Sony Music Japan: Headbanging activated website by Ogilvy & Mather Japan

According to Spotify, heavy metal is ruling the streaming airwaves across the world, revealing metal fans as the most loyal among music fans.

To announce Japan’s electrocore metal band Crossfaith’s latest “Freedom” EP with the first single ‘DiavolosI’, the band introduces a one-of-a-kind promo, by engaging with their fans digitally, where visitors of the interactive site are required to headbang in front of the webcam to unlock live-streaming of a new track not available anywhere else in the world. The moment the fan stops the headbanging movement, the music stops.

In addition to fans earning the exclusive rights to sample the new song, they are rewarded along the way with a long sequence of tantalizing visual effects that showcases the contemporary artwork of the album cover that morphs into a metal aesthetic that the community are more accustomed to as the song proceeds towards a crescendo.

Upon the completion of the song -by utilizing the site’s deep learning API, capturing the varied prowess of the headbanging movement- fans are further rewarded with an artwork generated from the image-tracking algorithm and depending on how well they had done to successfully make it metal as the bragging rights.

This experiential idea out of Ogilvy Japan alongside Sony Music Japan, is a unique promo fitting to Crossfaith - whom originated from Osaka, Japan - citing the likes of Slipknot, Bullets For My Valentine, Trivium even electro band Prodigy as their many influences, is also renowned for their intense live performances. This website surely feels like it and with a hell of a lot of conviction.

“Traditional ways of promoting music albums just aren’t as effective anymore as it was in the past. In its place is a new era in which musicians blend art, advertising and technology in smart and exciting ways. That is why we created this unprecedented piece to help launch and propel the band’s new music.” said Ajab Samrai, chief creative officer of Ogilvy & Mather Japan.

“The band has been known for fusing metal with hardcore, dubstep and other electronic forms, but is ultimately a metal band,” added Ogilvy creative director Aaron Phua of this work. “It is important that the idea is authentic and natural for the band and their fans to engage in without being a “sellout”, headbanging certainly connects them with the music both physically and emotionally.”