Title	TIME TO LISTEN TO YOUR T-SHIRT
Brand	STUDIO BRUSSELS
Product/Service	METAL MUSIC
Category	E05. Influencer / Talent
Entrant	MUTANT Antwerp, BELGIUM
Idea Creation	MUTANT Antwerp, BELGIUM

Name	Company	Position
Emilie Kino	Mutant	Client director
Olaf Meuleman	Mutant	Copywriter
Sophie M'Sallem	Mutant	Client manager
Odin Saillé	Mutant	Creative Director
Johan Van Oeckel	Mutant	Art director
Bert Bocanete	Mutant	Editor

Background

Heavy metal is not the easiest music in the world. But its visual style is very popular. Over the past few years T-shirts of iconic metal bands such as AC/DC, Iron Maiden and Mötorhead have become popular fashion items for anyone but metal heads. Kylie Jenner, Kim Kardashian, Gigi Hadid and many, many more have all been spotted with band shirts. The tees became even more mainstream when big retailers like H&M and Zalando started mass producing them.Instagram is flooded with selfies of babes and hunks in metal shirts (just look for #bandtee and see for yourself). Some of them even publicly bragging about the fact they don’t know a single song of the band. Belgian radio station, Studio Brussel decided to use this insight to draw a bigger crowd to its annual metal special called, The Loudest List (De Zwaarste Lijst in Dutch).

Describe the strategy

Normally brands pay influencers and celebrities fees to make sponsored content that often feels inauthentic. But since everyone loves the retro fashion and Instagram is already flooded with influencers wearing #bandtees, we decided to use this existing content. We invited those influencers to tune in to The Loudest List and finally listen to that shirt they wear. Studio Brussel wants to make sure the lovers of metal fashion give the music a chance too. We used celebrities and influencers’ popularity to build up the underdog crowd of metalheads. They actually listen to their T-shirt.

Describe the execution

We invited everyone to listen to their T-shirt in print, online and TV ads using images of real, local influencers wearing metal band shirts. On Instagram we commented on their fashion pictures by searching hashtags like #bandtee. We also took to Twitter and tagged world famous celebrities like Kendal Jenner and Justin Bieber who were spotted wearing metal band shirts. The call to action was simple: Time to listen to your T-shirt. We even proposed Zalando to only allow real fans to buy metal band shirts by making buyers do an online test before they could actually purchase the item. Here's to educating influencers about metal. If you know one, tell them to listen to their T-shirt.

List the results

Metal fans loved it, resulting in a huge buzz and a lot of listeners for the Loudest List (15% more listeners than the previous year).. But the influencers loved it too. They also got what they love most: a bit of extra attention. Next to more listeners, The Loudest List also had a more diverse listening crowd than the previous year.