Marking a moment with BBC Music

nick.hearne

Last week, BBC Music unveiled a landmark musical moment across its television, radio and online networks, as 27 internationally acclaimed artists from a broad array of musical genres performed an extraordinary reworking of The Beach Boys’ classic song ‘God Only Knows’.

The film marked the official launch of BBC Music, an ambitious wave of new music initiatives that amount to the BBC’s strongest commitment to music in 30 years, and We Are Social was delighted to be a part of it.

Across social channels, a teaser phase kicked off the campaign as excitement built around a mysterious event coming to the BBC. This video was top secret. Everyone involved knew the importance of discretion throughout the project; I managed to not even tell my wife, my children, hairdresser or psychiatrist. Teaser content ran across the BBC’s own social platforms, including Twitter, Facebook and Instagram, as well as on music talent and BBC talent’s social channels, all under the hashtag #LoveBBCMusic.

Co-ordinating a social media strategy across 50+ platforms, we worked with the BBC to make sure the social media community had every chance to hear about the event. The momentum quickly picked up, and soon social channels were full of anticipation (and a bit of One Direction hysteria (ermahgerd Harrehh!!!)) as the date of the big reveal drew closer.

On the day of the broadcast, 7th October, we were generating content for social channels right up until the last minute – given the secrecy surrounding the video, it was important that timings were kept tight to minimize the chance of any leaks. At 8pm, every channel, from BBC One to BBC Radio 6 Music, BBC iPlayer to BBC Radio Cornwall, joined forces in the very first pan-channel roadblock broadcast. Simultaneously, all the BBC’s social channels changed their headers to mark the momentous occasion.

BBCSkins

When the video finally aired, artists took to Twitter to help the BBC spread the hype even further, and encourage repeat viewing.

To keep conversation going and broaden the event’s reach, we created sharable assets; including a set of very cool GIFs (I could watch the Dave Grohl airgrab on loop forever). Of course, social channels gave the incredible video the response it deserved, and soon #LoveBBCMusic was trending in the UK – with God Only Knows trending globally! We focused on making sure conversation about the film stayed focused on BBC Music, and driving people to www.bbc.co.uk/music.

DaveG.1

StevieW

Post by BBC Radio 2.

 
All in all, it’s been an amazing, sometimes stressful and always exhilarating experience to work closely with BBC Music and Karmarama on such an historic and momentous project. We loved it – and we’re delighted to see we’re not the only ones. *Celebratory Dave Grohl airgrab*

God Only Knows has been released in aid of BBC Children in Need. It is available to download now.