Sony’s Clever FONJie Marketing Campaign Redefines What The ARIA Chart Can Be - Noise11.com
John Farnham and Olivia Newton-John Friends for Christmas

Sony’s Clever FONJie Marketing Campaign Redefines What The ARIA Chart Can Be

by Paul Cashmere on December 20, 2016

in News,Noise Pro

It wasn’t coincidence or luck that put the John Farnham & Olivia Newton-John Christmas album at the top ARIA chart this week. It was a carefully planned marketing strategy and the plan was game-changing.

In recent years the ARIA chart has been in a state of flux, struggling to keep up with the changing consumer habits of the music fan.

The three digital charts, Shazam, Spotify and iTunes give the industry a much faster read on audience behaviours. That has left the slow-to-react ARIA chart behind.

Radio programmers look to the three digital charts to track what their audience is doing today as opposed to studying the ARIA chart, which tells them what the audience was reacting to a week or two ago. In competitive radio, that is too slow.

Years ago, ARIA started to include download sales with its physical sales data. That bought the chart back to reflecting current consumer reactions. After all, a sale is a sale, the format was irrelevant. Then a year ago ARIA added streaming to the data and the whole thing went pear-shaped.

A consumer sale is a cash commitment to a song and the artist by the fan. A consumer stream is a non-committal. If it doesn’t eventually lead to a sale then it is more about curiosity than commitment.

Sony planned for the Farnham & Newton-John album to be number one from day one. When the album was conceived, it was built to be Christmas chart-topper. However, for the two heritage artists, that posed a challenge.

Reaching the fan-base to tell them a release like this was out is not easy. Farnham and Newton-John’s fans generally listen to talk radio or oldies stations, neither of which would play their new music.

Farnham and Newton-John would need to make themselves available to talk up this release and promotion Farnham is reluctant to do. Sony got them to commit to face-to-face promotion to drive the sales.

Sony then devised a cunning stunt to mass market the word. 6000 copies of the album were funnelled though a Sunday tabloid marketing campaign but instead of giving the CDs away, the fans bought them for $2 a pop.

Because the discs were sold, not given away, they counted towards the chart. The profile from the campaign also lifted awareness of the release leading to further sales. In the same week, Farnham & Newton-John were taxied from radio station to radio station and television station to television station to talk up the release during the active sales week of the coupon campaign. It was the most promotion either act had done for a new release in decades.

The saturation campaign worked and the album reached the number one spot with a gap of more than the 6000 cheapies and with a few hundred to spare making it a bonafide chart-topper.

That one exercise has redefined what the ARIA can be. Instead of being last week’s news this week, FONJie’s ‘Friends for Christmas’ has reflected the best marketing campaign of the week via its ARIA chart presence and that is something unique to the music industry.

The iTunes chart reflects commitment. The Spotify chart reflects listening habits. The Shazam chart reflects interest. If more labels, artists and managers adopt Sony’s brilliant, out-of-the box strategy, the ARIA chart could once again rule as a fresh reflection of the industries creative thinking.

Noise11.com
The X Studio

Related Posts

The Beatles Australasian Tour 1964
New Beatles Book Marks 60 Years Since The Australian Tour

A new book on The Beatles by Andy Neill and Greg Armstrong is focused on The Beatles one and only ever Australian tour from back in 1964.

1 day ago
The Who Roger Daltrey. Photo by Ros O'Gorman
Roger Daltrey Closes Princes Trust 2024 Event With Plant, Vedder, Weller

Closing a week of incredible shows last night was Ovation - A Celebration of 24 Years of gigs for Teenage Cancer Trust, a show featuring Roger Daltrey’s friends and fans, many of those who helped establish these gigs as a celebrated annual event: Roger himself, alongside Kelly Jones, Robert Plant with Saving Grace, Eddie Vedder and Paul Weller.

4 days ago
Deep Purple: Photo By Ros O'Gorman
Deep Purple Reveal UK Dates For End of 2024

Deep Purple are hitting the road this November.

March 20, 2024
Roger Daltrey and Pete Townshend, The Who. photo by Ros O'Gorman
Roger Daltrey To Do Most Acoustic Tour of UK

Roger Daltrey has announced a "mostly acoustic" solo tour this summer.

March 20, 2024
Crosby, Stills & Nash - Photo By Ros O'Gorman
Todd Rundgren, Rickie Lee Jones To Play Crosby, Stills & Nash Tribute Show In New York

A tribute show to Crosby, Stills & Nash is planned for May with Todd Rundgren and Rickie Lee Jones just two of the star lined up to perform.

March 18, 2024
Smokey Robinson, Noise11, Photo
Smokey Robinson Could Be In For Glastonbury

Smokey Robinson is being lined up for his first Glastonbury headline slot.

March 14, 2024
The Doors Alive
The Doors Alive To Return To Australia In October

Since 2008 The Doors Alive have been performing the music of The Doors with around 200 performances in 20 countries over that time.

March 12, 2024