After teaming with ESPN for its coverage of the 2006 FIFA World Cup in Germany, Bono pulled aside ESPN senior director of sports marketing Seth Ader and said, "This is just a warm-up for the one that really matters: South Africa."
In 2006, U2 licensed songs and concert footage to the network for use in marketing and programming. Four years on, it's forged an even more ambitious two-pronged promotional deal for the 2010 tournament. Ader and the band selected songs from the group's catalog for the "One Game Changes Everything" series of ads, written by New York ad agency Wieden+Kennedy, promoting the network's tournament coverage. "We wanted that big, global, anthemic stadium sound," Ader says, "and Africa has a very meaningful place in the band's hearts and minds."
Shown on all ESPN channels, the first ad-which started airing in January-featured "City of Blinding Lights." Download sales for "City" spiked in January to about 2,000 per week, up from nearly 1,000 per week in December 2009, before leveling off at slightly more than 1,000 per week, according to Nielsen SoundScan. Total scans for the track stand at 331,000. Other ads feature "Magnificent," "Beautiful Day," "Desire," "Where the Streets Have No Name," "Unknown Caller" and "Out of Control."
In 2006, U2 licensed songs and concert footage to the network for use in marketing and programming. Four years on, it's forged an even more ambitious two-pronged promotional deal for the 2010 tournament. Ader and the band selected songs from the group's catalog for the "One Game Changes Everything" series of ads, written by New York ad agency Wieden+Kennedy, promoting the network's tournament coverage. "We wanted that big, global, anthemic stadium sound," Ader says, "and Africa has a very meaningful place in the band's hearts and minds."
Shown on all ESPN channels, the first ad-which started airing in January-featured "City of Blinding Lights." Download sales for "City" spiked in January to about 2,000 per week, up from nearly 1,000 per week in December 2009, before leveling off at slightly more than 1,000 per week, according to Nielsen SoundScan. Total scans for the track stand at 331,000. Other ads feature "Magnificent," "Beautiful Day," "Desire," "Where the Streets Have No Name," "Unknown Caller" and "Out of Control."
Elsewhere in the world, South African music is in demand for synchs since broadcasters want to add instant local flavor to their coverage. In the United Kingdom, commercial broadcaster ITV is using Afro-folk musician Vusi Mahlasela's "When You Come Back" for its main World Cup theme song, and Sony U.K. will release a compilation of the singer's work after the tournament to capitalize on the expected interest.
"Not only is this song getting a new audience," Sony Music Entertainment Africa label manager Lance McCormack says, "but, together with his performance at the Kick-Off Concert, it means he now has a wide audience primed for the release of a new studio album."
source:www.billboard.com
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