It’s Only Rock n’ Roll…..and a Whole Lotta Marketing

September 18th, 2008 by Joy Brazelle

Nate is out this week, so I am filling in. Next week, he will be back and the political coverage will resume.

Last week, I had the great opportunity to go to the XM offices (the COOLEST offices I’ve ever seen – even cooler than the Turner Broadcasting offices in Atlanta) and meet the band Safety Suit . Their first hit song, ‘Someone Like You,’ has been popular since even before they officially released their album mid-May.

I was blown away by how nice, friendly, humble, and appreciative all four guys were. But, I was more surprised by what I experienced. The band was there as sort of a ‘meet and greet’ for some of the Program Directors from some of XM’s 170 digital channels.

After being friendly and gracious to everyone they met, the band eventually ended up in a conference room with their acoustic instruments. After introducing themselves to a room full of strangers, they performed a few songs.

When they were done, they immediately began to work the room. I am not saying that in a negative or condescending way. Each band member made sure that they introduced themselves to each person in the room, and not just with a passing ‘hello’ but with a decent, funny, interesting conversation.

I’ve seen a LOT of concerts and up till now, I had always figured (like I assume most people do) that famous bands have some combination of talent and luck. That may have been true at one time, but not today. With all of the competition, the only way to be a hit (or frontlist) and not part lost in the tail - a band must have:

Talent – Listening to any song on the album, you will hear the talent

Personality – Funny, funny, funny guys

Willingness to work harder than they ever imagined – The first time I heard of Safety Suit was back in April when I was driving through Columbia, SC. They had stopped by a radio station there to do an on-air performance. If you Google Safety Suit, you will see that the station in Columbia is one of MANY.

Embraced the concept of networking/marketing in a traditional sense – Using their funny personalities and humility to win over person after person as they tour and promote their album

Embraced even more the concept of social marketing – MySpace, Facebook, YouTube – they have it covered

In talking with Doug, the singer, he mentioned that if he weren’t ‘doing what he was currently doing’ that he’d be in Advertising/Marketing. Then, he laughed and said jokingly… ‘Well, I guess this is being in advertising.’ Not only could a lot of bands learn a lot from these guys, so could a lot of companies.

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