Music Week (issue date 23 July) printed the following article about Jamiroquai's marketing promotion with Sony Ericsson. The article announces the August gig in London and also that (Don't) Give Hate A Chance will be the third single from Dynamite, released in the UK on 10 October.
Major and mobile unite for priority launches
Jamiroquai will perform an intimate one-off London show on August 15 [ correction: it should be August 11 ] to launch the Sony Ericsson W800i handset. The event forms part of a planned six-month tie-up, marking the latest chapter in an ongoing relationship between Sony BMG and Sony Ericsson who have teamed up previously on releases from Anastacia, Alicia Keys and Faithless.
The Jamiroquai/Sony Ericsson partnership will be the most extensive yet, with the marketing schedule of the new handset and the Jamiroquai Dynamite album campaign running parallel. "There are going to be a number of spikes over the year when the marketing cycle of the album will synergise with Sony Ericsson's campaigns," says Sony BMG marketing manager Claire Horseman.
Coinciding with the live launch, Sony BMG will release the Dynamite albums' second single Seven Days In Sunny June. The launch will also serve as a fan promotion, with tickets given away via the official Jamiroquai website and official media partner Capital FM.
Sony Ericsson European music and marketing consultant Marcus Ehresmann says they were looking for a global artist to mark the phone company's entry to the mobile music market. "There are very few artists who have the sort of global reach that Jamiroquai has and, the way this deal has been structured, we can add value to the album campaign and vice-versa," he says. "Jay Kay is being used in the PR shout and all of the above-the-line imagery used in the campaign will complement that of the album, so people will be able to consistently draw lines between the two."
In October, the campaign will be stepped up as Jamiroquai becomes the face of Sony Ericsson's new 3G mobile handset. Teaming up with a yet-to-be-confirmed third-party service provider, it will give Sony BMG instant access to the provider's global database. "At that point we can communicate directly with the provider's customers," says Horseman. "Be it via phone bills, in-store or online. Essentially it provides us with more avenues to shout about Jamiroquai and the new album."
