Capitol Records New Media Taps iMedium for Promotion

As part of its effort to build up excitement over the upcoming release of alternative rock band Everclear’s new album, Capitol Records New Media has tapped iMedium to build a “sticky” online promotion.

iMedium used its “visual interaction technology platform” to design an interactive picture that lets fans access content — including videos, a song from the album, a band interview, and a band radio station — during the six weeks before the July 11 release.

In addition, because of its design, the dynamic promotion (called a ViBE) can be hosted by fan, radio, retail and lifestyle sites. So a fan can put the promotion on his or her Web site, and help to drive traffic to the promotion.

This “viral” technique has been used quite often with entertainment content — such as music or movies — wich which fans have a strong identification. Because of their affinity for the product, fans are likely to host the promotion on their Web site, or send email with the URL, along to friends. This email functionality is also built into the Everclear promotion.

“With iMedium’s visual interaction technology, we found a tremendously effective way to harness the power of our promotional efforts by turning existing pictures into highly engaging and purposeful interactive visual content,” said Robin Bechtel, head of new media for Capitol Records.

Capitol New Media has distributed the promotion to radio sites, lifestyle sites and retail sites in the US and Canada, as well as directly to fans via email and grassroots marketing efforts. Thus far, more than 200 Web sites have joined the promotion.

“What we’ve already seen in the early stages of this promotion is that because it’s so easy, fans have been trading this ViBE in newsgroups, chat rooms, clubs and more,” added Bechtel.

“We know this because the technology allows us to track traffic on the picture, wherever it appears as it’s passed on.”