We've taken some time with Justin Macchio (VP, Marketing at AWAL) based out of LA to explore how he approached an exemplary campaign with a genius creator - mxmtoon (check her out). This is part of our AWAL Academy course too but we've singled it out here as it's a great introduction to how you can work elegantly with the various facets of a great artist.
"So with mxmtoon, we've been working with her and her team for almost two years now. When we started preparing for the new album campaign, we began working with her in early 2020 and released a series of singles that culminated in two EPs later that year. In 2021, we even worked on a companion soundtrack for a video game, which just shows how strong our working relationship was with her and her team. They truly understood her vision and values, which helped us to be ahead of the game when it came to planning the campaign."
Justin, along with the management and mxmtoon herself, had numerous meetings with the internal creative team and all the external teams involved, from press to radio. The goal was set from the beginning and the team worked hard to ensure they were on track. The first single was released in January 2020.
However, with the pandemic hitting in March 2020, all plans for touring, promo trips, and in-person press had to be cancelled. Despite this setback, mxmtoon was able to go back to what had launched her career in the first place, creating content online and connecting with her fans in a digital space. While in-person interactions are important for an artist's career, the pandemic leveled the playing field for everyone.
Justin mentioned that mxmtoon is a very creative individual with multiple artistic outlets, including being a musician, gamer, TikTok influencer, designer, podcast host, and Twitch streamer. They made sure that music was the central focus of her career and used all her other outlets to drive her audience back to her music.
To communicate the goals and narrative effectively, Justin says they had regular calls, communication, and weekly meetings with every team member. mxmtoon has a very strong creative vision, which makes it easy for everyone to understand what she wants to achieve. With clear communication and goal-setting, the team was able to successfully carry out the campaign.