Scope:
In early 1998, MP3 was virtually ignored by the press. Several digital music technologies were competing for market attention. While working at Golin/Harris, Shambhu Neil Vineberg launched, gained acceptance for and popularized the MP3 digital music format while working with several startups, including MP3.com, MusicMatch,Diamond Multimedia, eMusic and Xing. He formed those companies into the MP3 Association and devised a media strategy to launch and gain acceptance and adoption for the MP3 digital music format.
Objectives:
+ Introduce MP3 technology to the business and consumer markets.
+ Drive consumer adoption of MP3 as the preferred digital music technology.
Strategies:
+ Create a campaign, “Brace Yourself for the Battle Over MP3″, using media briefings and speaking engagements that introduced editors and analysts to the MP3 community’s spokespeople, messaging and technology.
+ Focus the press on the battle brewing between the digital music community and record companies and on the challenges faced by the MP3 industry in its uphill fight for market legitimacy.
+ Explain the digital music battle from the standpoint of MP3 consumers, advancing
positive MP3 messages, and supporting the recording industry’s anti-piracy initiatives.
+ Portray the record industry’s position on MP3 as detrimental to free trade,technological progress and personal expression.
+ Launch “Brace Yourself for the Battle Over MP3″ at the first MP3 Summit organizedby MP3.com.
+ Unify MP3 software and hardware companies as a trade group — the MP3Association — and announce the group’s formation at WebNoize, a prominent digitalmusic conference.
Results:
+ The initial wave of MP3 stories included a cover story (the first ever on MP3) in Billboard and extensive coverage in USA TODAY. Virtually overnight, hits to MP3 Web sites jumped 20-fold.
+ Over 800 stories were written on MP3 in consumer, trade and business publications. According to Newsday, MP3 had become the second most searched for term on the Internet. Barely six months later, MP3 was the dominant Internet music distribution technology, according to Web Noize. MP3 was also named one of the top five technology stories of the year by CBS News.
+ MP3 was positioned favorably against competing digital music technologies from Lucent, Dolby and others. MP3 dominated media discussions of digital music technology. All other technologies were eventually dismissed as irrelevant.
+ The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) and its membership – the six major record labels - portrayed as adversaries of students who had already selected MP3 as their digital audio technology of choice.
+ 4 of 5 client companies were acquired or went public within 9 months of the campaign’s launch.
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