Online Ads I’m Loving: Pandora Radio’s Skinned Ad Pages

Ok…so I haven’t written a commercial/ad post in quite a while – mainly because (as anyone can see who keeps up with my posts) my clients are quite busy & obviously they take priority!

Anywho, I saw a cute little skinned page ad on my Pandora radio and had to post about it. I’m a dog lover (of small dogs honestly – I have a Yorkie) and for the moment, Pandora has a Cesar dog food ad up. And the pup is SOOOO cute! ^_^

Pandora's skinned ad pages

I’m actually a big fan of Pandora’s ad system on the web (as it’s a bit different when listening via mobile). Basically an ad plays every 4 or 5 songs (and it’s just one ad that’s no longer than 30 sec – hence another reason I’d rather listen to Pandora than terrestrial). And usually the skinned sides of the player change to match whatever ad is played. But if you rate a song, skip a song or click on anything in the page (other than the ad) the skinned sides change to a new ad – very nice!

Additionally (at least just for the web version) if you don’t interact with the Pandora page for 30 minutes, it pauses the music and asks you if you’re still listening. That’s super smart – as it doesn’t make sense to pay royalties or have advertisers paying for potential impressions if someone’s not actively listening to the station.

And yes, I have very varied tastes in music – as evidenced by the different stations available on my account.

BASM’s 2011 Year in Review

So, it’s officially the end of 2011. We’re literally a few hours (at least for those of us in the Western hemisphere) away from saying goodbye to 2011 and welcoming 2012 along with all that is has to offer. Overall, it’s been a great year here at Big Apple Style Marketing and we want to say a huge thank you to all the firms, partners, clients and friends who made the 2011 journey so much fun & so intriguing along the way!

Through it all, we’ve stayed true to our roots. Back in April of 2009, BASM was formed initially as a digital entertainment marketing firm that focused solely on music. Over the years we’ve expanded to accommodate other forms of entertainment but in 2011, we returned to what made BASM so awesome in the beginning – music. 2011 saw BASM partnering up with major music distribution, discovery and radio platforms like Pandora, Jelli, Shazam, Stingray Digital and Promo Only. On top of that, BASM decided to be a stand out entertainment firm by offering to do something that isn’t so common – helping international artists successfully break into and maintain a presence in the US market. This led to the decision to formally position BASM as a firm that places a significant emphasis on helping international content (music, film & TV) to break into the sometimes “difficult to enter” US market. And we kicked off this division by working with major groups in Japan such as fade and RIZE along with popular rock personality & pop culture influencer, Jesse McFaddin. Expect to see continued updates about these artists as well as other bands from Japan and other parts of Asia as 2012 begins!

2011 marked the “repositioning” phase for BASM. We streamlined and refocused our efforts to ensure maximum effect for every campaign or opportunity we provided for our clients. We made new long lasting partnerships that helped us to officially extend our reach into Asia and opened up new marketing initiatives for the firm.  And most importantly, we’ve maintained our standard of being the boutique marketing consultancy that offers measurable results to independent or smaller labels and production houses – thereby evening the playing field for access to top platforms between indies and majors. We always have direct relationships with partners and don’t rely on “batch and blast” distribution channels. We have direct relationships with our clients as well, making the entire process of launching a campaign that much more important to us.

So to the long time clients & partners or those who just recently connected with us in 2011, we want to say thank you for making 2011 such a success and we look forward to a prosperous, exciting and busy 2012!

Japanese Rock Band “fade” Joins Jelli Internet Radio’s Music Catalog

For Immediate Release:

Friday, November 18th, 2011

 

It’s been a busy few months for the Japanese rock band fade who kicked off their US marketing campaign in September by launching on the popular Internet platform, Pandora. Since then, the momentum has only been gathering and today the five member band can add another innovative Internet platform to their distribution list. fade’s three most recent albums, “Age of Innocence”, “To Find A Better Tomorrow” and their latest release “Kings of Dawn” are now available on US consumer oriented platform, Jelli.

Jelli is a US based Internet radio station with a twist. Like other Internet radio stations, they play a variety of genres. But, the twist is that it’s even more user controlled than traditional Internet radio stations. So, not only do users get to “rate” songs, which will then dictate whether or not that song appears again in their playlist, but they also have the opportunity to influence playlists for major commercial terrestrial radio stations here in the US. Consumers can suggest new songs, rate existing songs in the “Jelli Curated” playlists for the online webcast versions of terrestrial radio stations and if the song receives enough likes, it can then become eligible for playback on the actual terrestrial version.

fade is a unique five member rock group from Japan that truly embodies the ability to effectively bridge Eastern and Western cultures by seamlessly blending the iconic 1980’s American rock sounds with their inherent international flavor. Of its band members, four are originally from the United States. Kansei (guitar), Noriyuki (bass) and Rui (drums/writer/founder) hail from New York and their lead singer Jon Underdown is from Seattle – two influential cities known for heavily shaping the American music scene over the years. The fifth member 5° is from Japan and a noted artist within the community.

fade’s addition into Jelli’s catalog comes on the heels of a flurry of press and distribution activity in the US market. Just last week they were interviewed by the music discovery blog, PensEyeView. For the entire month of November select songs and music videos from their three latest albums have been featured prominently on Windows Media Entertainment Guide’s “Artist on the Rise” feature page. In October fade’s content became discoverable through the music tagging mobile platform Shazam, just weeks after being included for in-store entertainment distribution to major retail and hospitality chains (Disney Cruise Lines, Princess Cruise Lines, Hitlon & Marriot hotel chains) by the out-of-home entertainment distribution giant Promo Only. And, in September, fade first debuted in the US through the Internet radio station, Pandora.

For more updates about fade, their upcoming tour dates and to learn more about the members, visit www.fadeonline.com.

Find fade on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/fade_tokyo/270416539205

 

For US/North American inquiries, interview requests & bookings contact:

Big Apple Style Marketing

Attn:  DorianSmith

Dorian@BigAppleStyleMarketing.com

For International inquiries, interview requests & bookings contact:

C.E.United, Inc / Offical International Rep of fade

Attn: Cozy Mizoguchi

cozy@ceu.co.jp

“fade” Featured for the Month of November on Windows Media’s “Artist on the Rise” Page!

Okay, if you visit this blog on the regular, you know that Big Apple Style Marketing (BASM) provides quite a bit of content to Microsoft’s entertainment Internet site, WindowsMedia.com. Well, this week – and this month – we’ve snagged a top spot for one of our favorite and newest clients, fade! fade (intentionally lower-case!) is a five member rock band that was officially formed in Tokyo, Japan but with deep roots in the US. Four of the five members are actually originally from the States – three from New York and the lead singer (and fashion model) from Seattle.

This week, all of BASM’s WindowsMedia.com placements are for fade – even a month long placement on the “Artist on the Rise” promotional page which is entirely dedicated to them!

Up first, we have a placement on the Windows Media home page, featuring a photo from fade’s latest release, “Kings of Dawn”.

Japanese rock group "fade" featured on WindowsMedia.com

 

Clicking on their picture will redirect you to the “Artist on the Rise” page, which is only updated once a month. So, for an entire month, fade “stans” and interested newcomers can view photos, visit fade’s official website (www.fadeonline.com) and listen/watch songs and music videos from fade’s three latest albums: “Age of Innocence”, “To Find a Better Tomorrow” and “Kings of Dawn”.

fade featured as the "Artist on the Rise" on WindowsMedia.com

And just in case you couldn’t get enough of fade, we also have a placement on the Windows Media “Music Home Page” in the rotating picture banner at the top of the page.

fade featured on the WindowsMedia.com "Music Home Page"

Yes music fans, the fade invasion has officially begun! But if you still can’t get enough of their guitar driven, edgy & high energy tracks, we highly suggest you check them out on Pandora where you can create a customized fade station (search term: fade Japan)!

WindowsMedia.com, WindowsMedia.com/mobile and the Windows Media player for PC are all a division of Microsoft. They are considered an entertainment guide and receive roughly 250 million hits a month, with 14 million of those being unique. Although the majority of the traffic is from the US, they also receive a large amount of international traffic. Content is featured from around the world and spans television, music, film, video game and radio station content. If you’re interested in having your original entertainment content posted on Windows Media, please contact BASM at contact@bigapplestylemarketing.com.

Japanese Rock Band “fade” Launches Their US Invasion By Debuting on Pandora Internet Radio

September 30, 2011

For Immediate Release:

In the United States, music-philes and industry insiders are always searching for the next new wave of music – especially from international sources. That search can end since one of Japan’s top rock groups, fade, timed their latest album release “Kings of Dawn” with the launch of their international tour this Spring – ending with a huge focus on US penetration beginning this Fall.

fade's 6th and most recent album release "Kings of Dawn"

“fade” is a unique five member rock group from Japan that truly embodies the ability to effectively bridge Eastern and Western cultures by seamlessly blending the iconic 1980’s American rock sounds with their inherent international flavor. Of its band members, four are originally from the United States. Kansei (guitar), Noriyuki (bass) and Rui (drums/writer/founder) hail from New York and their lead singer Jon Underdown is from Seattle – two influential cities known for heavily shaping the American music scene over the years. The fifth member 5° is from Japan and a noted artist within the community.

Hence fade is called “Blue eyed Samurai x Black eyed Cowboys”, or “California Roll of Rock”, based on their real international blend of authentic mixture between East and West insights and culture.

Although the majority of the members are from the US, fade officially launched in Japan, where the group has been very successful since their first album dropped in 2003. Since then, all five albums have been well received, with chart topping hits that have earned them music placements on popular video games such as Drum Mania, Guitar Freak, and lead vocalist, Jon, featured in Gran Turismo as well as in popular movies and television series that were released in Japan.

With their sixth and latest album release “Kings of Dawn”, fade is now ready to focus on connecting with their international fans via their “Return Home” tour in the United States this Fall/Winter, hugely motivated by the fact that they faced the 3.11 earthquake and tsunami disaster in Tohoku this year. fade, decided to ”become a ‘Music Hub’ for encouraging people via the power of Rock” by leveraging their unique international formation and global culture.

To initially kick off their US marketing campaign, fade paired up with the strongest American Internet radio station, Pandora this September to release their three most recent albums: “To Find a Better Tomorrow”(2008), “Age of Innocence”(2009) and “Kings of Dawn”(2011). “One Reason” from “Kings of Dawn” has been featured as the theme song for the popular TV animation program “Dead Man Wonderland”.

Like the “California roll” has evolved, originating from Japan to become a popular dish globally, fade is fully ready to enter the world market with their global quality level of “tasteful” rock sounds.

For more updates about fade, their upcoming tour dates and to learn more about the members, visit www.fadeonline.com.

Find fade on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/fade_tokyo/270416539205

For US/North American inquiries, interview requests & bookings contact:

Big Apple Style Marketing
Attn: Dorian Smith
Dorian@BigAppleStyleMarketing.com

For International inquiries, interview requests & bookings contact:
C.E.United, Inc / Offical International Rep of fade
Attn; Cozy Mizoguchi
cozy@ceu.co.jp

Big Apple Style Marketing Signs with Pandora Radio

For Immediate Release:

June 29th, 2011

Big Apple Style Marketing, LLC (BASM), (www.bigapplestylemarketing.com) a digital entertainment marketing firm, is pleased to announce that they have begun supplying original music to Pandora Radio (www.pandora.com), a streaming online radio platform for consumers in the United States via their various avenues for in and out of home/on the go listening. Through this opportunity, BASM can now provide a platform for major label and independent international artists to tap into the highly coveted US music listening demographic.

With a listening audience of more than 90 million American consumers, Pandora is an interactive Internet radio service that focuses on the listener’s responses to create personalized radio stations that mirror the listener’s interests. Consumers can access Pandora through a variety of avenues: laptop and desktop computers, smartphones, connected Blu-ray players, connected TVs, and plans for automotive integrations in BMW, Ford, GM, Hyundai, Mercedes-Benz, MINI and Toyota. The Pandora app for mobile devices has been one of the top downloaded applications since it debuted in 2008.

Founded in 2009, Big Apple Style Marketing  is a NYC based full service digital entertainment marketing firm representing producers that create original music, film and television content. BASM  focuses on marketing, distributing and monetizing original entertainment content through digital platforms such as Internet, mobile and television (terrestrial and out-of-home platforms). BASM  assists clients with music licensing, television licensing, music distribution, product placement opportunities and the creation of long term residual income streams. BASM’s approval by Pandora to provide international content from Asian artists is one of the first steps being taken to actualize the company’s initiative to create a bridge for entertainment between the East and West with a focus on Asia and the United States.

For more details regarding Big Apple Style Marketing, please contact Dorian Smith at contact@bigapplestylemarketing.com.