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It seems the days of hyping an artist’s record in the months prior to its release may be over. With the immense success of Beyonce’s latest surprise album, it’s clear that there may be a shift in the publicity strategies musicians employ when releasing new music. Beyonce ditched the traditional album-release PR strategy by not promoting at all beforehand. The entire Bey camp managed to keep the 14-track album (which also includes 17 videos filmed in various locations around the world) a complete secret. No leaks, no accidental footage, no sneak peeks, absolutely nothing.

Instead, the surprise self-titled album was released early last Friday morning at 12 a.m. without any warning. The rest was left to fans, who frantically went on a downloading spree — causing iTunes to temporarily shut down from the strain. Beyonce sold a record setting 450,000 digital copies of her album in just one day.

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The results could also be seen throughout social media networks. When the album went live on iTunes, Beyonce posted an Instagram stop-motion video of the visual album with a simple caption underneath reading “Surprise!” The Instagram post alone has garnered over 541,000 likes and over 40,000 comments over a 3-day span. Twitter saw an incredible spike in mentions, with a reported 1.2 million #Bey related tweets in just 12 hours. Smart publicity stunt or just plain smart?

As we’ve seen with a number of artists this year, from Miley Cyrus to Lady Gaga, most are turning toward digital methods of publicity –creating hype in order to promote their album. Miley’s controversial VMA performance lead to hundreds, if not thousands, of viral parody videos, GIFs, memes, blog posts, etc. Memes and GIFs aside, her twerk-filled performance at the VMAs also significantly increased her followers on Twitter, likes on Facebook and her name’s search volume on Google. Miley’s official YouTube account saw a 52% increase in popularity after the performance.

On October 8th, just 6 weeks after her infamous VMA performance, Miley Cyrus released her fourth studio album ‘Bangerz’.  In the first week of its release, Bangerz sold 270,000 copies. As of December 2013, Bangerz has sold 503,000 copies in the US. The numbers are good, but they come nowhere near Beyonce’s.

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Lady Gaga is notoriously known for creating a media stir – whether it’s her lyrics, fashion, or music videos. Gaga jumped on the digital bandwagon by releasing her ARTPOP app prior to the release of her ARTPOP album. Gaga paired with mobile developer Relative Wave to create the app, which is intended to engage her fans, allow them to communicate between one another, and provide updates in the world of Gaga. The menu has four options: ArtHaus, ARTPOP (a link that takes you to the iTunes store to download the album), Trakstar and GagaTV, which won’t be available until 2014 (a great ploy to keep users glued to the app and engaged in the Gaga world). Gaga’s ARTPOP was released on November 6th and sold 258,000 copies its first week. Not bad, right? But compared to Beyonce, it’s still weak.

Apart from the numbers, what distinguishes Beyonce’s album release sales between Lady Gaga’s, Katy Perry’s (who sold 268,000 in one week) and Miley Cyrus’ sales? The publicity strategy. In comparison to Gaga, Katy and Miley –all of whom employed classic publicity tactics – Beyonce clearly surpassed both numbers in less than a week with a unique approach.

You might immediately think: “What publicity plan? She did nothing!”

Now, now.. let’s not underestimate the amount of planning and strategy that went into this bold and creative move.

As much as we’d like to give credit to Beyonce, this endeavour is not a solo project. Beyonce definitely has a solid team of publicists and marketing experts who are managing her key messaging, publicity efforts and execution of this album launch. As much as it may not seem like an aggressive publicity campaign, make no mistake: it is. The difference? All external publicity is done post album release – and this is what separates her campaign from her competitors’ campaigns. We applaud Bey and her team for the innovative strategy.

Artists shouldn’t go out and copy Beyonce’s strategy and expect the same results, however. The copy-and-paste publicity strategy that the music industry embraces certainly needed a shake-up, but that doesn’t mean the disruption stops here.  A lot of time went into executing this strategy, and it’s certainly working in Beyonce’s favour. It has been hard to engage in any media consumption this past week without hearing Bey mentioned not to mention the album sales to date (Bey’s album has already sold 828,773 copies worldwide).

Nobody expected a stunt like this (nor did they expect the album to do well — see this article written the day her album was released) which is exactly what is needed for success. Keeping the public guessing and disrupting the norm continues to be the best and effective way to achieve your publicity goals.

With the mounting competition in all industries (not just entertainment), the copy-and-paste publicity and marketing strategies no longer make the cut. Disruptive innovation combined with clever strategy are the only true tactics for survival. Just ask Beyonce.

*READER DISCLAIMER: album figures may vary, as numbers are sourced from time of article writing.

Rob Ford in all his close-up glory
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In light of Rob Ford’s recent confession to smoking crack cocaine, we decided to write about how his train-wreck of a impromptu press conference could have been diverted from disastrous to passable. After a short discussion, we realized that he made the situation much worse simply by the way he presented it (click the link to watch the press conference). We can use Ford as an example for any communications crisis/disaster by explaining different ways that it can be dealt with. Preserving at least a shred of the company’s or person’s dignity in a PR disaster such as this one is key. Even when it seems impossible to do so, such as Mayor Rob Ford’s case, there are still ways to soften the blow (or crack).

Communications crises and disasters are inevitable at some point or another. It’s knowing how to deal with them accordingly and ‘saving face’ that makes a scandal less…well…scandalous. 

Step 1: Admitting the problem - Imagine how differently Mayor Rob Ford’s press conference would have gone if he had shifted focus from his crack-smoking video to him publicly admitting that he has an alcohol problem and that he will be seeking help. Temporarily leaving his position as Mayor while he is ‘recovering’ also would have helped greatly. By simply blaming it on a ‘drunken stupor,’ he gives absolutely zero gravity to the situation. Calling your ex and yelling at them is something that happens in a drunken stupor. A mayor of a city caught smoking crack on video is a problem. You will still be held accountable, of course – there’s no way you can get around that. But at least you have admitted your problem to the public and shown them that you are human with imperfections and mistakes.

Step 2: Owning up to the problem – It seems as if the mayor spent most the press conference bashing the reporters for asking the wrong questions and claiming that he did not lie to them at any point in the past. As if he’s trying to blame the reporters for his mistake, Mayor Rob Ford is trying to shift focus from him denying allegations to the fact that the reporters were at fault by not asking the right question. He admits to making mistakes, but it becomes overshadowed by his blaming the reporters. By owning up to his problems and being completely honest with the public on a more humbling level, he could have saved some respect (not much, but some). What else can be said when you tell people “I did this, and therefore I will be held accountable for my actions,” Sure, you’ll still be viewed negatively, but you’ll be saving some face.

Step 3: Lay low - If you’ve admitted your problem and owned up to your problem, then you’ve got a good chance to recover from the publicity mess. However, we recommend you lay low for a while and let the dust (insert another crack pun) settle before coming back out into the public eye. At this point, stepping down or temporarily leaving his position is Mayor Rob Ford’s only chance to survive this scandal.

Google yourself: Carefully search through every result that comes up in each different tab (Web, Images, Video, etc) and target what you want to remove from the search. Sometimes a nasty comment you posted on a Youtube video will come back to haunt you as the first result on the video search. If your Google account is linked with your Youtube account, all you have to do is remove the comment. Otherwise, retrieve your login information, sign into that old account and remove the comment.

Facebook: If you don’t want your Facebook page to show up when you’re searched, it’s extremely easy to hide it without deactivating your account. Simply go into your privacy settings, and turn off the feature that asks “Do you want other search engines to link to your timeline?” If you want to be extra sure that it won’t show up, change your username that shows up on the address bar, which is oftentimes set by default as your first and last name.

Old Accounts: Don’t worry about your old Myspace account: they went ahead and did the work for you. With Myspace’s rebranding, all of the accounts that were under the “Classic” Myspace have been erased. Your angsty teenage blog posts are gone forever (which can definitely be a good thing). If you have any other accounts still showing up, try accessing that account by retrieving your login information. Once you’re in the account, you can delete it. If you can’t remember your login information and have no way of retrieving it, simply contact the webmaster or customer service on the site and talk to someone about getting the account deleted.

Bad publicity: If someone posts an unflattering picture of you or writes something that would damage your reputation, you can send them a polite e-mail asking to remove the content. Do not make any legal threats, as that could make the situation worse. If the person or site still refuses to remove the content you can contact Google’s content removal page and submit a request to have a specific search result be removed. Although the content is still there, it won’t show up on Google. The only issue with this, however, is that it could still be visible on other search engines. But if the content is truly awful or gives out your personal information, you’ll go the extra mile to get it removed.

Don’t use your name: For future reference, keep the blogs or accounts that you want private under an alias. If you comment on videos or blogs, make sure that’s anonymous as well. 5 years down the road you could regret that one angry comment about an article you disagreed with.

Sources:

http://www.wikihow.com/Ungoogle-Yourself

http://www.waysto.com/ways-to-ungoogle-yourself/

http://howto.wired.com/wiki/Un-Google_Yourself

When it comes to brand awareness and fundraising, charities and non-profits are faced with a daunting task these days. We’re seeing a shift in the demographic of donors, making it extremely important to target new audiences in order to expose them to organizations they may not be aware of.

In today’s congested world of advertising, it’s hard to make noise among a sea of ads and direct mail campaigns: geared to draw interest and new supporters. Younger generations aren’t taking the time to read through the extensive materials an organization puts together, and they’re certainly not consuming content in traditional ways. It’s important to embrace the disruption happening within this market, and one way to do so is with effective public relations.

PR is often considered an add-on to non-profit campaigns, as many organizations have not had a chance to see its true effectiveness. Having worked recently with organizations like The Starlight Children’s Foundation and Pants Off For Prostate Cancer (click to see image galleries of events EDPR assisted with), we at Embrace Disruption PR have a firm grasp on how to execute a strong non-profit PR campaign.

Here are a few of the PR tactics we use to build awareness for non-profits in order attract a new wave of donors and supporters:

Publicity

Perhaps the most traditional of tactics, publicity can help get your organization in top tier news outlets. Whether it’s to publicize an upcoming event, or shed light on a touching story – PR firms and agencies can assist in getting you on your market’s top television shows, newspapers and magazines. It’s important to note: publicity doesn’t end with securing stories in traditional outlets, it should be inclusive of blogs and other content sources. In today’s landscape, fewer and fewer people are consuming content in it’s physical format – they’re looking online. Think about your research habits – you’re more likely to examine topics that matter to you through online tactics like search engines, blogs/websites and social media, right? That brings us to our next approach.

Social Media

Building meaningful relationships with like-minded influencers and supporters online can prove to be invaluable. It’s probable that many of your supporters are already actively online, talking about your brand or cause. You should be part of the conversation too – always go where your audience is. PR firms can use their established relationships with influential people online, and also build new relevant relationships to help promote and publicize your organization in one of the world’s most digestible content formats. Remembering that the exposure rate for social networking can be endless, having a strong social strategy and presence can be detrimental to building your organization’s awareness.

Blog

If your organization (or PR firm) isn’t blogging regularly, they should be. What better way to control your messaging and communicate to audiences beyond your traditional reach. Showing up in search engines more prominently with quality content can make the difference between a new donation, ticket purchase or even volunteer (elements non-profits can’t ever have enough of).

Sponsorship & Partners

Oftentimes, PR agencies and firms represent or know a variety of businesses that are actively looking for ways to align themselves with charities or non-profits that are meaningful to their organization. Finding opportunities to create special benefits, in-kind donations, sponsorships, conferences, races, galas, and contesting are definitely within the realm of a PR firm’s abilities.

Ambassador Campaigns

Another fantastic addition to your public relations efforts includes securing notable individuals and celebrities to act as spokespeople for your non-profit organization. Most PR firms have strong relationships with talent and talent management, which allows them to identify perfect matches for your publicity engagements or public service announcements. PR pros will often find opportunities to place these spokespeople within media (both traditional and non), as well as in speaking engagements and at events.

With millions of impressions garnered through traditional and non-traditional PR tactics, we’ve managed to build out incredible campaigns for our non-profit clients. If you’d like to chat more about what we can do for your organization, please don’t hesitate to send us an email or call us at (416) 963.9857 – we are based out of Toronto and our reach is nationwide.