Living On a Jet Plane
Source: Singapore Cable Vision Guide - Telescope Jan 2001
One 767, five guys, six continents, 100 hours. The Backstreet Boys' launch of Black and Blue was the media event of 2000. Chua Kim Beng measures their runaway success, and ponders on the effect of gilt-free ring fingers. Backstreet Boys. You couldn't avoid that name late last year when the Florida based quintet launched their fourth album Black and Blue. Well, maybe you were a resident of Antarctica...
In the world of pop music, where hype and gimmicks are the order of the date, the world's media was just with reports about the Backstreet Boys' world tour. If it had been just a regular concert tour, the blas� media might not have paid as much notice. The kicker was that the five guys were covering six continents in 100 hours (55 in air, 45 on the ground) aboard a luxury 767 jet - quite unprecedented. The plane had 'BACKSTREET BOYS' boldly painted (in black and blue, of course) down the length of its body, even though the plane was rented from the Saudi Minister of Defence.
Plenty of column inches would have been gained by that one event alone. But way before that marathon plane ride (which took the boys to meet raucous fans in Stockholm, Tokyo, Sydney, Perth, Cape Town, Rio de Janeiro and New York City), their record label, Jive Records, had already put into gear a marketing assault strategy that General Patton would have been proud of.
A deal was struck with Amplified.com to make the new album's first single, 'Shape Of My Heart', available for download on the band's official website, www.backstreetboys.com, until the day of the album's public release. The complete music video of the single could also be viewed there. That's not all. Also on the website were snippets of three other songs from the album, plus a 28-second message from the group, thanking fans for their "enthusiasm and support throughout our career."
Adopting guerrilla marketing tactics, Jive and the boy band's management group. The Firm, hired southern California-based marketing company, M80, to build a buzz among the group's ardent and Internet-savvy fan base. Almost 13,000 fans were recruited to wallpaper their communities with reams of Backstreet Boys posters and fliers. They were also asked to deluge radio stations and MTV with requests for 'Shape of My Heart'. In exchange, these loyal fans got first dibs at glimpsing album artwork and other such goodies. Street teams have been the staples of rap acts for some years, while online 'armies' aren't new either. However media site Inside.com notes that "the Backstreet Boys' latest campaign is groundbreaking in its size and scope."
As Backstreet Boys, Kevin Richardson, Brian Littrell, Howie Dorough, AJ McLean and Nick Carter have collectively sold more than 51 million albums worldwide. Their five-album pact with Jive, rumored to be worth US$60m, is easily one of the biggest in music history, something not seen since Michael Jackson was the King of Pop. With the release of Black And Blue, they have also matured. There's none of that usual boy band uniform, in its place are individual style and musical tastes which are peppered throughout the album.
Audiences that grew with the boys appreciate that. And it shows: for all their trendsetting marketing efforts, the Backstreet Boys sold an amazing 1.6 million copies of Black and Blue in its first week of release. This despite two of the five members getting married last year, an act once anathema in popdom as it would have alienated fans of the opposite sex. For the record, the goateed Kevin Richardson, the oldest of the pack at 28, married his long-time dancer girlfriend Kristin Willits on 17 Jun, while Richardson's blond and boyish cousin, 25-year-old Brian Littrell, walked down the aisle with Leighanne Reena Wallace on 2 Sep.
Who knows what influences the buying whims of the teen market? One thing's for sure: the glided left ring finger does not stop the ringing of the cash tills. And for that, we have the Backstreet Boys to thank for growing up as responsible, young men.
Backstreet Boys: The Story So Far
Find out how MTV Asia's artist of the month got to be where they are on Backstreet Boys: The Story So Far. The show debuts on MTV Asia (Ch 11) on Fri, 5 Jan at 1:00pm. The show repeats at 7:00pm on the same day and again on 17 Jan at the same two time slots.
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