Friday, May 15, 2015

B.B. — THE KING OF THE BLUES

By Anne Zeiser, founder/CEO, Azure Media
author Transmedia Marketing: From Film and TV to Games and Digital Media


In 2003 I had the great fortune to design and manage the marketing, engagement, and transmedia strategy for Martin Scorsese Presents the Blues — a week-long  film festival that fired on air, online, in print, in schools, and on the road. As the torch bearer for the music genre, B.B. King was instrumental to the project, appearing in the ad campaign (above), performing in the Radio City Music Hall concert and concert film, and donning the cover of Parade magazine the Sunday before the series premiered on PBS. King was a consummate professional, had an enormously generous spirit, and transmitted his love of humanity and music to everyone he touched. 
As a tribute to him, I share a bit about The Blues project, the largest of its kind about blues music.The project is summarized below and will be one of several vibrant teaching case studies in the upcoming book, Transmedia Marketing: From Film and TV to Games and Digital Media, a new title on transmedia storytelling and entertainment engagement from Focal Press in the American Film Market® Presents book series.

The Blues Executive Summary

By the turn of the twentieth century, the supremely American music genre—the blues—had suffered a downward slide in popularity and was underacknowledged for its profound influence on virtually all music—soul, country, rock ’n’ roll, hiphop, and jazz. While a handful of blues legends remained, very few recognizable younger artists represented the next blues generation. Blues music sales were down and the genre was often combined with other categories to form hybrids with broader appeal. Common perception was that the blues was a nearly defunct, sad, and overly simplistic art form that spoke only to African Americans.
To change all that, on September 28, 2003, Martin Scorsese Presents the Blues—a week-long primetime film festival broadcast of seven impressionistic independent documentary films—each directed by a different film visionary including Martin Scorsese, Wim Wenders, Clint Eastwood, Mark Levin, Richard Pearce, Mike Figgis, and Charles Burnett—premiered nationally on PBS. Produced by Vulcan Productions and Road Movies, executive produced by Martin Scorsese, and sponsored by Volkswagen, the TV series anchored a cross-platform media project—on air, online, in print, in schools, and on the road—designed to raise awareness of the blues and its contribution to American culture and music. In addition to the TV series featuring scores of blues and music greats, The Blues cross-platform project included a content-rich Web site on PBS.org; a 13-part companion radio series distributed by Pubic Radio International; a companion book by HarperCollins; a high-profile concert at Radio City Music Hall; a theatrically-released concert film directed by Antoine Fuqua; a cadre of music CDs and DVDs/videos from Sony and Universal; a traveling museum exhibit by Experience Music Project; high school music and social studies curriculum; and an extensive “On the Road” grassroots tour of film, music, and cultural events.
To capture the authentic emotional resonance of the blues, The Blues took to the road and to the people with “The Year of the Blues.” Kicking off in early 2003 with the Congressional Proclamation and a landmark, star-studded concert at Radio City Music Hall with 50+ artists, “The Year of the Blues” was celebrated “On the Road” with a national schedule of 120+ high-profile and grassroots film, music, and heritage events. The Blues cross-platform media event crescendoed in the fall with the TV series and was amplified by immense media coverage and buzz. Throughout, The Blues was supported by a massive awareness campaign with music icons such as B.B. King, Bonnie Raitt, and Mick Jagger and newer artists such as Chris Thomas King, Shemekia Copeland, and Chuck D. In tandem with the grassroots tour, the campaign included media relations; TV, radio, print, online, and mobile advertising; online and guerrilla marketing; on-air, in-store, and in-flight promotion; and strategic partnerships with American Airlines, House of Blues, W Hotels, Best Buy, Barnes & Noble, Experience Music Project, and the Blues Foundation. The project reached music and film aficionados, cultural leaders, educators, the press, Hollywood, and Capitol Hill. The Blues was the “can’t miss” media event of the fall of 2003, creating a true cultural awakening and resurgence of the blues.
One of the most extensive awareness campaigns in PBS’ history, The Blues garnered 1.7 billion positive media impressions via publicity, online marketing, events, and on-air and online promotion. It delivered 1.2+ billion impressions via traditional media coverage, 113 million online, and 2+ million on the ground, through the project’s “On the Road” tour.
As many as 60 million people intersected with The Blues media components, including 19.5 million TV viewers in the first week of broadcast and 20 million unique Web visitors to the project site in the first three weeks. The project also created lasting cultural impact, reaching key target audiences including 50,000 high school teachers and 1 million students who would study, celebrate, and play the blues for years to come. And, it reached numerous social, media, and political influencers in Congress, in Hollywood, and at cultural events — from the Kennedy Center to the Cannes Film Festival. Finally, The Blues project lifted the blues music genre and its artists, generating an overall 40 percent uptick in the sales of blues CDs, a staggering 500 percent increase among key retailers in the few weeks after the project’s launch, and the donation of revenue to The Blues Foundation for aging artists.

Popular interest in roots music [has] grown in recent years, especially after . . . The Blues.—The New York Times (3/21/04)

More About Transmedia Marketing

Transmedia Marketing: From Film and TV to Games and Digital Media, skillfully guides media makers and media marketers through the rapidly changing world of entertainment and media marketing. Its groundbreaking transmedia approach integrates storytelling and marketing content creation across multiple media platforms – harnessing the power of audience to shape and promote your story.
Through success stories, full color examples of effective marketing techniques in action, and insight from top entertainment professionals, Transmedia Marketing covers the fundamentals of a sound 21st century marketing and content plan. You’ll master the strategy behind conducting research, identifying target audiences, setting goals, and branding your project. And, you’ll learn first-hand how to execute your plan’s publicity, events, advertising, trailers, digital and interactive content, and social media.
Transmedia Marketing pioneers the powerful idea that successful entertainment projects must blend storytelling and marketing across multiple platforms. Creatives, business execs, and marketers alike will devour this book’s clear guidance and real-world examples of how to shape a project so audiences will love it, participate in it, and share it.
Linda Reisman, Producer, Jeepers Creepers, Affliction, The Danish Girl 
Transmedia Marketing is an in-depth, authoritative, and extremely timely survey of multi-platform marketing in the age of pervasive communications. Anne Zeiser has a unique understanding of the vital role that narrative plays in connecting a mass audience with your content or brand, and her advice for how to close that circuit is some of the best I've seen. There is more than a little bit of secret sauce contained in this book.
Jeff Gomez, CEO, Starlight Runner Entertainment; Transmedia Producer, Avatar, Pirates of the Caribbean, Tranformers, The Amazing Spider-Man, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Halo, Hot Wheels
[One of] the best books for those interested in storytelling, play and design. 
Lance Weiler, storytelling pioneer, “40 Must Read Books on Story, Play, and Design,” Culture Hacker
Anne Zeiser has earned the industry’s respect by taking a strategic approach to everything she does, and this book is no exception. It takes full advantage of Anne's deep experience and expertise in 21st century transmedia marketing.
Lesli Rotenberg, Senior Vice President, PBS Marketing and Communications







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