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Warner Bros. Records Launches Latest Twist in Street Marketing & Mobile Media
BURBANK, Calif.-- June 14, 2006--In a new strategy with broad implications for
expanding record labels' street marketing efforts, Warner Bros. Records has arranged
for daily photo and video coverage of the 2006 Vans Warped Tour(R) to be captured
and sent to the Buzznet community website in near-real time directly from camera
phones. Select tour artists and staff will document the action using phones equipped
with single-click photo upload technology from ShoZu.
The campaign will enable fans anywhere in the world to track both on-stage and
behind-the-scenes activities as they happen at the 50-day musicfest, running from
June 15 through August 13, at www.buzznet.com/warpedtour. Users with ShoZu-enabled phones can also have the latest images from the tour
automatically sent to their handsets for on-the-road access by subscribing to
ShoZu's free new ZuCast service.
In addition, for the first time, fans will be able to interact directly with
the artists as they travel by posting comments on the Buzznet site either from
a PC or a ShoZu-equipped phone. Comments will be delivered almost instantly to
the artist's ShoZu-enabled handset. Performers also have the option to post a
reply to the site from their phones, opening a mobile dialogue between band and
fan.
Participating artists include punk-pop stalwart Less Than Jake, which has just
released the new album "In With the Out Crowd" and was also last year's #1 Vans
Warped Tour merchandise seller; and rock quartet Armor For Sleep, whose most recent
release was last year's dark concept album "What To Do When You Are Dead."
"The ShoZu/Buzznet relationship we have formed for this year's Vans Warped Tour
is a fresh way to connect artists and fans on a grassroots level," said Jeremy
Welt, Vice President of New Media for Warner Bros. Records. "It takes advantage
of all of the newest communications technologies, including camera phones, user-generated
content and social networking. It's as close to real-time as you can get. It's
available to users anywhere and on virtually any wireless network. And it's mobile.
This is where today's fans live."
The campaign marks the latest entertainment industry collaboration for ShoZu,
a provider of interactive media solutions enabling fast and easy access to photo
sharing communities, mobile blogs, videocasts, podcasts and other web content
directly from users' cellphones. ShoZu previously enabled mobile video blog coverage
of the U.S. debut of Australia's The Veronicas in New York in February as well
as the SXSW music/film/interactive conference in Texas in March.
The free, downloadable ShoZu application enables users to share camera phone
images with a wide range of online communities as well as receive photo and video
"ZuCasts" on their handsets by subscription. Camera phone images can be shared
more easily, quickly, less expensively and at higher resolution than any other
alternative. Files are uploaded or downloaded invisibly in the background without
the need to open a mobile phone browser, wait for pages to load, interrupt phone
calls, start over in the event of a dropped connection, or sync to a PC.
ShoZu image-sharing services are currently available on 48 Symbian, Windows Mobile
and Java handsets, more than any competitive service. Supported models are listed
at www.shozu.com/portal/tour.do?operation=showhandsets.
The Vans Warped Tour campaign also expands the entertainment industry reach of
Buzznet, a social media network that emphasizes music and pop culture. Recently,
for example, the company created an interactive site for attendees of the 2006
Coachella Valley Music Festival through an exclusive partnership with event promoter
Goldenvoice. Leading up to, during and after the festival last April, event attendees
were able to post and share photos, video and stories at Buzznet.com by tagging
their content "Coachella." Buzznet works closely with entertainment, publishing
and media companies to provide online communities of user-generated content. |