ALICE COOPER – WELCOME 2 MY NIGHTMARE
Brief.
Outside have looked after Alice Cooper for 18 months, working on record releases as well as tours and personal PR. In the run up to his UK dates around Halloween 2011, we organised a vast array of media hits that dovetailed with his new album too.
Strategy.
The campaign really began in summer 2011 when Alice collected a Kerrang Award and played Download Festival. He also came back to London and played a small gig at the 100 Club. His blistering performance and the attendance of key media tatsemakers really set the job up for the rest of the year. The appearance of Johnny Depp on guitar that night was also something we made sure was pushed out all over the media
In the run up to the tour and album, we organised initiatives to give different dimensions to the campaign:
Auditions for freaks and fire acts – they appeared on stage during the tour, the acts were chosen by Alice himself and journalists from the Evening Standard, Metal Hammer and Planet Rock. Other TV, radio, online and press also came along to cover the event
BFI Horror night – we devised a Horror Movie night with Alice interviewed about the genre’s influence on him and vice versa. Again, media came and interviewed Alice, filming online video for NME and BBC, plus conducting radio interviews and more.
Rock The House – Alice backed this competition that promotes live music, at Parliament. Pictures we organised with house of Commons Speaker John Bercow appeared in many places, boosting the profile of Alice in the week leading up to the tour starting.
More conventional tour coverage included working across print, boradcast and online, using the eclectic and versatile nature of Alice himself. While catering to the rock media, based on the album being sold in one version as a Classic Rock magazine special with Future Publishing, we deliberately put Alice in situations that surprised people. Loose Women turned out to be a great daytime TV hit, alongside an acclaimed performance as host of Never Mind The Buzzcocks. While we covered most broadsheet arts sections, Alice interviews appeared in tabloids. We made sure to cater for the core rock audience, while building his reputation with the cooler music cognescenti, hitting Stool Pigeon, The Quietus and several NME and NME.com articles alongside Kerrang.
Pop star Ke$ha also appeared on the album and their performances together made great entertainment news pictures, as well as a joint interview Guardian Film & Music that sold Alice’s incredibly wide influence very well.
Results.
Bigger press pieces included features in the Daily Telegraph, Independent Magazine cover, The Guardian, Sunday Times Magazine, Daily Mail, The Mirror, The Sun, Daily Record, NME, Kerrang, Clash, Classic Rock and big regionals.
We worked online in a big way, providing materials to an array of specialist rock sites but also expanding both into mainstream and much cooler areas e.g. Times online, MSN, The Quietus, many NME.com pieces and others.
Television included booking Alice to host Never Mind The Buzzcocks, appearing on Loose Women, the Ronnie Wood show on Sky Arts and Absolute Radio
Radio included interviews on BBC 5 Live and 6Music, Planet Rock, Absolute and more.
The album itself was his most successful in 20 years and the shows were talking points across the country. The campaign continues with regular requests from media for Alice, including a recent interview by comedian Noel Fielding in the Guardian Guide, an example of a younger, influential fan we have cultivated relationship with.
