Yaz birth control & The Veronicas band-brand partnership

Long before we launched d.tail we were social media geeks – ardently devoted to following social media commentators such as Paul Verna, Seth Godin and media futurist Gerd Leonhard and the man who is leading the pack when it comes to connecting with your fan base, Trent Reznor.

Coming from an artist management perspective (Paul Gildea Artist Management) and assessing the current situation in the music industry we began to find fantastic stories about unique ways artists had connected with their fans using social media and break through stories a little different to the norm.

One of the stand out stories we came across and is a great example of tactical marketing, was that of the Veronica’s band-brand partnership with Bayer birth control pill brand Yaz.

In a nutshell, Bayer were “looking for a way to connect with young women a little bit better” and wanted to establish a partnership with an artist that would bring the right personality to the table with the aim of building brand equity.

The Veronicas fitted the profile and the advertising and sponsorship deal included 2 TVCs for Yaz using The Veronicas versions of Twisted Sister’s “We’re Not Gonna Take It” and Scandal’s “Goodbye To You,” as well as a series of Yaz-sponsored online webisodes about the sisters for Yahoo Music. The third phase of the campaign includes the use of one of the Veronicas own songs “Change.”

Back in 2005 before the campaign was launched, the band were multi-platinum artists in Australia but relatively unknown in the US. Since the campaign, the first single “Untouched,” off their latest album “Hook Me Up” sold more than 1.3 million units and reached No. 17 on the Hot 100. The Veronicas were invited to tour with the Jonas Brothers and toured the US for 2 months.

The partnership has been in place for 3+ years and is considered one of the key factors that broke the Australian electro-pop band in the U.S. market.

One of the strongest insights we took away from this story was a comment by the Veronicas manager William Derella of DAS, “remember, brands will spend hundreds of millions of dollars to launch a product; a label will spend maybe a million to promote an album. If you partner with a brand, maybe they won’t use the song on your album, but you’ll get those millions of impressions for your band.”

Have a look at the full article Keynote Dissects Bayer-Veronicas Partnership, by Evie Nagy, N.Y.

JM