Anuel AA: The Reggaetonero of Quarantine

Challenge

After a high-profile label signing, we were tasked with launching two preemptive single campaigns for “KEII” and “3 de Abril,” prior to planning for Anuel’s second album ‘EMMANUEL.’

Things took quite the turn following the onset of COVID-19, forcing us to rethink our overall album strategy. With an even greater emphasis on digital, we were tasked with figuring out how to digitize the album campaign’s physical component and reach Anuel AA fans in the midst of their new normal: quarantine. After analyzing recent trends in consumer behavior, we developed a multi-pronged, digital-first strategy enabling us to deliver a successful album launch.

— Highlights

Pivoted single and album strategies in the face of COVID

Leveraged ubiquity of smart speakers  

Brought music marketing to the world of gaming 

— Impact

Debuted at #1 on Billboard's Latin charts 

Delivered Anuel's best selling album to-date 

Solution

Leveraging increased music consumption via smart speakers.
Spikes in music consumption across smart speakers informed our audio strategy. Whether users were listening to their favorite podcast, radio station, or Spotify playlist, we inserted Anuel AA directly into this sound-first environment, bringing his album to the forefront of users’ listening experience. We were also able to utilize Spotify Video Takeover campaigns as another vehicle to reach engaged Spotify listeners and showcase the album’s breadth through audiovisuals.

Leveraging an uptick in gaming to drive album awareness.
Our campaign focused on high-quality, premium gaming inventory to take advantage of spikes in gaming during quarantine. Running ads on websites like Gamespot.com and PCgamer.com ensured we were reaching known players in the midst of their online experience.

Bringing the album’s physical component directly to fans’ homes.
Our campaign focused on meeting quarantined users as safely as possible through direct-to-consumer ads and a Miami digital boat. Direct-to-consumer ads focused on driving merchandise bundles and signed CDs, both of which simultaneously fueled album sales. We were also able to work with Google to implement one of their newest ad types, Google Discovery ads. Additionally, the digital Miami boat reached Miami fans while quarantined in their apartments. Our route strategically focused on Miami’s intercoastal to hone in on apartments/condos in residential Miami neighborhoods. Imagine waking up for your morning cup of coffee, and seeing your favorite Latin artist floating down the intercoastal. Now that’s a view!

Reaching people using social media to take a break from the world.
Throughout quarantine, consumers turned to Snapchat and TikTok as means of escape from the daily barrage of politics and COVID-19 news coverage. We doubled down on these platforms to reach users in the mindset of consuming entertainment. It was important to preserve Anuel’s artistic voice, so we made sure to mimic his organic copy across all ad tactics. We additionally leveraged Anuel’s friendly rivalry with Bad Bunny on Twitter as a means to drive engagement and call attention to the two Bad Bunny collaborations featured on the album.

Results

Shifting our digital strategy to center around the quarantine experience paid off as Anuel AA’s ‘EMMANUEL’ bowed at #1 on the Latin Billboard Chart and #8 on the overall Billboard Top 200 chart. We were able to translate previous single success to album success, and help Anuel secure not only his second consecutive #1 album, but also his biggest opening week with 39,000 album units. To more granularly assess the impact of our campaign on Anuel as an artist, we leveraged a Facebook Brand Lift Study. Across all key metrics, our ads drove clear and definitive lifts in ad recall, artist awareness, and most importantly, intent to stream Anuel in the future, ideally positioning us for future Anuel music releases coming down the pipeline. All in all, this made for a job well done, or as Anuel would say himself, “REAL HASTA LA MUERTE BABY!”