In association with MusicWeek
Taking care of No.1
2012’s Official Charts Company is directly reaching out to fans online whilst reaching millions through its media partnerships. Meet a company preparing for the future - whilst showing respect to its past
Time was, the Official Singles Chart lived almost exclusively on Radio 1, Top Of The Pops and the wall-mounted racks of retailers such as Woolworths. Teenagers would hunch over their radio on a Sunday night to hear the latest hits and, vitally, to discover who had beaten who. Families would do the same in front of the TV later in the week. (Conversation around office water coolers would rarely run dry the morning after TOTP.) Woolworths - if you can cast your mind back that far, dear reader - thrived.
But just as consumers have embraced a multitude of ever- changing ways to hear the music they love in the past decade, the channels by which the Official Chart can reach its audience have greatly diversified. Whether via websites, TV, online video, Twitter, Facebook or mobile apps, the Official Charts Company has made sure it’s talking to music fans through the vast variety of conduits which today’s consumers - and the artists they adore - demand in the modern age. By doing so, it has remained as relevant to post- Millennial teenagers as it did to Teddy Boys in the ‘50s, baby boomers in the ‘60s or Brit- poppers in the ‘90s. Capping off this transformation, the past 18 months have seen a colourful, consumer-facing rebrand at the Official Charts Company, with a sparkling new website at its centre. Now, in addition to reaching more than a million music fans each week via its historic partnership with Radio 1, the firm can boast more than 700,000 unique users of
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www.officialcharts.com
Martin Talbot’s Official Charts Company has launched a mobile app and new website (see right, inset)
OfficialCharts.com each month, and in excess of 70,000 followers on social media. “We’ve tried to create a kitemark that speaks of quality and authenticity that can sit alongside anything that we do -
magenta and cyan icon represents the Official Charts - not just some pony chart that someone’s pulled together from a single retailer’s data or a formula no-one knows anything about. What it says is that we’re
“Our symbol is a kitemark - it tells you this isn’t some pony chart that’s been pulled together”
whether that’s data for industry, licensing charts to media or building the brand profile with consumers,” explains Martin Talbot, managing director of the Official Charts Company, which is co-owned by the BPI and the Entertainment Retailers Association. “Wherever people see it, the
transparent, clear and accurate and we’re supported and approved by the industry.” Having launched new commercial and branding divisions to increase partnerships and fan-facing output, the Official Charts Company is talking to its audience more (and with greater insight) than at any
time in the Official Singles Chart’s six-decade history. And via new additions to its operation such as video interviews and the new, very special Official Number 1 Award - handed to victorious parties each week - it’s also speaking directly to artists, too. “The artists underpin
everything we do,” says Talbot. “If the artists don’t think it’s important to be in the chart, the consumers never will. The big thing on the website in the past 12 months has been going out and meeting artists, presenting them with our weekly Number 1 award. The artists’ reaction reaffirms to us how important this chart is to them, and it’s amazing to see. “There isn’t really any other way to properly judge your success as an artist in the modern
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