Tyler, the Creator: Marketing Professor?
Hi!
I’m going to talk with you about Tyler, the Creator, and the release of his new album.
Why?
Because I got in my car this morning to take the boy to school and he spent the 20-minute ride between 3 things:
Asking me if I liked the new Tyler, the Creator album.
Talking about Tyler’s release strategy.
Questioning me if the strategy was valid from a marketing education standpoint.
If you haven’t had a chance to listen to Cormac before, he came on the podcast a few years ago to talk about marketing sports.
He also went to homecoming on Saturday.
Very spiffy!
Let’s talk about Tyler, the Creator.
The Wall Street Journal covered the release today.
This piece sums up how the release went down and some of the structural reasons albums all drop on Fridays.
Cormac talked about Tyler wanting to release the album after the weekend because people aren’t really listening.
This in an intangible thing, but think about your own life and what you are up to on the weekend:
Watching a college football game, maybe? Roll Tide!
Keeping an eye on the Premier League? Spurs spit the bit.
Driving your son all over for homecoming. I’m a driver now.
That’s me.
There might be something here.
The point that Tyler was making was he spent a ton of time creating the album.
So, he wanted to give people a chance to experience it the first time when they would be in a better headspace to hear it.
I have 3 points that I will make about the release that matter to you no matter what kind of tickets you are selling.
Know Your Audience:
Tyler, the Creator, knows that his audience isn’t actively listening on the weekend.
Tuesday is the second most popular streaming day on Spotify.
Go figure.
By knowing his audience was engaged in activities during the weekend that would distract them from giving his release their full attention, Tyler changed his approach.
He released the album at a time when people would be able to give it more attention.
Monday at 6 AM.
What does this mean to you?
First, it will help you fight the tendency to make assumptions.
When you know your customers, you avoid the idea that you know “exactly what people want”.
Second, you can make a better offer to people by offering them something they want, when they want it.
Third, knowing your customer helps you step away from “the way we’ve always done things this way” thinking that traps too many ticketeers.
Second, be agile.
Cormac laid out the entire Tyler, the Creator launch strategy in the car this morning.
He talked about how Tyler started promoting the release 11 days ago.
He shared how every day, he had something new, either a video, a song, or a visual.
He impressed on me the idea that releasing an album at a non-traditional moment would help get people’s attention.
These are all great points about the importance of having a launch strategy.
I point out the haphazard way many launches are handled often.
A team drops the schedule in the middle of the season.
An orchestra releases everything with little buildup: “ON SALE NOW!”
Nothing builds on each other leading to the launch date.
Third, Launch Strategy Matters:
You can improve your launches with three steps:
Have a plan for every day leading to your launch. A surprise drop works for Beyonce, Taylor Swift, and some rare Air Jordans. The rest of us need to have a plan. 11 days like Tyler. 30 days, minimum, for most of us.
Follow an 80/20 strategy: 80% of your effort should happen in the pre-launch or launch phase. After, it is too late.
Emotion sells: Benefits, focus on the benefits.
The plan I teach in my classes and workshops has been on my mind for the last week or so because I got some new numbers from my son’s soccer club where I sit on the board.
For our fall programs, we grew the number of kids we served by nearly 30%.
This is great.
What’s better?
This is built on a foundation of a jump of around 25% the year before due to a focused launch schedule.
I believe we now serve about 10,000 kids in the DC area.
The framework is no different than what I taught above:
Each program has a 30-45 pre-launch window.
Every day has a specific activity or activities that build excitement, engage the target audience, and concentrates attention on the new program.
All activity is focused on an overwhelming launch.
After the launch, we still offer the programs, but the attention moves to the next program.
It isn’t hard.
Tyler, the Creator, is doing something similar as he has moved from the release of the album to promote his upcoming tour dates including April 1st in DC.
How do I know?
Cormac told me.
That’s some good marketing.
In your organization, remember this:
Know your audience. They will tell you what they want or need.
Be willing to adjust. “The way we’ve always done things” is your enemy.
Your launch strategy matters. Even if it is 11 days like Tyler, the Creator, you want to build to the launch.
What do you think?
Hit reply and let me know.
Dave
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