by Robert van Alstyne
WHAT’S HAPPENING
- In-demand indie band The National helped build buzz for the release of their fifth album, High Violet, by taking a page from the pop-up retail playbook (WSJ.com 5.8.10).
- For five nights starting the day of their new album’s release, the Brooklyn band and various artsy pals took over a previously vacant storefront on East Fourth Street, redubbing it the High Violet Annex. The 150-person capacity space was transformed into a free-flowing event featuring rotating live music performances, art exhibits and movie screenings.
- Details of just what was going down in the space on any given night were purposely kept scarce to maximize the need-to-be-there factor and build up word-of-mouth buzz.
WHAT THIS MEANS TO BUSINESS
- In an increasingly digital music world, sometimes it pays to play up the physical. By creating an informal communal happening the National earned maximum street cred with their Millennial fan base and managed to dominate music blogosphere chatter as consumers scrambled to spread word on all the annex’s activities in real time.
RESOURCES
