Boots.
06-Oct: Edinburgh, Edinburgh Bus Park / The Gyle.
08-Oct: Newcastle, Northumberland Street (plus we'll also be appearing at the Metro Centre).
I'm delighted we're also able to visit Newcastle, as given our Azor is currently available in white/black, this ties in neatly with Newcastle United's team strip!
Life, it's a funny old thing. And I love it.
i've spent the day touring London on our King of Shaves Azor 'Campaign Battlebus', and ironically, being nearly arrested by our boys in blue whilst outside Buckingham Palace in our fantastic bus. Yes, our driver Matt turned left rather than right, and yes, maybe I shouldn't have been shouting "We're tough on stealth shaving taxes...on stubble and the causes of stubble" from the roof of our amAzor bus.. Otherwise we might have escaped the Boys in Blue....
...But hey, 'Live, Love, Laugh' as my friend Patrick tells me, and we had one awesome day, dspite the King nearly getting a Royal Arrest Warrant.. Will we get fined? Possibly. Did we make the policemen laugh with our "King of Shaves without the Ransom!" Undoubtedly!
It was a great day, and I enjoyed it. As did my team! Thanks Dave G, Matt from Mum and our photographer, who's name escapes me - but i've posted some of his photo's here.
Now, onto launching shaving brands with rock bands. Almost coincidentally, amazingly, p4 in today's Times (p4) featured Peter Jones of Dragon's Den backing an indie rock band with £75,000 for 30% of their earnings.
Nice try Peter, but we've got there first, by signing new British rock band Beanius to AmazoR records, as I'm moving from shaving lives to rocking them. Full details about Beanius can be found here or here, and you can download For Free their awesome new single, John Tracy from their forthcoming album, The Folly of Five.
After I'd toured Oxford Street, Parliament Square, avoided capture outside Buck House, gone past Eros in Piccadilly Circus and arrived back at Boots flagship store at Sedley Place via Regent Street, it was time to relax a bit. With a great team around me, I'd "tiggered" enough.
So, I ended up at The Angel at Henley, with my girlfriend, pint of Guinness and thinking how interesting life is. And met Jody Starr, Freddie Starr's son. Who's just been signed by a brand we're working with, to do fantastic musical stuff this summer. And then I txtd "SC" and "NB".
But that's another story. All you need to know is our "King of Shaves Azor Rocks".
Marketing experts in the UK are wondering exactly how our King of Shaves Azor can take on Gillette Fusion with one millionth-squillionth of the spend. Well, one thing's for sure, it's not by doing things conventionally (doh!). And it's not by having a group of crocked or waning champions on our books either...
You can read an article on what one of the UK's leading marketing magazines thinks about our chances here.
The thing about 'conventional' is "that's how things have been done". Note the have. Not will. Not necessarily the best (Good old Lord Levehulme's advertising adage is in rude health).
Well, I've blogged about our Facebook 'Slingshot' campaign, that only I know the true number of ads, and the spend behind them. We've done our "fair shave" manifesto launch and the campaing BattleBus engine's ticking over, ready to hit the road shortly. We've done our first 'ultimate close shave' - the skyshave and are planning more. And we've run some 'shaving software' adverts in the weekly & monthly men's press.
But now it's going to get serious. Because in a few days, the Azor will move from 'soft-launch' at Sainsbury's to a full blown market launch backed by one of the UK's biggest and best retailers.
Who? When? To what extent? What sort of promotions? Why will it work? All these questions and more will start to become evident as our King of Shaves Azor continues to deliver a superlative performance as a product, but also marks itself as a brand that's "About YOU, not THEM". If you kick your day into play with the King of Shaves, where could YOUR life take YOU?
And that brings me to Beanius. Alternative rock may not be your thing. You may be an Abba addict, a Disco diva or simply enjoy listening to popular music. Who knows. But there is one thing about music, and Madonna sang about it on a track some years back, on her track "Music" - it brings people together. Well, Beanius are about "Music" combined with another song of hers, "Jump".
And why am I involved with Beanius. Well, their founder, Matt Bean works for me (his 'day' job is sales support executive), and he and his band (including his brother, drummer Doug, Scott Evanson, vocals and John Scott, Bass) are pretty damn good, and i thought "Well, Will - you always fancied being involved in music, dreaming of being on that yacht with Simon le Bon singing Rio, so why not do the next best thing, and launch, and maybe help manage a talented band... After all, if you wanna be a rock star, gotta shave like a King". Difficult? Sure, but hey - I'm taking on Gillette! Difficult is relative.
Madonna. 'Music'. 'Jump'. Beanius. The last British band that started with a B, ended with an S, had seven letters and comprised four members did rather well. Matt, Scott, Doug, John - let's Rock. Cue John Tracy, the debut single from their forthcoming album, 'The Folly of Five'.
Beanius. Never more than 4.
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Following their storming live performance at the stylish Hempel hotel in West London, new Brit band Beanius are poised to release John Tracy, the debut single from their first album, 'The Folly of Five'.
'John Tracy' will be available to download from their website, beanius.co.uk and iTunes from Monday 21st July 2008.
Beanius will be touring the country this summer as part of the King of Shaves amAzor razor tour, dates to be published (one firm one is 24th July, Lowestoft Airshow).
Matt Bean, founder of Beanius and lead guitarist joined shaving entrepreneur Will King's company, King of Shaves in 2008, Will heard some of his music and asked him if he could play at the launch. As well as playing the piano and scoring the event music overall, Matt arranged the music and wrote the lyrics for 'John Tracy' as well as many songs on their 'Folly of Five' album. Other band members include Scott Evanson (vocals), John Scott (Bass guitar) and Doug Bean (Matt's younger brother) on drums. Matt studied at Manchester University between 2004 - 2007.
More information prior to the Beanius band's website launch may be found on MySpace here and Facebook here.
(c) AmazoR Records 2008 All Rights Reserved. "Wanna be a Rock Star? Then shave like a King".
(c) AmazoR Records 2008, All Rights Reserved. Beanius are Matt Bean, Doug Bean, Scott Evanson & John Scott
Check out the demo for John Tracy, the debut single by new Brit band, Beanius taken from their forthcoming album, 'The Folly of Five'. Beanius was formed by Matt Bean, 21 year old son of one of my sailing mates, earlier this year.
In my opinion (and what do I know?!?!), it's The Killers meet Muse and well worth a listen, especially the chorus about John Tracy. Great to sing along to in the car!
Having checked out their MySpace page, it's already being picked up on, and although they're unsigned at the moment, I suspect, not for very long... Along with Matt on lead guitar is Scott Evanson on lead vocals, and Doug (Matt's younger brother) is the drummer. The bassist has currently not been named.
As Matt says, "Never more than 4 Beanius are born..." Genius. Watch out Razorlight. (ps - their website isn't up yet, I think it goes live on June 16th, when they release John Tracy)
