“Where science meets the magic” is how Robert-Murphy describes his team’s approach to brand partnerships, which includes extensive pre- and post-campaign data analytics. A recent example: pairing EDM artist Zedd with National Geographic for its One Strange Rock series, helping the channel achieve global viewership of 81 million. Tunnicliffe, who launched UMG’s branding division in the United States in 2015, closed the past year with 28 brand partners and ongoing four-year-plus relationships with clients that include Marriott, Honda and M&M’s. “We’ve grown the business over fourfold since we started,” he reports. Under McMahon, recent wins include: the first major music partnership of 275-store retailer Cost Plus World Market, which had Jessie J helm its 2018 holiday campaign; a Carly Rae Jepsen concert on a Carnival cruise; and Max Richter’s Clio Award-winning “Sleep,” an eight-hour composition sponsored by Beautyrest and Philips, and presented in Austin and New York. “You could tell people were genuinely moved,” says McMahon of the “Sleep” experiential event. “It’s very rewarding when you can help create that.”
Ryan Payne, 31
Head of marketing and branding, Glassnote Entertainment Group
For Mumford & Sons’ latest album, Delta, Payne struck a partnership with National Geographic that, he says, “gave us access to their video archive where we were able to select footage [for] an album-length film, synched to the music on Delta.” Shown in theaters worldwide on the eve of the album’s Nov. 16 release, the movie “gave fans a unique experience,” says Payne. Two weeks later, the footage went online -- and Delta became the band’s third straight No. 1 album on the Billboard 200. “That connection, that trust, between the artists and the fans,” says Payne, “that’s the value proposition.”
Daniel Sena*
Head of strategic marketing, Interscope Geffen A&M
For IGA’s breakout artists Rich the Kid and Billie Eilish, Sena and his team put together global campaigns with fashion brand MCM, while last summer’s Volkswagen advertising campaign (created with the automaker’s former ad agency, Deutsch) showcased songs from Louis the Child, Kali Uchis, Yungblud and Gryffin. With Fiat Chrysler CMO Olivier François, Sena paired OneRepublic with Jeep for three campaigns that led to collective media impressions “in the billions,” says Sena. “And everything was done with tremendous mutual respect by both the artist and the brand.”
Ryan Wright, 45
Chief marketing officer, Kobalt and AWAL
The brand Wright is hyperfocused on right now is in-house: AWAL, Kobalt’s recorded-music division, which offers marketing, promotion, A&R, distribution and licensing for some 25,000 artists -- veterans and newcomers alike. Some $150 million has gone to expanding staff and funding moves like the Educate Everyone outreach and the I Am My Own Label campaign. The result: “Our AWAL business has more than doubled this past year to $100 million in revenue, and AWAL is now seen as one of -- if not the -- leading independent labels in the world,” says Wright. Consumers today, he adds, “are more open to being influenced by what inspires them. There is a huge opportunity out there for independent artists to be micro-influencers for brands.”
*Declined to reveal age