Lilly Allen Branded Entertainment

Matmi has partnered with British pop star Lilly Allen to promote her single and second album.

The artist?s single and album were promoted by Matmi through the online game ?Escape the Fear.? Internal statistics say that the songs had already passed 2 million plays. At the same time, it went to the top of iTunes music charts in UK, US, and other countries.

Lilly Allen?s single ?The Fear? has held on the number one spot in the UK Singles chart for three weeks.

The integrated campaign was engineered by Parlophone and Matmi.

?The game was designed to help us reach a new audience for Lily ? people who are not listening to the radio, reading the music press or generally exposed to new music, but are part of our target audience,? said Dan Duncombe, Director of Digital at Parlophone. ?The game is based on the lyrics of ?The Fear? and the single is the game?s soundtrack. With an average dwell time of nearly five minutes the vast majority of players are listening to the track more than once.?

Duncombe maintained, ?This game is the promo video of the digital age.?

It is the perfect example of branded entertainment at work, said Jeff Coghlan from Matmi. ?Consumers are sick of online advertising because it doesn?t have any intrinsic value,? Coghlan asserted. ?When it?s done properly, branded entertainment like ?Escape the Fear? has very high value and gives consumers an opportunity to interact with the brand as well. When consumers endorse the material by passing it on, the positive influence of the brand is nine times more powerful than an advert. When you take the costs into account as well, it?s no wonder major brands like Parlophone are using these more sophisticated promotional techniques.?