Bringing music to Jo'burg traffic

The living billboard is part of Standard Bank's broader creative campaign, "The Closer You Are, The More You Feel”, which drives the idea that art in general, and music in particular, has a much greater impact when experienced live. Standard Bank group sponsorship head Hazel Chimhandamba says the bank is constantly looking for ways to be innovative with its campaigns. 

For the Standard Bank Joy of Jazz, the brand dug a little deeper, emphasising the live element of performance and taking live music to unexpected places. "The Live Billboard is an interpretation of that idea, demonstrating, literally, how music is best experienced live and the positive impact it has on people,” she explains.

Johannesburg traffic can be stressful, she adds, so the aim was also to provide some temporary relief and entertainment. The campaign is the perfect example of an integrated communications campaign on many levels. "Our partner agencies played a critical role in the development and implementation of the concept, led by TBWA, our creative agency.  Other agencies include OMD, DAN, Native, Total Exposure and Octagon, without whom this activation would not have been a success.”

The event was filmed and then coded into a live Internet stream to various platforms includingwww.standardbankarts.co.za and www.702.co.za and a live audio stream to the 702 app.

A specially freed-up frequency, 100.0 MHz, was also created so that drivers within a radius of 100 metres of the billboard were able to tune in to the performance. There were posts on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram as well as a short Periscope stream, and the event was listed on the Vicinity app.

A new virtual reality concept will be introduced closer to the jazz festival which reinforces the campaign idea.
"The Closer You Are, The More You Feel” campaign started with a social experiment ahead of the National Arts Festival that took place in July this year.

Three volunteers - a music student, an aspiring singer in her 20s and an elderly sales rep who enjoys classical music - were wired to monitors recording brain activity, heart rate and blood pressure. Their physical reactions to music were recorded in three different situations:

• Being told about the performance by a knowledgeable insider
• Viewing a video of the performance, and
•  The live performance itself.

The stimulus used was Standard Bank Young Artist winner Nduduzo Makhathini performing his song Echoes of You.

Unsurprisingly, merely being told about the performance elicited the lowest reading, while the third phase of the experiment, watching a live performance of Makhathini at The Orbit Jazz Club in Jo'burg, yielded the most radical reaction - increased blood pressure and heart rate.

The video of the experiment can be viewed here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vDJcS9hNs2Q&feature=youtu.be

The big take-out: An integrated communications campaign created through partnerships and suppliers on many levels results in innovation and entertaining media for consumers

Source: http://www.financialmail.co.za