Vans Musicians Wanted (VMW) is an introductory program for musicians that celebrates fresh, new, and Off The Wall talent. But with the global expansion of the program in 2020, VANS turned UMG for support.
We worked with the brand to promote and run the competition in South East Asia - The expected volume of entries in the region presented a massive logistical and creative challenge, so we involved our discovery/A&R platform SPINNUP and brought on board artificial intelligence experts MUSIIO to help automate the workflow.
The campaign - promoted across multiple UMG and brand owned channels, and amplified with in-store live-streams in retail markets - was a huge success. VANS received over 10,000 entries across SEA, with shortlist submitted to the brand by local UMG A&R teams from each local market.
The shortlisted finalists were judged in a live online final led by Anderson .Paak with Korean math-rock group NumNum as the final victor. The grand prize - a UMG recording deal and music video support for the talented trio.
The campaign launched across multiple markets
Co-ordinated launch with 9 UMG Local offices
We also created addition activations, including this In-store Singapore performance with 2019's finalists - SHYE and Axel Breezy - was livestreamed on Instagram, Facebook and YouTube, with live glitch visuals - in vertical and horizontal formats at the same time.
We had to tightly control the A&R process to meet timeline