I PREVAIL
TRAUMA
It reads like a Cinderella story, albeit one set in the slightly less glamorous suburbs of Detroit – in just under five years a band goes from delivering pizza to headlining arenas worldwide, Grammy nominations, gracing magazine covers and seeing their first single goes Platinum. It doesn’t happen much let alone in an age where developing and breaking a rock band seems like an impossibility. And yet, defying the odds thanks to an uncanny tap on digital marketing and writing songs that come close to the heavy-lite universal appeal not seen since Linkin Park, I Prevail are that band, and their journey has been incredible to be a key part of.
The TRAUMA campaign was going to be defining – all eyes on a sophomore release poised to explode, and going through the motions wasn’t going to cut it. The album theme resonated in an age of high awareness for mental health and a singer living and breathing the struggles daily. Branding the art early it even became it’s own social icon [//], and with first single “Bow Down”, one of the most anthemic heavy tracks in recent years, we wanted to showcase the acceptance that it was okay to experience and acknowlege your own form of TRAUMA. In marketing terms we translated this to a mobile rage room – or rather, TRAUMA room, at UCLA where fans listened to “Bow Down” on wireless headphones and had the chance, to put it politely, smash the living f**k out of a room in the name of stress relief. It was the added dimension to a release bound to cause a stir with a dual single release at its impetus, and an explosion out of the gate.
With a campaign and sales of TRAUMA building and shows selling out, the ultimate sign that this was indeed the real deal was an impressive two Grammy nods for Best Rock Album for TRAUMA and Best Metal performance for “Bow Down”. To encourage voting but also do a victory lap with the news, and to underline that this is the people’s band, the people’s album – we created an OOH ad campaign turning traditional ads into photo opportunities – a billboard in Detroit making the band’s story of rising above adversity with that of the city that rose from the ashes. Bus benches with key lyrics from songs on TRAUMA became Instagrammable in LA. Not even a year into the campaign and still with collaborations, remixes, and more music videos to come the campaign is far from over and the band are destined to get to new heights before dropping album three.
