Using AC/DC & Excel to your advantage

We attended Creative Review’s Click Conference yesterday at the Art Director’s Club here in NYC. One of the most engaging talks was by Phil Clandillon, Creative Director at Sony Music UK.

Clandillon spoke about utilizing their target audience’s preferred media to their advantage and how this has helped them to compete in the music industry’s overcrowded marketplace. One project using that strategy was a promotion for AC/DC’s Black Ice album. While researching their audience, they found that most AC/DC fans (in the UK) are middle aged businessmen working at big business corporations.

Clandillion found through research that the only available entry point for his audience was at work. However, company firewalls prohibited most files from getting through to his audience. The only universal file which could pass through was an excel document. Both former programmers, Phil and his colleague found a programmer who was willing to execute the code and in the end produced a one of a kind video that reached their target audience in a efficient and creative way. Stories like this inspire us to look beyond technological boundaries, and fight for an idea that we know will excite and inspire our audience.