Battle of the Bands

- A Case Study -

2014 MTERN
PROJECT

URBAN MINISTRIES OF DURHAM

INTRODUCTION
For the 2014 Mtern Project, we were given an
unprecedented assignment - to create something that
would be client-facing and live outside of the McKinney
utopia. The project was centered around the Triangle
Corporate Battle of the Bands, which supported Urban
Ministries of Durham (UMD). UMD works every day to
provide their clients with food, shelter and a future.The
overarching theme of this year's Battle of the Bands was
Battle Sweet Battle - pairing the hardcore nature of rock
n' roll with thefamiliar comfortof being at home.

UMD Client Brief

Develop a full-blown social media campaign to primarily drive ticket sales and generate
donations, while also attracting bands to participate. The goal that Urban Ministries of
Durham proposed was $100,000. Naturally, McKinney challenged us to raise $200,000,
exceeding UMDs original proposal.

Fresh Focus
Battle of the Bands has had an almost nonexistent social media presence in the past seven
years. Through related client research, the Mterns found that social media was best suited for
increasing brand loyalty, engagement and personification. As a result, driving social media
participation became the new focus for our campaign. Although social media is primarily
suited for affecting brand awareness, it carries with it the ability to act as a sales driver.

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New Goal
D E V E L O P A S O C I A L C A M PA I G N T H AT I N C R E A S E S
BAT T L E O F T H E BA N D S AWA R E N E S S A N D S O C I A L M E D I A
PA RT I C I PAT I O N.

STRATEGY

Target
C U R R E N T BAT T L E O F T H E BA N D S
BU S I N E S S S P O N S O R S
Battle of the Bands Business Sponsors became our primary target in order to effectively
carry out our campaign. Two major truths led us to this target. First, being that purchasing
one table for $1000, was equivalent to 40 people buying general admission tickets. Thus,
our campaign would have more bang for our buck if we focused on selling tables, which are
overwhelmingly bought by businesses. Second, local businesses already have social media accounts with many followers. We saw an opportunity to amplify our reach by primarily targeting these businesses.

Interview Takeaway
D U R H A M C H A M B E R O F C O M M E RC E

ADRIAN COLE QUOTES

trying to experience Durham, the wayDurham is

the business world has changed, we need to embrace
the newculture
reflect what we see in the business world people
have more fun, are lightened up
Durham is funky, quirky, gritty
BOTB is a way for staunch businesses to let loose,
show their creative side

To get a better understanding of our target, an interview

with the VP of Corporate Strategy at Durham Chamber
of Commerce gave us crucial insight into the local business landscape. From our conversation, we concluded that
Battle of the Bands is a way for local businesses to interact with the Durham community in the funky, quirky,
gritty, Durham culture way - which can be difficult for
some of our sponsors that are notoriously traditional,
such as a bank or an energy company. This led us to look
at each companys social media presence, confirming that
they have varying levels of participation and capturing
the interest of their audiences.

Creative Brief
H OW C A N W E H E L P D U R H A M BU S I N E S S E S C O N N E C T W I T H T H E I R
D U R H A M C U S TO M E R S I N A F U N, W E I R D, QU I R K Y, D U R H A M WAY
V I A T H E I R S O C I A L M E D I A C H A N N E L S A L L W H I L E P RO M OT I N G
B OT B ?
What influence do we want?
And whats in our way?

We want donors and participants to show their fun side via social media
channels. However, our target doesnt perceive social media as an integral
part of their communications.

Cultural Truth

Participant Truth

Brand/Product Truth

Doing something good for

others or Having an amazing
time are two of the most
shareable experiences in todays
society.

The participating sponsors

+attendees all have social media
platforms but dont reflect funky
Durham in their posts.

BOTB is an opportunity for hard

working business people to become
fun, care-free, ROCKSTARS for
the evening.

Starting Thought

Would you rather be a rock star, or a rock hero?

CREATIVE

Concept
After developing the strategy that focused on the idea of transformingstaunch businesspeople into rockstars, we thought to incorporate this insight into a social media campaign. In
order to drive social media participation, we decided Triangle Battle needed aface that
could live on social platforms. This face would need to encapsulate the fun, quirky spirit of
Durham that so many of our sponsors were striving to adopt. Additionally, the Triangle Battle face would need to align with the overarching theme of Battle Sweet Battle - combining
the familiar comfort of home with the feisty competitive spirit of the Battle. Thus, the idea
of Grandma Cybil was born.

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Grandma Cybil
Grandma Cybil was born in 1938, and she has been rocking ever since she first saw Elvis swivel his hips for the first
time in concert. As a teenager, she taught herself to play the guitar and, by the time she was 20, she had mastered
the acoustic and moved on to electric. She eventually quit her job as a secretary to follow the Rolling Stones on
tour, which inspired her to start her own all-girl rock band. Her band toured the country throughout the 1970s,
opening for bands like Led Zeppelin and the Doors.
Even though her girl band didnt last (the other members got tired of Cybils talent and electric personality always
stealing the show), she still continued her rock star lifestyle well into her old age. She became a part owner of
Whiskey a Go Go and occasionally played there along with The Byrds, Alice Cooper, and her close friend, Janis
Joplin.
Her vivacious personality won her friends across the music industry and even started a few love triangles in the
process. She would never tell, but its rumored that Don Henley and Glenn Frey of the Eagles once got into a
drunken fistfight over her at Studio 54.
She was also widely respected for her sage advice on all matters rock n roll by some of the biggest names in the
industry. A young Mick Jagger once asked her about overcoming stage fright, and she suggested that he fake
confidence to make confidence, which lead to a very cocky, very famous signature walk.
Grandma Cybils story is probably the most famous rock legend that was never told.

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Social Interactions
Grandma Cybils role was to initiate
direct interaction with key
stakeholders, spark indirect
involvement with the community,
and capture bystander observation as
a channel of content dispersion. To
achieve this goal, the creative copy
took a satirical, instigating tone that
captured the attention and interest
of those involved, incorporating
relevant topics and information
centered around rock n roll.
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Band Orientation
Every year, as part of Battle of the Bands, there is a band orientation to inform the participating corporate bands
about event expectations. This years orientation served as the introduction of Grandma Cybil and the kickstart to
the social campaign. Since the attending representatives from the corporate bands and Urban Ministries of Durham
both have a high degree of influence over the success of our campaign, this was a crucial moment to set the
campaign off on the right foot. We started by providing a handout that explained how to best use social media and
the benefits it can provide for them. In addition, we encouraged band members to participate in an element of our
campaign titled, Rock Over. We saw this as an opportunity to get them involved and drive them to our social
media accounts, facilitating the rollout of our campaign. A VIP Pass with information on how to view and share
their rocked-over photos served as a social media reinforcer. The Rock Over yielded success with an overall
involvement of 40 percent during this years Band Orientation.

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Rock Over
The Rock Over served as a way to bring the original strategic concept to life - transforming staunch businessmen
into rockstars. The original photos were taken through Photoshop and pushed out onto our social media accounts. We
encouraged the participants to view and share their Rocked Over photos on these platforms. This made the Rock
Over more than just entertainment, but as a vehicle that drove traffic to the Triangle Battles social media account.
Steve Jobs

Steven Tyler

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CONCLUSION

Compared to past years, we anticipate that this year's social media

campaign will be successful in bringing greater awareness around
Battle of the Bands. We expect that greater brand awareness will
result in greater participation and increased donations from our
target audience. By building the brand in a sustainable way, we
predict that BOTB will continue to benefit from increased social
media awareness in years to come.
During the process of planning and ideating this year's campaign,
we (the Mterns) learned a few key lessons. First things first, we're the
realest. Second, refocusing the goal at the outset of the project was a
beneficial tactical decision after identifying thatsocial media directly
drives participation more so than ticket sales. Third, we recognized
the importanceof developing a well thought-out strategy and
adhering to it as we began the creative execution of the project. In
addition, after working on alternative clients, the benefit of having a
face for a brand became apparent. Last, we learned the ins and outs
of executing a project at McKinney and the value of a collaborative
work environment. We are left anxious to see where our efforts lead
Battle of the Bands later this fall. We hope McKinney enjoyed our
company and hard work as much as we have appreciated the
invaluable guidance and lessons taught.

2014 Mterns

Aarti Asrani - Planning

Eric Choi - Account

Management

Lauren Braswell Account Management

Tanner Frevert - Consumer

+ Business Insights

Diane Dickard - Studio

Spencer Harrison Creative Technologist

Mary Frances Buoyer

New Business

Olivia Hart - Agency

Communications
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Alex Grimm - Media

David Helton - Account

Management

2014 Mterns

Tori Howlett - Broadcast

Trey Mangum - Social Media

Joanna Sanfilippo Account Management

Haley Kabus - Planning

Sofia Milan Account Management

Katie Sedmak - Art Direction

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Katie Lee - Art Direction

Scott Roberts - Planning

Madeleine Trebenski Copywriting