World first collaborative Facebook live remix with Toddla T and Stylo G at Red Bull Studios London.
Toddla T is an exciting and energetic producer, remixer, DJ, radio presenter and Notting Hill Carnival soundsystem regular from Sheffield, England. He has a weekly show on the UK’s biggest radio station BBC Radio 1 and its sister station 1xtra.
As a globe trotting DJ who has played everywhere from Kingston, Jamaica to Sydney, Australia Toddla knows about bringing good vibes and fun to anything he is involved with. After releasing two studio albums, including one on the prestigious Ninja Tunes label, Toddla is gearing up for the release of his third studio album on his own label Steeze.
Singles from the new album Foreign Light have already garnered massive support across a wide spectrum of DJ’s, streaming playlists and radio shows, with significant support from Radio 1’s daytime DJ’s, proving he has some big potential hits on his hands!
Believe Digital tasked us with putting together an innovative, modern and high impact marketing campaign to promote Toddla T’s third studio album, Foreign Light.
The album showcases Toddla T’s maturity and diversity as a producer, and features collaborations with big names such as Andrea Martin, Wiley, CasIsDead, Steflon Don, Addis Pablo and more. It was essential that we put forward a campaign that would promote the album, providing maximum impact and return on investment, whilst reflecting the style and new direction of the album.
Sometimes an idea for something like this can slowly emerge over the course of a few meetings and brainstorming sessions. Other times, you hit on something almost immediately. This was one such case, where a fully formed idea was plucked from the ether right there on the spot.
“How about a livestream remix of one of the tracks from the album, where the audience is encouraged to join in and shape the direction of the track? It will be a lot of fun and really drive engagement and reach.” The concept was pounced on instantly, and was unanimously approved (subject to ironing out a few details in the coming weeks).
The idea was incubated, nourished and eventually emerged in its final form. Toddla T would invite a guest vocalist to feature on the remix. None other than the acclaimed UK dancehall artist Stylo G. This was sure to bring energy and unparalleled vibes to the event. All we needed now was a great location to facilitate the broadcast. Red Bull liked the idea, and were keen to get involved, offering the use of their London studios. They also suggested that the event be streamed on their own Facebook page, as this would offer increased reach and engagement, maximising the streams impact.
We knew the idea was good, but in order to really encourage audience participation and make it a truly collaborative experience, we needed to augment Facebook Live’s native functionality. We developed a solution that would allow us to overlay custom graphics, run polls, and display comments in the stream, amongst other things, all branded to match the style of the new album.
The Red Bull studio was already equipped with several cameras to capture all angles in the studio and vocal booth, as well as the audio and visual feed directly from Toddla T’s laptop. We were able to make full use of this during the stream, switching between cameras and using picture-in-picture to add interest to the viewing experience.
A pre-poll was run ahead of the livestream to decide what style the remix should be in. This was a great way to spread the word about the upcoming stream and to incite audience participation from the get-go.
As the stream got under way the viewers steadily climbed. Toddla T’s extensive experience as a radio DJ really showed. He was in his element, engaging with the audience and cracking jokes, all the while actually getting on with the process of remixing the track and taking on board comments from the audience.
The stream was going well, the audience were getting involved and viewers continued to climb. Energy levels escalated yet further when Stylo G entered the building. The dynamic between the two stars was incredible and the vibes were palpable. It wasn’t until Stylo G got into the booth that we realised just how special what we were witnessing was. He effortlessly laid down a verse off the dome that gave a whole new character to the remix, and excited everyone both in the studio and in the comments.
Toddla T was visibly invigorated by Stylo’s input, and with some help from the audience the remix really started to take shape and find its own sound. The response was overwhelmingly positive, and we even saw Will Kennard from Chase & Status grace the comment section to offer his support and techy production advice.
The stream was originally meant to be one hour, but Toddla T was having so much fun that it ran closer to one and a half. Given the strict time limit, the quality of the end result was superb. When it was all done and dusted, everyone involved was left with smiles from to ear to ear - thrilled with success of the concept, the positivity of the comments and remix itself.
The stream reached more than 1.8 million people, and had over 230,000 views on Facebook. It received 122 shares, 665 reactions and over 400 comments, far exceeding the usual for the Red Bull Page.
It is fair to say that the concept was a great success, the audience participation aspect and engagement worked incredibly well. Incentivising comments in this manner meant that a much higher percentage of viewers commented on the stream when compared to other videos with similar reach.