2012 Gold Best launch campaign

Client Sony Music / Syco

How did the campaign make a difference? This launch fanned fans' passion for One Direction in the run up to their first album, helping to create an even bigger fanbase and ultimately sell more albums. It garnered 16 worldwide Twitter trends, 1.5 million video views, thousands of UGC submissions and thousands of fans watched a ‘live’ streamed music party.

What details of the strategy make this a winning entry? One Direction (1D) is a boy band fromThe X Factor. This campaign had to fill the two-month gap between the end of the series and the launch of their debut album, Up All Night. However, direct engagement with the band when the boys were super-busy with interviews and promos simply wasn't possible. Plus, while giving fans access to great content would get their attention, it wasn't going to keep them thoroughly engaged. The strategy was to get the most socially-connected 1D fans hungry for content and chomping at the bit to create more of their own. The audience was given a structured storyline with a character they could relate to and interact with. Fans were involved from the outset, making them part of the story and even heroes at key moments. This gave them a central point to focus their 1D love and fostered community by inspiring and rewarding teamwork.

How did creativity bring the strategy to life? An interactive campaign with a character called 1DCyberPunk was created. She had got her hands on 1D’s production laptop and challenged the fans to play games and competitions to get that content back. This included album artwork, lyrics, images, and even track sections. 1DCyberPunk was someone the fans could associate with and aspire to be like. She helped to guide them to the key band moments. Fans got passionately involved because of their love for the band, and the fact that the challenges were perfectly pitched at them. They included making paper models of the boys, dressing up and playing 1D Pacman-like computer games,. Challenges had to be completed in teams, creating a community spirit. Fans loved taking part so much they even started a petition for the campaign to continue.

Results Among other results, the campaign caused 16 worldwide Twitter trends (four in one day), 1.5 million video views, thousands of UGC submissions and, for the finale, thousands of fans tuned in live, with thousands more tuning in after. 1DCyberPunk's influence was so great that six weeks after being created, she had a Twitter following of 70,000 and a klout score of 72 – higher than that of Victoria Beckham’s and Justin Timberlake’s.

Team Richard Coggin, Eve Fernandez, Nadia Themistocleous, Lisa Pickett, Pete Ioulianou, Ollie Agius, Jon Biggs, Justin Kiszegi, Greg Machray, Genevieve Ampaduh