With sagging ticket sales, the first order of business was rebranding the event. What better for a Church-sponsored event than the Churchiest of traditional Church themes? The lawn marquee. Verging on camp, it’s ubiquitous with Church and announcements of all kinds; service times, hymn selection, Bible verses, pot-luck dinners, raffles, and so on. So, we leaned hard into this traditional look-n-feel across all touch points including billboards, website, emails, banner ads, newspaper, event signage, and social media. Even bathroom ads were given the sacred treatment.
Having piqued the public’s interest with our Churchy vibe, we turned our efforts to developing the perfect foil; our jilted ladies of punk rock, Hell Hath No Fury, who would demand their spot in the Block Party line-up.
We started by creating our faux Fem Punk band from scratch and casting our trio.
Next, the band needed songs. I wrote and produced a three song album, “Boy, Shut Up!” The band’s other two tracks, ”RoundRound” and “Black-n-White” can be heard here, on SoundCloud.
We built street cred with wild postings by wheatpasting band posters around Mpls demanding a spot in the Basilica’s lineup. Above: Series of four wild postings (24 x 36)
We took things a step further by announcing our fake band’s local gigs at real venues… the day after, of course.
Above: Series of fake gig posters
We rounded out the band’s legitimacy on social media posting new music, upcoming gigs, and more. Every platform you’d expect a local band to have, we created and populated with content–SoundCloud, Facebook, and Instagram (tiled, digital zine).
Lastly, in an unprecedented act of faux defiance, we vandalized our own billboards. People noticed. They weren’t happy about it. Great thing about people is, when they aren’t happy about something, they like to talk about it. On social media. Day. Made. Scroll right to see progression.
Media. Fooled. Amy Hockert, Fox 9 (KMSP) reports.
Lastly-lastly, the band climbed to the top of the Basilica of St. Mary, and into the bell tower, to hang a banner in full view of Interstate 94. The stunt brought traffic to a crawl. Mpls’ finest made an appearance. Good times.
Clip from Hell Hath No Fury’s music video for “Boy, Shut Up”.
2017 BBP : Hell Hath No Fury
Campaign
The Basilica Block Party is an annual music festival put on by the Catholic Church. The mission of the event is to raise money for the restoration the historic Basilica of St. Mary in downtown Minneapolis.
Ask: In recent years, the Church-sponsored event lost its’ edge and ticket sales lagged. They wanted to recapture the public’s attention.
Solution: In addition to an entire event rebrand, we created a controversy between a Fem Punk trio and the Catholic Church. Via social media, Hell Hath No Fury (our fictional punk band) tangled with The Basilica of St. Mary, demanding a spot in the festival’s line-up.
Awards: The Show MN 2018
GOLD / Integrated Media Public Service Campaign
SILVER / Public Service Campaign
SILVER / Public Service OOH
BRONZE / Public Service Poster
BRONZE / Poster Campaign