<\/p>\n
For artists like Ariana Grande or Lady Gaga, brand collabs tied to album releases are to be expected. That hasn\u2019t been the case for indie band Bon Iver\u2014until now.<\/p>\n
For SABLE, fABLE<\/em>, the latest album from Bon Iver that was released this month, frontman Justin Vernon hosted a basketball tournament, did interviews, and greenlit a slew of brand collabs with small businesses, including tinned-fish company Fishwife on a can of Bon Iver-branded smoked salmon\u2014a product that has been called, among other things, \u201cthe weirdest brand collab ever.\u201d<\/p>\n It\u2019s an about-face from past promotions for Bon Iver\u2019s albums, the first of which was released in 2008, which have historically been just about as subdued as the mysterious and private persona Vernon has embodied in his music.<\/p>\n \u201cHe was famously always very camera-shy,\u201d Robby Morris, VP of creative marketing at Secretly Group, which oversees Bon Iver\u2019s label, Jagjaguwar, said. \u201cIt was always a good artistic challenge for us because we had to figure out ways to work around him not wanting to do tons of press and him not wanting to put his face on things.\u201d<\/p>\n With no tour on the horizon, Morris said SABLE, fABLE\u2019s<\/em> release was an opportunity for Vernon to be more involved and try something new\u2014which, in this case, meant working with more than 25 different partners to help entertain fans and nonfans alike. And no, don\u2019t consider it a cash grab. \u201cWe definitely did not enter any of these partnerships to make money, and we have not made any money,\u201d Morris said. \u201cWe may have actually lost some money on some of this.\u201d<\/p>\n What they may have lost in budget was, however, regained in community engagement and awareness via word-of-mouth marketing, which Morris said is continuing to climb. \u201cWe\u2019re seeing the results of this total 180, going from the subdued to the very in-your-face,\u201d he said. \u201cSo far, we think it\u2019s working.\u201d<\/p>\n It all started with a goal to \u201cspread the gospel of, \u2018It\u2019s not pink, it\u2019s salmon,\u2019\u201d Morris said, which was borne out of Vernon\u2019s insistence that the album cover is not, in fact, pink. With brand partnerships, there were plenty of opportunities beyond selling tinned salmon, including salmon-colored roses with the Brooklyn-based floral boutique Rosehip Social, salmon-colored notebooks with stationary brand Field Notes, and a salmon-colored old fashioned with Settle Down Tavern in Vernon\u2019s native Wisconsin.<\/p>\n The small-business collabs \u201ctook on a bit of a life of its own,\u201d Morris acknowledged, with 10 North American and 14 international brand and restaurant partners in total.<\/p>\n Amanda Colbenson, creative and experiential marketing director at Secretly Group, who also worked on the album promotion, said each collab came from a desire to display \u201ctongue-in-cheekiness\u201d rather than deliver on any financial ROI.<\/p>\n Marketing Brew informs marketing pros of the latest on brand strategy, social media, and ad tech via our weekday newsletter, virtual events, marketing conferences, and digital guides.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n \u201cWe weren\u2019t going into this like, \u2018Oh, we\u2019re gonna sell so many salmon-colored pastries, we\u2019re gonna be millionaires,\u2019\u201d she said. \u201cIt was like, \u2018What is a funny thing we could do that\u2019s unexpected where we tap into the local Bon Iver community globally?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n Some of the SABLE, fABLE<\/em> promotion strategies borrowed from past album marketing successes. When Morris began working with Bon Iver on the 2019 album I,I<\/em>, Jagjaguwar put its effort into listening events for fans, which ended up being such a success for community engagement that they hosted another round of listening parties called \u201cfABLE sPACEs\u201d this time around.<\/p>\n The basketball tournament, on the other hand, was brand-new. Jagjaguwar and Bon Iver presented an event called \u201cLive Inside This State Fair\u201d in LA earlier this month, which featured not only games (that Vernon played in), but also food vendors and raffles benefiting Bon Iver\u2019s 2 A Billion campaign for gender equity.<\/p>\n \u201cInstead of playing a secret show somewhere, why not host a basketball tournament with your friends and invite fans along to drink some free iced coffee and eat some hamburgers and listen to a brass band?\u201d Morris said. \u201cIt\u2019s messing with the formula a bit.\u201d<\/p>\n There was a risk in trying a variety of new strategies and not having one cohesive campaign narrative, Colbenson said. (Safe to say that some online didn\u2019t follow the correlation between the album and Vernon\u2019s hooping skills.)<\/p>\n \u201cThe question was, \u2018Will people get it?\u2019\u201d she said. \u201cWill they embrace it even though it isn\u2019t a traditional way of marketing something or telling a story?\u201d<\/p>\n Even though SABLE, fABLE<\/em> has had a more commercial rollout than albums past, Colbenson said she\u2019s optimistic that it hasn\u2019t alienated longtime listeners. \u201cHopefully fans see it\u2019s not like, \u2018Oh, he\u2019s selling out. He\u2019s got his Field Notes now,\u2019\u2019 she said. \u201cIt really is just having fun with all of this.\u201d<\/p>\n Speaking of sell-outs, though, the Fishwife and Todd Snyder collabs both did\u2014as did the limited-edition Earl of East candle listed on Bon Iver\u2019s webstore. Based on that, online chatter, and streaming numbers (SABLE, fABLE <\/em>debuted at No. 11 on the Billboard 200), Morris said the strategy overall was a risk worth taking.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve seen people who aren\u2019t big fans of Bon Iver talking about these things that we\u2019re doing\u2014just the sheer amount of press and interest we\u2019ve gotten\u2026has been great,\u201d he said. \u201cWe\u2019re seeing better, way better streaming numbers than we did for the last record.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\nFor salmon, forever ago<\/strong><\/h2>\n
Get marketing news you’ll actually want to read<\/h5>\n
\u201cMessing with the formula\u201d<\/strong><\/h2>\n