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iHeartMedia    

Challenge:

In a landscape full of awards shows, iHeartMedia needed to find a way for their music awards show to stand out. iHeartMedia aimed to revolutionize the voting process for the iHeartRadio Music Awards, seeking not only to boost audience engagement but also to seamlessly integrate social media into the very fabric of the event. The goal was clear: transform audience participation from passive viewing to active engagement through an innovative voting mechanism on one of the world’s biggest stages—social media.

Solution:

We partnered with iHeartMedia to craft a dynamic social media voting campaign that leveraged the power of Twitter, turning each tweet into a vote that could potentially sway the outcome of the awards. To participate, fans were required to be registered on Twitter, with their accounts set to public, ensuring a transparent and expansive voting environment.

Our strategy was meticulously designed to make the voting process as accessible and viral as possible.
  • ->    Voting Criteria: Votes were cast directly through tweets that included the nominee’s hashtag or Twitter handle, a category-specific hashtag, and the essential #iHeartAwards hashtag. This method ensured that each vote was easy to track and validate.
  • ->    Public Participation: By mandating that accounts be public, we ensured that every vote was visible, shareable, and capable of garnering more votes through retweets, thereby amplifying reach and engagement.
  • ->    Real-Time Tracking and Updates: We implemented a backend system capable of tracking votes in real time, providing up-to-date feedback on voting trends which was shared with the audience leading up to the event to build buzz as well as during the event to further fuel audience engagement and competition.

Execution:

The campaign kicked off with a blast of media announcements and targeted social media ads that outlined the voting process and encouraged fans to get involved. Celebrities and nominees also got in on the action, urging their followers to vote and multiplying the campaign’s reach exponentially.

An example of a valid social vote was strategically simple yet effective:
  • "I'm voting for #KendrickLamar for #BestLyrics at the #iHeartAwards. RT to vote too!"

This format was not only a call to action but also a template that could be easily modified for different nominees and categories, making it viral and reusable.


Our campaign generated more tweets than the Super Bowl.

  • ->    Over 65 million votes and 7 billion impressions across Twitter and other open social platforms, creating massive buzz leading up to and during the event.
  • ->    Dramatically increased viewer engagement, with social media participation rates soaring by over 10,000% compared to previous years.
  • ->    Enhanced the viewing experience by integrating these real-time interactions directly into the broadcast, keeping viewers glued to their screens.

Conclusion:

iHeartMedia’s pioneering approach to integrating social media voting transformed the iHeartRadio Music Awards into a dynamic and interactive event that set a new standard for audience engagement in the digital age. The campaign not only significantly boosted viewer participation but also enhanced the overall excitement and visibility of the awards ceremony. 

The campaign worked so well that we executed it again and again that same year -- at iHeartCountry Festival, iHeartRadio Music Festival, Fiesta Latina, Jingle Ball and more. 

, and more.  Based on the huge improvements in pre-show buzz, and lift in audience engagement during the shows, the social campaign CROWN pioneered has become an integral part of iHeartMedia’s event strategy through the present day.

This case study exemplifies how leveraging social media, with a clear and engaging strategy, can profoundly impact live events, making them more vibrant and connected to a global audience.


Client: iHeartMedia
Agency: CROWN 
 
Metrics tracked using social media monitoring tools:


Metrics tracked using social media monitoring tools:

Total impressions
Activated reach
Total buzz
Sentiment
Buzz by day 
Buzz by hour
Top 5 content (by total number of interactions)
Top 5 most re-tweeted tweets
Top 5 Instagram content
Interactions by type 
Buzz by platform
Fan/follower growth of related iHeartMedia properties

Artists ranked by buzz and impressions:
A Great Big World, Arcade Fire, Arctic Monkeys, Ariana Grande, Armin Van Buuren, August Alsina, Austin Mahone, Avicii, Bastille, Bauer, Blake Shelton, Bruno Mars, Cage The Elephant, Calvin Harris, Capital Cities, Chris Martin, Daft Punk, Darius Rucker, Demi Lovato, Drake, Ed Sheeran, Eminem, Fitz & The Trantrums, Florida-Georgia Line, Grouplove, Harry Styles, Icona Pop, Imagine Dragons, J. Cole, Jason Aldean, Jay Z, Justin Bieber, Justin Timberlake, Katy Perry, Kendrick Lamar, Krewella, Lada GaGa, Lana Del Ray, Lorde, Luke Bryan, Lumineers, Macklemore, Maroon 5, Miley Cyrus, Neighbourhood, One Direction, Passenger, Pink, Pitbull, Randy Houser, Rihanna, Robin Thicke, Selena Gomez, Shakira, Steven Tyler, Taylor Swift, Thirty Seconds to Mars, Thomas Rhett, Tim McGraw, Wale, Zedd
, Zedd.
Award categories ranked by buzz and impressions:
Song of the Year, Artist of the Year, Best New Artist, Best Fan Army, Best Collaboration, Best Lyrics, Country Song of the Year, Hip Hop/R&B Song of the Year, EDM Song of the Year, Alt/Rock Song of the Year, Instagram Award
, Instagram Award.
Venues ranked by buzz and impressions:
Shrine Auditorium, The Roxy, Hotel Café (Los Angeles)

Sponsors ranked by buzz and impressions:
Taco Bell, Sprint, American Express

Comparison against other events (buzz and impressions):
Grammy Awards
American Music Awards
VMAs
Country Music Awards
People’s Choice Awards
Billboard Music Awards


- - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Issues w/ bots:

The CROWN data team noticed a significant presence of fake users (”bots”) engaging beginning about halfway through the first campaign, essentially drowning out authentic voices and discouraging users and artists alike from sharing, promoting, or engaging with the campaign. 

This appears to have been one of the first instances of a significant number of bots affecting the outcome of a vote. It makes sense to us that this practice originated here; the music industry has always been at the forefront of social media. 

We attempted to discover a common thread amongst the artists who benefitted from what we lovingly refer to as the Twitter Mafia, but we were unable to find any strong correlations or irrefutable through-lines amongst artists who engaged in this behavior. Artists sharing the same record label and/or contracting with the same PR/social firm employed very different tactics, leading us to believe what we had all along: that although the practice is widespread, it remains a personal decision driven by an artist and/or the artist’s social media team. 

Examples of bot posts below.

Recent posts on the subject: https://www.fastcompany.com/91321143/bot-farms-social-media-manipulation


82K+ IDENTICAL TWEETS WITH NONSENSICAL LETTER COMBOS FROM DIFFERENT ACCOUNTS WITH SAME TIMESTAMP.
PROFILE SHOWS 35K+ TWEETS BUT ONLY 2 FOLLOWERS; DETAILS CONFIRM SPAMBOT.
BOTS ARE FREQUENTLY USED TO REQUEST AN ARTIST’S SONGS ON THE RADIO.
HERE YOU CAN SEE THE #IHEARTAWARDS VOTES. THE BOTS APPEND AN INCREMENTED TEXT STRING TO THE BEGINNING OF EACH TWEET, ENSURING EACH POST IS UNIQUE.
MANY SUCH ACCOUNTS IN EXISTENCE...
HERE’S ANOTHER.
NOT TO SINGLE JUSTIN OUT, QUITE A FEW NOTEWORTHY ARTISTS EMPLOYED THIS TECHNIQUE. IT WAS QUITE EFFECTIVE; IN FACT, ARTISTS WHO DID NOT UTILIZE TWITTER MAFIA SPAMBOTS HAD NO CHANCE OF WINNING ANY OF THESE CONTEST CATEGORIES.
OKAY YOU GET THE POINT.
THEY APPEAR TO UTILIZE THE FIRST NAME “JESSICA” OR THE LAST NAME “SILVA” (OR BOTH IN THE ABOVE CASE).
TOO MUCH.
THE BOTS request songs on the radio and RETWEET EACH OTHER, too.
[CONTINUED FROM COMMENT AT LEFT] PITBULL AND ICONA POP WERE BOTH ON ATLANTIC RECORDS (WARNER MUSIC GROUP) AT THIS TIME, SO THAT MAKES SENSE; HOWEVER, LANA DEL REY WAS ON INTERSCOPE (UNIVERSAL), SO THE THEORY STARTS TO UNRAVEL. RIHANNA WAS ON DEF JAM (UNIVERSAL) AND JT WAS ON RCA (SONY).
THE @KESHUSS1 HANDLE APPEARS TO CARE MOST ABOUT VOTING FOR PITBULL & KESHA’S “TIMBER” AS #BESTCOLLABORATION (SEE ANOTHER SCREENSHOT TO THE RIGHT); HOWEVER, THEY ARE ALSO ADVOCATING FOR “SUMMERTIME SADNESS” BY LANA DEL REY TO WIN EDM SONG OF THE YEAR, “I LOVE IT” BY ICONA POP TO WIN #BESTLYRICS, AND ICONA POP TO WIN #BESTNEWARTIST. 
HAD TO ADD RIHANNA OF COURSE!
TWITTER DID SOMETIMES CATCH ON TO THESE BOTS, BUT EVEN WHEN ACCOUNTS WERE SUSPENDED  WITHIN DAYS, THE DAMAGE WAS ALREADY DONE: MOST ARTISTS WHO DID NOT ENGAGE IN BALLOT STUFFING SAW THIS HAPPENING AND DISENGAGED, MOST OF THE TIME NOT PROMOTING THE EVENT AGAIN VIA THEIR OWN SOCIAL ACCOUNTS.



iHeartMedia

Project Information

Client: iHEARTMEDIA
Title: iheartradio music awards VOTING CAMPAIGN
Tags: social media strategy, gamification, CONTEST ENGINEERING, SOCIAL VOTING, influencer marketing, INTEGRATED MARKETING, global marketing, MUSIC MARKETING Credits

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