We created a trojan horse within the ad industry by disguising a music production house (DaHouse) as a real band ("The Client Said No") in order to give more value to the songs they produce. "The Client Said No" took songs that were composed for ads and turned them into fully fledged tracks that could be played live or listened to online. The band became a form of entertainment in its own right. One that attracted new fans and, more importantly, clients. The industry was exposed to DaHouse’s music in a fresh way, while also putting them in front of
Background
DaHouse is a music production company that composes songs for ads. But even though they are extremely talented musicians, they struggle to sell original music to clients. Why? Because the industry prefers the music of established artists - in many cases, the name speaks louder than the music. But the thing is, DaHouse ARE real artists. So, to attract more customers to the music DaHouse produce, we had an idea. If only famous bands sell songs, we’d turn DaHouse into a famous band. And we gave them a name people in the industry would remember: "The Client Said No".
Describe the creative idea
"The Client Said No" is the first band who’s entire setlist is made up of songs rejected by clients. But not only did we turn them into a band, we promoted them like a band. And targeted the exact people who would be interested in buying their music: people like you, Ad people . That's why we sent "The Client Said No" on tour, playing gigs at creative festivals and industry parties across Brazil. Soon their reputation started to grow, so they went on a world tour. By the time their 40-gig tour ended and over 650,000 Spotify streams later, they barely had a setlist left. Because new clients started contacting the band asking to use their once rejected songs in their own commercials. By creating a band that worked as a trojan horse, we proved that what matters most isn’t who made the music, it’s the music itself.
Describe the strategy
"The Client Said No" were promoted like any other mainstream band. And targeted the people that would buy their music. People in the creative industry. We gave them an image, made them a website, built PR around them, designed album covers and flyers, organised gigs, helped grow a fan base and successfully established them on social media, as well as renowned music streaming platforms. We got them gigs at creative festivals, media events and industry parties including Cannes, El Ojo, CCSP and Pixel Show. And soon their popularity started to grow.
Describe the execution
We turned DaHouse into a real band: "The Client Said No". A band whose entire setlist is made up of rejected songs. We targeted the people that would buy their music: people in the creative industry. We gave the band an image, a website, PR, album covers, organised gigs, grew a fan base and established them on social media and music streaming platforms. They became the only band where the more they played, the less tracks they had - once new clients became interested in their once rejected songs.
They grew in popularity over 18 months, becoming a moving advertisement for DaHouse. We targeted the industry in their native Brazilian ad community, and as demand grew the band played beyong borders, such as: Buenos Aires, Cannes, Milan, Venice, Vienna, Munich and Berlin and Industry shows such as Cannes Lions, El Ojo, CCSP, Pixel Show.
Describe the outcome
"The Client Said No" gained 652,000 plays on Spotify and thousands of followers on social media. Throughout the campaign, they toured nine cities (Sao Paulo, Buenos Aires, Cannes, Milan, Venice, Ljubljana, Vienna, Munich and Berlin) and played more than 40 gigs at large venues and creative festivals such as Cannes, El Ojo, CCSP and Pixel Show. We even helped them release their first album. Not to mention, every gig The Client Said No played was completely free exposure for Da House’s music. More importantly, new clients started contacting the band asking to use their once rejected songs in their commercials. For example, Outback (a huge Restaurant Chain) bought "Bones" and Elo (Credit Card company) bought "Non mi fermo Mai". Resulting in "The Client Said No" becoming the only band where the more they played, the less tracks they had.