A new campaign from Jack Daniel’s, created by Yahoo, is giving Australian music fans the chance to collect exclusive digital music amongst a range of prizes in a huge next-generation music drop in the streets.
The Australian-first Jack Daniel’s Music Drop campaign heroes Australian artists Winston Surfshirt, Stand Atlantic, and Psychedelic Porn Crumpets. Fans are challenged to visit various locations and use their smartphones to collect virtual record crates to win exclusive Digital Pressings. One player will win a trip to the home of Jack Daniel’s in Tennessee USA.
Exclusive artist content offered only in the Jack Daniel’s Music Drop game is delivered to audiences via ‘AR drops’ at chosen timings and locations throughout major Australian cities. Players can then visit these locations and collect virtual crates by scanning them with their smartphones, which can be used to win prizes, points to redeem artist Digital Pressings publishable to Opensea, and Jack Daniel’s drink vouchers redeemable online at participating outlets.
The campaign was facilitated by Starcom from their Open Brief program last year, with Yahoo as the eventual winner. The campaign was created by Yahoo Creative Studios, which worked closely with digital music specialists Serenade and augmented reality experts SmartMedia Technologies.
The campaign will be promoted using Yahoo’s DSP, with a Digital Out of Home campaign across Australian capital cities ‘where music lives’. It will also be supported by high impact native targeted to capture the relevant audience and entice them into the game. Further, this campaign will see support from a large social influencer campaign.
Mediaweek spoke to Zoe Cocker, Director Yahoo Creative Studio, about bringing the campaign to life.
Zoe Cocker
“We have Starcom to massively thank for their Open Pitch concept that they came up with last year, where they decided they were going to get deeper with some of their clients and really get under the hood of their brand challenges,” says Cocker.
“It really played into everything that we’ve been doing. We were so excited, and we were pitted against all of our amazing competitors and had to stand up in this environment and pitch against the whole industry – which was quite exciting, down to the Shark Tank style experience. That was the first time that the client had seen what we pulled together and what we’d worked on with Starcom.”
Having won the Open Pitch over a year ago, the campaign is officially being sent out into the world on Monday. “It’s been such an amazing journey, and it’s been a real collaboration,” says Cocker.
When it came to actually putting the campaign together, Cocker says that Yahoo were very aware that “real life experiences are something that people crave and value.”
“The campaign has longevity as well. Because we’re utilising web3 tech, we’re creating a digital wallet for Jack Daniels. In turn, we’re creating that digital wallet for consumers and fans, so they can go around and they can collect things like behind the scenes videos or exclusive artwork, voice notes from the band, as well as the digital pressings of the music as well.
“There’s this constant re-engagement cycle, and Jack Daniels are participating in that and offering that value to consumers, as well as being the brand of choice and offering things like vouchers and a trip to Tennessee. It’s a true integration and playing into that digital native mindset.”
The treasure hunt is built around web3, a platform that Yahoo Creative Studio knows well. With the Jack Daniel’s campaign officially out there, Cocker says that there is a bright future for brands wanting to utilise web3.
“We’ve been on this journey for two years now, and we’ve really seen the web3 hype cycle come to its absolute pinnacle. I’m quite grateful that we’ve gone through that – it was the word on everybody’s tongues, and now all the people that were running at it for the wrong reasons or short-term fame have faded away. We’re left with a really good stable of brands and products that are actually in it for the long run, which is amazing. They’re capitalising on the key themes that web3 really offers
“Web3 is amazing, but it’s not at its huge scale point, so you do need these big web2 players to help bridge the gap. Yahoo is the best place to do that, because we understand the web3 world, and we’re a huge player in the web2 world. It’s great to bring those two together.”
See Also: Yahoo’s Elizabeth Herbst-Brady on the future of digital marketing in Australia and overseas