Summary
Agency: Clarion Communications
The Challenge
How do you make a virtual festival stand out against the plethora of online events and activities taking place across the country? Clarions’ solution was out of this world: take the festival into space. Via NASA. And if you’re blasting off music into space, what do you need to give it the seal of complete and utter authenticity? Why, the spirit of David Bowie, of course. Our strategy was therefore simple – create an unforgettable song during the world’s craziest time and showcase it to the world. And while we’re at it, let’s beam it up to space!
This was no ordinary MOK Fest purely targeting traditional music fans; it was during a global pandemic when people were keen to try new things and open to new possibilities through the virtual space. This presented MOK Fest with a huge opportunity to reach a completely new and undiscovered audience.
The Solution
With help from the event organiser we tracked down a local band to perform a unique Bowie cover. And thanks to some existing contacts at NASA, the next step was simple – track down the current ISS programme manager, persuade him to listen to the idea, and from there, the rest would follow. This outrageous idea started to become a reality when International Space Station program manager Joel Montalbano confirmed that he was ‘more than happy to get the song to the crew’.
So on a warm Saturday evening in August, to launch the virtual MOK Fest 2020, the Slainte Davaar All-stars - a socially-distanced mix of the festival’s musical talent - assembled on the runway at nearby Machrihanish Airbase, which is aiming to become the UK's first spaceport.
And there they performed a very special version of the Starman’s evergreen classic Space Oddity, which was beamed 286 miles above the earth, live and direct to the International Space Station.
As ISS commander Chris Cassidy and fellow cosmonauts Anatoly Ivanishin and Ivan Vagner silently orbited the earth, they listened as the music played in the space station.
Iain Johnston, of organisers JIG Events, told national media: “The Mull of Kintyre music festival has encouraged people to visit Kintyre from all parts of the globe since its inception 28 years ago and we were naturally disappointed, like every other event organiser up and down the country, to have to cancel this year.
"We hope the ISS astronauts enjoy their Scottish welcome just as much as we enjoyed making it."
As well as the transmission into space, the video performance was broadcast on the festival Facebook page, to launch the online-only five-day event. All concerts were pre-recorded and live streamed on Facebook at no charge.
The Results
Media coverage of the festival launch event was stellar: from BBC Online to Heart radio playing the new version of Space Oddity on Drivetime, and from eight national hits across print, broadcast and online to an organic festival Facebook reach of 200,000, with plenty of views and feedback particularly from the USA and Canada.
Coverage summary:
- Total items of coverage: 174
- ROI: 29:1
Iain Johnston, the Mull of Kintyre Music Festival event manager, said: “Working with Clarion was inspirational. Their creative thinking allowed us to include NASA’s International Space Station in our campaign.
This was a simple, low-budget campaign that captured the imagination of the media and public during a period of reported 20,000 online events taking place each day. It played a vital role in bringing people together during an unprecedented time, whilst also connecting communities around the world.