The Recording Academy® and TBWA\Chiat\Day have teamed for the sixth year to promote the 55th Annual GRAMMY Awards® with the ad campaign “#TheWorldIsListening.” The 55th Annual GRAMMY Awards (www.grammy.com) will be held on Sunday, Feb. 10, 2013, at the STAPLES Center in Los Angeles and will be broadcast live in HDTV and 5.1 surround sound on the CBS Television Network (www.cbs.com) from 8 – 11:30 p.m. (ET/PT). For updates and breaking news, please visit The Recording Academy’s social networks on Twitter and Facebook.
“#TheWorldIsListening” campaign features both established and up-and-coming artists across a variety of print, out-of-home and digital communications, as well as three TV commercials. The first commercial, “Slammed Door,” tells five-time GRAMMY® winner and current nominee Rihanna’s story. The second commercial, “The World is Listening,” features artists including the Kills, Snoop Lion and Taylor Swift alongside emerging artists such as Grace Potter, Kishi Bashi and Dam-Funk. Two-time GRAMMY winners and current nominees the Black Keys will appear in the forthcoming commercial titled “Soundcheck.”
At the heart of this year’s “#TheWorldIsListening” campaign is a newly created Web site, www.grammyamplifier.com, which allows musicians to share their tracks via SoundCloud for a chance to have their music tweeted out by a panel of musical icons, including Linkin Park, RZA, and Snoop Lion. While social media has given musicians more ways to share their sounds than ever before, the online music space is increasingly fragmented. As a result, it gets more difficult for emerging artists to be discovered. “#TheWorldIsListening” campaign and the GRAMMY Amplifier aims to help solve this problem by exposing new artists through social platforms — with the ultimate goal of discovering artists with the potential to be the next generation of GRAMMY winners..
“This year’s campaign highlights the raw emotion and desire of the artist’s journey, and is amplified via social media in order to draw more music fans into an engaged music conversation,” said Evan Greene, Chief Marketing Officer of The Recording Academy.
Patrick Condo, Creative Director, TBWA\Chiat\Day, said, “Sure, the music industry embraces fame — but music always comes first. From RZA to Rihanna, to the young girl taking her first piano lesson, it’s their passion for the craft that will, ultimately, lead them to the public and then fame. This year’s campaign celebrates this passion and the talent as burgeoning artists embark on that quest for fame.”
All of the campaign materials prominently feature the hashtag #TheWorldIsListening, a first in GRAMMY history and a testament to the role of social media with regard to the GRAMMY telecast. In February 2012, the 54th Annual GRAMMY Awards generated more than 13 million social media comments making it the biggest social media event in the history of television at the time.