Sharon Jones & The Dap Kings
Our live concerts are the stuff of legend; The Poets of Rhythm, Quantic Soul Orchestra, Nicole Willis & The Soul Investigators, Soul Jazz Orchestra, Hypnotic Brass Ensemble and The Hot 8 Brass Band are some of the live acts to come through our stable. As keen DJs and music fans, we also love the original artists that paved the way and wherever we can, we try to book artists from yesteryear whom we feel are still relevant to what is going on in music today. Artists like Candi Staton, Sweet Charles, Marva Whitney, The Head Hunters, Clarence Reid aka Blowfly and even the legendary Spanky Wilson.
As part of the Bud Rising Music Festival we were asked by Edelman/Diageo to conceive a live show that surpassed our established reputation. Something that would immediately capture the imagination of the target audience in the run up to the Bud Rising PR activation. Sharon Jones & The Dap Kings, the Brooklyn based collective had been making noise in the year running up to the event as the session band for Mark Ronson’s various projects which included Amy Winehouse and Lily Allen. On top of this was the fine album they had released with Sharon Jones earlier that year on their own Daptone label which only added to their reputation. Support on the night came from very talented Noelle Scaggs formerly of Los Angeles based band The Rebirth.
Daytime radio airplay, interviews, competitions, national press along with our digital strategy made this one of our most successful PR campaigns to date coming to a head with an appearance on BBC’s ‘Later with Jools Holland’ the night before our event. Utilising social networks, online media and above the line PR we were able to engage the target market with a campaign that created a massive interest in the run up to the festival eg. mp3 downloads, YouTube footage, competitions. This ensured that we exceeded initial expectations. The reviews of the concert confirmed our pedigree for outstanding attention to detail in live and visual productions and was regarded by many as the outstanding event of Bud Rising 08.
