What the new Daft Punk album can teach us about marketing

If you have even a passing interest in popular music you are probably well aware that Daft Punk have an album forthcoming.

The excitement that has built around this, their first 'proper' new long playing release since 2005, is a good reminder of some marketing truths.

It's true that the 'Get Lucky' single has been receiving solid radio play; it's also true that their record company have taken advantage of the budget at their disposal to get some high profile exposure (in the US this included a brief 15-second advertisement during Saturday Night Live and a longer one minute clip that was aired during the California Coachella festival).

But the anticipation around this new album has been heightened by a few other things:

1) Leave them wanting more

The initial TV ad was a real teaser - no words, only their logo and the duo wearing masks, whilst a guitar riff (unmistakably theirs) played. It was no more than a soundbite (and a wordless one at that), but there was no doubt in any fan's mind what this meant. From that point on any Daft Punk fan would have been 'highly tuned' for any further news.

2) Produce interesting / weighty related content

Over the course of a month, a series of four videos were aired on YouTube; each featuring a collaborator on the new project, and each collaborator a 'name' in the music industry (Giorgio Moroder, Nile Rodgers, Todd Edwards and Pharrell Williams). Each of these offered the fan insight into the new album whilst only heightening their sense of expectation.

3) Engagement and Interaction

This is the 'magic bullet'. YouTube has been awash with fan videos; the snippets of music available have been cut and pasted and looped into longer versions - some primitive, some sophisticated. Everyone with the ability has been taking the available audio and turning into something that pleased them - and that they hoped would please other fans. They say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery; these multiple imitations were all acknowledged as derivative works by their creators, creating the ultimate pre-emptive homage to the forthcoming music.

Of course, we can't all have the fanbase that Daft Punk enjoy, but we can think about:  

  • how to grab attention in the shortest time;
  • how to provide in-depth related material to our core offering that is interesting; and
  • how to provide material that begs to be played with, to be shared, and that can be personalised.