He may look like a Beatle, but he\’s really a master content marketer. (Photo by Joel C Ryan/Invision/AP)
Sir Paul McCartney has always had a knack for content marketing. He goes further than concerts, further than getting radio play, even at times showing a real talent for public relations. In support of his new album, Egypt Station, he\’s become a content-generating \”clean machine.\” But it\’s because he has to.
For McCartney, content marketing is just another day.
From the Beatles days, he was always thinking about how to earn the band attention and/or make a big splash worthy of \”The Beatles\” name, particularly when the band decided to stop touring. Take \”The Magical Mystery Tour\” – the tour itself and the subsequent movie – was Paul\’s idea. The idea to do a rooftop concert in support of the album Let It Be – and the filming of the sessions for what was to become the Let It Be movie – was largely Paul\’s idea.
And along his solo career Paul has turned his fame and talent into TV productions supporting new albums – James Paul McCartney in support of his Red Rose Speedway album, Back To The Egg TV Special in support of the album Back To The Egg. Even the feature film Give My Regards To Broadstreet, where he wrote a couple new songs and re-recorded several classics and built them into a screenplay he wrote.
Add all the music videos over the years, a staple of the MTV era, and it\’s quite a library of material. But it\’s all content marketing. It just wasn\’t called content marketing then.
And with Egypt Station Paul has outdone himself.
Tomorrow never knows.
Get this. McCartney did a surprise pop-up concert in Grand Central Station in New York City last Friday night. The new album came out that same day. Contest winners got tickets but they didn\’t know where, exactly, the concert would be until the last minute. The video of the concert has earned nearly 2 million views in just a few days and has wisely been turned into multiple single-song clips for easy sharing.
Here\’s the entire show (the opening is funny):
Back in June, he did a \”Carpool Karaoke\” with James Corden that has earned over 32 million views since it was posted on YouTube. This video became a sensation. The viral hit of the summer (other than, perhaps, the Collin Kaepernick/Nike ad) and helped generate huge interest in his soon-to-be-released album. McCartney even plays his new single, \”Come On To Me,\” live at the end:
But my favorite content play might be this hilarious bit McCartney did with Jimmy Fallon called, \”Elevator Surprise.\” They took over a floor at 30 Rockefeller Center, where the Tonight Show is filmed, and unsuspecting people who think they are going on a tour of the building enter an elevator and what happens next is fantastic:
Of course, Paul is on the interview tour as well. You can\’t miss him. But in this particular interview with the Sunday Times McCartney admits to taking LSD (we knew that already) and that he saw God! That\’s right, he admitted that he saw God on one of his acid trips. Guess what? Every publication on earth picked it up.
And then on Howard Stern – a show he\’s been on numerous times – he drops this bomb: John Lennon broke up the Beatles. What? That little nugget sent a public relations surge across the universe. Here he is in that interview:
What\’ll Sir Paul do next? Tomorrow never knows, and that\’s what makes it so fun, engaging and compelling.
McCartney\’s content strategy is very strategic and it\’s very smart.
Aging rock stars – even ex-Beatles – have a marketing conundrum. There really isn\’t a radio station genre that their new singles can fit within. The more progressive stations won\’t play music from aging rock stars, no matter how new the material is. And classic rock stations might play a new song from an aging rock star once or twice as an \”event\” but they are likely not going to drop it into the regular rotation. It\’s a classic rock station, not a new music station.
And forget about contemporary/rap/hip-hop. Not going to happen.
Rock, meet hard place.
So artists like McCartney have to think more creatively. They have to make the right associations, be seen with the right people, and provoke content generation in order to promote the new material.
They also have to be honest with themselves about their assets and weaknesses.
Paul\’s assets are many. He\’s wildly famous with the 40-plus crowd. He\’s an ex-Beatle. He\’s an incredible performer (and loves to perform) with a portfolio of iconic songs. And on top of all that the man is down-to-earth and very funny.
McCartney only has one weakness and it\’s not even his fault. He\’s not even mildly famous with the under-30 crowd. Many twentysomethings don\’t even know who he is. That\’s a problem when you consider most of the streaming and downloading is happening with the younger folks.
Given the marketing challenge, I would tease out the Paul McCartney content strategies as follows:
- Associate with established celebs who are the mouthpiece of the younger generation and who worship the ground you walk on – e.g. Jimmy Fallon, James Corden, Howard Stern.
- Agree to develop content with those celebs that will allow McCartney – his music and his personality and sense of humor – to really shine (e.g. karaoke, elevator stunt). You know, the movement you need is on your shoulders type thing.
- Earn media attention and social media value by creating high-profile stunts (e.g. pop-up concert at Grand Central Station). And be sure to bridge people from the familiar (Beatles) to the new (Egypt Station). For example, he doesn\’t play a new song in the Grand Central Station concert until about 20 minutes in.
- Drop serious Beatle-bombs in otherwise run-of-the-mill interviews (e.g. John broke up the Beatles, Paul saw God).
Since his new album, which is quite good if you ask this Macca fan, just came out last Friday, we can look forward to more unexpected content from Sir Paul.
And judging from what we\’ve seen so far in McCartney\’s career, it\’s getting better all the time.
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He may look like a Beatle, but he\’s really a master content marketer. (Photo by Joel C Ryan/Invision/AP)
Sir Paul McCartney has always had a knack for content marketing. He goes further than concerts, further than getting radio play, even at times showing a real talent for public relations. In support of his new album, Egypt Station, he\’s become a content-generating \”clean machine.\” But it\’s because he has to.
For McCartney, content marketing is just another day.
From the Beatles days, he was always thinking about how to earn the band attention and/or make a big splash worthy of \”The Beatles\” name, particularly when the band decided to stop touring. Take \”The Magical Mystery Tour\” – the tour itself and the subsequent movie – was Paul\’s idea. The idea to do a rooftop concert in support of the album Let It Be – and the filming of the sessions for what was to become the Let It Be movie – was largely Paul\’s idea.
And along his solo career Paul has turned his fame and talent into TV productions supporting new albums – James Paul McCartney in support of his Red Rose Speedway album, Back To The Egg TV Special in support of the album Back To The Egg. Even the feature film Give My Regards To Broadstreet, where he wrote a couple new songs and re-recorded several classics and built them into a screenplay he wrote.
Add all the music videos over the years, a staple of the MTV era, and it\’s quite a library of material. But it\’s all content marketing. It just wasn\’t called content marketing then.
And with Egypt Station Paul has outdone himself.
Get this. McCartney did a surprise pop-up concert in Grand Central Station in New York City last Friday night. The new album came out that same day. Contest winners got tickets but they didn\’t know where, exactly, the concert would be until the last minute. The video of the concert has earned nearly 2 million views in just a few days and has wisely been turned into multiple single-song clips for easy sharing.
Here\’s the entire show (the opening is funny):
Back in June, he did a \”Carpool Karaoke\” with James Corden that has earned over 32 million views since it was posted on YouTube. This video became a sensation. The viral hit of the summer (other than, perhaps, the Collin Kaepernick/Nike ad) and helped generate huge interest in his soon-to-be-released album. McCartney even plays his new single, \”Come On To Me,\” live at the end:
But my favorite content play might be this hilarious bit McCartney did with Jimmy Fallon called, \”Elevator Surprise.\” They took over a floor at 30 Rockefeller Center, where the Tonight Show is filmed, and unsuspecting people who think they are going on a tour of the building enter an elevator and what happens next is fantastic:
Of course, Paul is on the interview tour as well. You can\’t miss him. But in this particular interview with the Sunday Times McCartney admits to taking LSD (we knew that already) and that he saw God! That\’s right, he admitted that he saw God on one of his acid trips. Guess what? Every publication on earth picked it up.
And then on Howard Stern – a show he\’s been on numerous times – he drops this bomb: John Lennon broke up the Beatles. What? That little nugget sent a public relations surge across the universe. Here he is in that interview:
What\’ll Sir Paul do next? Tomorrow never knows, and that\’s what makes it so fun, engaging and compelling.
McCartney\’s content strategy is very strategic and it\’s very smart.
Aging rock stars – even ex-Beatles – have a marketing conundrum. There really isn\’t a radio station genre that their new singles can fit within. The more progressive stations won\’t play music from aging rock stars, no matter how new the material is. And classic rock stations might play a new song from an aging rock star once or twice as an \”event\” but they are likely not going to drop it into the regular rotation. It\’s a classic rock station, not a new music station.
And forget about contemporary/rap/hip-hop. Not going to happen.
So artists like McCartney have to think more creatively. They have to make the right associations, be seen with the right people, and provoke content generation in order to promote the new material.
They also have to be honest with themselves about their assets and weaknesses.
Paul\’s assets are many. He\’s wildly famous with the 40-plus crowd. He\’s an ex-Beatle. He\’s an incredible performer (and loves to perform) with a portfolio of iconic songs. And on top of all that the man is down-to-earth and very funny.
McCartney only has one weakness and it\’s not even his fault. He\’s not even mildly famous with the under-30 crowd. Many twentysomethings don\’t even know who he is. That\’s a problem when you consider most of the streaming and downloading is happening with the younger folks.
Given the marketing challenge, I would tease out the Paul McCartney content strategies as follows:
- Associate with established celebs who are the mouthpiece of the younger generation and who worship the ground you walk on – e.g. Jimmy Fallon, James Corden, Howard Stern.
- Agree to develop content with those celebs that will allow McCartney – his music and his personality and sense of humor – to really shine (e.g. karaoke, elevator stunt). You know, the movement you need is on your shoulders type thing.
- Earn media attention and social media value by creating high-profile stunts (e.g. pop-up concert at Grand Central Station). And be sure to bridge people from the familiar (Beatles) to the new (Egypt Station). For example, he doesn\’t play a new song in the Grand Central Station concert until about 20 minutes in.
- Drop serious Beatle-bombs in otherwise run-of-the-mill interviews (e.g. John broke up the Beatles, Paul saw God).
Since his new album, which is quite good if you ask this Macca fan, just came out last Friday, we can look forward to more unexpected content from Sir Paul.
And judging from what we\’ve seen so far in McCartney\’s career, it\’s getting better all the time.