Partnerships that Defy Gravity

Leading up to the release of Defying Gravity in 2009, Keith Urban and Verizon decided to continue a partnership that began early in 2008 during the second leg of his "Love, Pain and the Whole Crazy Tour."  As a part of the agreement, Verizon was going to join Keith again on the road for the summer of 2009 and his "Escape Together" World Tour.  But before the kick-off of that tour in May, Verizon was to produce six March and April club shows in six major markets across the country to help create a buzz around the release of Defying Gravity while also expanding how mobile technology played a part in the relationship Keith had with his fans.  The "Verizon VIP Tour" featuring a "No Frills" performance by Keith Urban was getting a lot of industry attention.

I had been lucky enough to oversee execution of the 2008 partnership integration of Verizon and now had the chance to head up not only the 2009 summer tour, but oversee the entire process for the club dates in Dallas, San Francisco, LA, Chicago, Philly and NYC.  This club tour was going to be unique in that there would be no public sale of tickets.  All the tickets were going to be distributed by Verizon with allocations set aside for Monkeyville (Keith's fan club), radio station marketing and promotion as well as  for Verizon  and Blackberry retail programs and contesting.  Also unique to this program was an idea that was born through conversations between Keith and Verizon - to ask fans attending any of these six shows to use their Blackberry handsets to film specific songs during the concert and send them to a short code.  At the end of the "Verizon VIP Tour," fan-filmed clips would be gathered and edited into a music video that could be shared via email, Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.  Besides the use of mobile tickets (digital concert tickets sent to a winner's handset), this was yet another way mobile technology could be used by Keith during these VIP dates.  Other activations on site included fans starring in a green screen video with Keith that could be sent to their Verizon handset and a chance to sign up to win an autographed Keith Urban guitar that would be signed and delivered to the winner that evening.  Capping off the evening's events, Keith also agreed to a Backstage Experience (BSE) with  Verizon winners, VIP's and members of his Monkeyville fan club.

My team scouted and secured the venues, advanced each location, distributed tickets to the necessary parties and coordinated travel and equipment for each of these VIP performances.  The two key areas we had been focusing on leading up to this debut evening were ticket redemption and the fan-filmed viral video.  After overseeing programs on behalf of Verizon for Fergie's solo tour as well as Natasha Bedingfield's club tour in 2008, one thing the team and I learned was that "Free was Free."  No matter how big an artist might be, unless a fan or consumer is invested in the tickets (putting forth time, energy or finances to secure the tickets), the percentages go down that they will attend the show.  If there was a conflict with traffic, weather, work or family, it was a lot easier to skip the show - knowing there was no financial obligation involved.  There was no way Verizon was going to have a show that didn't pack the house.  This was Keith Urban.  He just spent the last summer selling out arenas.  Anything less would be embarrassing.  So on opening night in Dallas, we looked down our list.  Great weather?  Check.  Good crowd?  check.  Help from the fan club and KPLX radio to build an overflow line?  Check.  OK - on to the next focus - the video.

As sound check was coming to an end, I went over the plan with management and with Keith so they knew what to expect for the filming of "Sweet Thing" and "Kiss A Girl."   As a technological safety net, we had four of our team members also film on their Blackberry handsets so that if there were any issues with the short code, messaging for the fans to start filming or other some other unknown issue, we still had footage.  Content shouldn't be a problem with two people on each side of the stage, one down in front of the stage, another in the balcony and 1300 - 1500 screaming fans.  Everything else seemed to be ready to go for the night.  Our onsite installations were set, in venue branding in place and our messaging and text to screen was up and running. 

Dallas certainly felt like "all eyes" were on our team.  Keith's management (Borman Entertainment), who was on site for this show, had never put a show like this into the hands of a "corporate partner."  Both local and top brass from Verizon as well as executives from Blackberry were also on hand to check out the integration and engagement with the fans.  Betsy McHugh was the Associate Manager for Keith at the time (now managing rising star Hunter Hayes) and she truly became my partner in crime.  She understood our goals and I understood what was appropriate to ask of Keith and how it needed to be presented both publicly and privately.  The trust in the partnership between Betsy and I played a critical part in the success of each of our programs with Keith and made my job a lot easier.

Keith was in a great mood when he came in for the BSE.  He spent time with his fan club - who we had in line first - before saying hello to each of the Verizon winners and VIP's.  Our team photographer took pictures in groups of two and four while Keith greeted everyone.  Once the BSE was over, the House of Blues opened its doors and fans made their way in.  Mobile tickets were scanned, fans stopped to register for the guitar while others made a green screen video.  But the most popular thing to do was hit the bar and then stake a claim up near the stage, grab seats in the balcony or send text messages back and forth to the Verizon screens hanging on either side of the stage. 

Heidi, a young woman from Montana was the winner of the autographed guitar.  She had entered to win tickets to this show through the fan club.  It is not uncommon for Keith Urban fans to attend multiple shows on any given tour so the fact that she was from Montana didn't really surprise me or the management team.  My team had Heidi meet them prior to the beginning of the show in a small production room off stage right.  All she knew was that she won the guitar and that we were all waiting for tour management to bring it out to us.  Slowly a door behind Heidi opened and Keith held his finger up to his lips.  As Heidi was telling me why she thought "Sweet Thing" was her favorite song, Keith leaned over the railing behind her and whispered in her ear -  "Thanks."  Heidi screamed, jumped and turned around all in one motion.  When she saw that it was Keith, she buried her face in her hands.  She could not believe Keith was handing her a guitar - in person!  Even though he was minutes away from going on stage, Keith had decided it would be more fun to deliver and then sign the guitar himself.  I am so glad we were filming the entire encounter…it was so fun to watch and even more fun to share with both management and with Verizon. 

After Heidi caught her breath and Keith went back to get ready to perform, I went out front to see how we were doing on attendance.  The team was just getting the remaining fans in the overflow line into the venue and our count was just over 1400.  Over 85% attendance on a show where no tickets were for sale and all tickets were basically free.  Throughout the Fergie and Natasha dates, we continually heard from bars and venues that when Miller would do their "One Night Stand" promotions - they would give away double the house capacity and still usually get between 40% - 50% capacity.  Betsy was happy, Verizon was happy and Blackberry was settled into their VIP seats in the balcony.  Keith came out and ripped through "Days Gone By" and before you could blink - everyone was singing and holding up their drinks in approval.  Our team got into place to film "Sweet Thing" which was the third song in the set.  Messaging went up on the screens and almost immediately phones went in the air.  I was floored by how many  people were participating - whether they were filming for the video or for themselves - and how Keith and the band took control of the crowd and the moment.  "Kiss A Girl" was just as successful and we now had the beginnings of two great videos. 

Dallas finished with over 1400 fans attending the show, happy management, two happy clients and one astonished guitar winner.  Over the next two weeks we produced 5 additional shows and filled the six total club events to over 88% capacity - including a show at Joe's in Chicago that reached 105% capacity.  (Keith had so much fun at that show that we brought him back to Joe's later in the year for another Verizon private event.)  We gathered all of the video footage and asked Keith's Music director and drummer, Chris McHugh, to mix it for us.  We had a lot of fun filming and executing on site but when I saw the final video it took it to another level.  Later that summer when I saw Keith at a show in Atlanta, he told me again how much fun he and the band had performing the club shows and how cool it was to be able to capture "Kiss A Girl" and "Sweet Thing" through the eyes (and phones) of the fans. 

What also shouldn't be lost in all of this is that Keith's seventh album release, "Defying Gravity" debuted at #1 on the Billboard 200 sales chart that week - Keith's first time topping the Billboard sales chart.  Throughout 2009 and early 2010, the Verizon team joined Keith for his "Escape Together" 50 date summer tour and also teamed up with him for four acoustic performances (three of them free and open to the public) at Verizon store locations.  If you type "Keith Urban" and "Verizon" into YouTube, you will find dozens of fan-posted videos. 

Both Keith and Verizon were pleased with the success of the partnership and the results.  But what really made it a success was the attention and care displayed by Betsy and Borman Entertainment.  This wasn't a sponsorship - it was a partnership.  The brand understanding the artist and the artist understanding the brand.  Borman Entertainment, by the way, is also home to Alison Krauss, Michael Franti, Randy Montana and Lady Antebellum.    

There will be more on Keith in the future, but for now, enjoy the completed and produced fan-filmed video for "Sweet Thing."