Facebook is throwing its weight behind the 62nd Grammy Awards, hoping to engage music fans and demonstrate its commitment to the industry and artists.
The social giant, in addition to splashing videos, photos and key moments from this Sunday’s Grammys across Facebook and Instagram, will air its first Grammys TV ad in the CBS telecast featuring hip-hop artist Big Freedia and the International Kazoo Players Association group on Facebook. (Watch the 60-second spot below.) The company also will curate the first Facebook Collaborative Story for the Grammys and is hosting a lunch for nominees and music bizzers.
It’s all meant to be feel-good PR for Facebook, part of its efforts to boost consumers’ trust in the company after a string of recent controversies. At the same time, this year’s Grammys have been embroiled in their own controversy: Recently ousted Recording Academy chief Deborah Dugan this week alleged the nominations are rigged, claiming board members are able to secure Grammy nods for artists they have interests in supporting. On Thursday, the Recording Academy categorically denied Dugan’s “rigging” charges.
In any case, Facebook’s strategic aim here is to convey that it is celebrating the music community at large.
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Facebook’s first-ever ad in a Grammy Awards telecast, created by ad agency Wieden + Kennedy, puts a spotlight on the International Kazoo Players Association, a niche interest group on Facebook. The ad includes actual members of the Facebook group and follows an impromptu traveling kazoo performance that leads them into a full-blown house party where they meet an unexpected kazoo enthusiast: Big Freedia (pictured above). The song they’re performing on their kazoos is Freedia’s “Louder” (from her forthcoming EP of the same name due out on March 13).
The Grammys ad is part of Facebook’s “More Together” campaign, which is supposed to show viewers that whatever their unique talents and interests, there’s a Facebook group for them. The company is also set to air its first-ever Super Bowl ad in the same campaign during Fox’s Feb. 2 telecast, a 60-second commercial featuring Sylvester Stallone and Chris Rock.
Meanwhile, Facebook is partnering with the Recording Academy for the first-ever Grammys Facebook Collaborative Story. The concept — akin to Snapchat’s Our Story feature — is to bring together moments posted by nominees and presenters, along with content from the Grammys’ Facebook page, to give fans a variety of views from the big day all in one place. Facebook compiled a similar Collaborative Story for this year’s Golden Globes, in partnership with the HFPA and NBC.
As it has in years past, Facebook is partnering with the Recording Academy and CBS to deliver video from telecast to the Grammys Facebook page. CBS will broadcast the Grammy Awards on Sunday, Jan. 26 starting at 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT.
And in another Grammys activation, on Friday (Jan. 24), Facebook is hosting its second annual lunch to celebrate women in music. The invitation-only event will be held at Ysabel in West Hollywood from 12-3 p.m. Attendees will include female Grammy nominees and presenters, as well as women leaders across the music industry that have made this year in music special.
Facebook’s event will honor Motown Records president Ethiopia Habtemariam, Epic Records chairman and CEO Sylvia Rhone, Caroline president Jacqueline Saturn and Billboard executive director of R&B/hip-hop Gail Mitchell. Special guests are slated to include Lana Del Rey, Ella Mai, MILCK, Emily King, Sabrina Claudio, Stacy Barthe, Bia, DaniLeigh, Flor De Toloache, Melanie Fiona, Goapele, iLe, Dinah Jane, Georgia Ku, Leikeli47, Tiana Major9, Victoria Monét, Kaash Paige, Saweetie, Sevyn Streeter, and Sofi Tukker.
Watch Facebook’s Grammys “More Together” TV ad with Big Freedia and the kazoo players:
