Our idea: give six emerging artists who have struggled with acceptance for a variety of reasons an opportunity to shine on music’s biggest night.

We brought together six artists who have pursued their musical passions despite struggles. From a blues-guitar virtuoso who is blind to a female Filipino rapper, the artists have all shattered stereotypes throughout their careers.

We teamed them up with SZA, the most nominated woman at this year’s GRAMMYs, to make a multi-genre cover of You Can’t Judge a Book by The Cover, a song written by Willie Dixon and recorded by Bo Didley. It was a song they could all relate to.

The project included:

>> a full length music video

>>a :60 version of the video for the GRAMMYs broadcast

>>a two minute behind the scenes documentary, including interviews with the artists and SZA, released by Ellen Degeneres on social media

>>full length recordings of You Can’t Judge a Book by the Cover by each artist on Spotify, iTunes and Amazon Music

>>mini-bios of each artist for social media

>>giant billboards of the artists outside Madison Square Garden

>>performances by the artists at Mastercard’s GRAMMYs House, NYC

We premiered the documentary on Ellen DeGeneres’ social channels, reaching her 52MM Instagram followers. On January 22 we brought the artists together in Manhattan to unveil the music video to Variety, Billboard, Vice, and others. SZA and several of the artists performed.

On GRAMMYs night we leveraged the red-carpet and in-show broadcast, Mastercard social channels, as well as those of SZA and the artists.

The campaign generated 900MM impressions across TV, social, OOH. It had 49MM engagements. Over 200K song streams on Spotify. Stories in Variety, Billboard, Vice, and more.

We boosted perceptions of Mastercard as a dynamic brand by 18% and as an energetic brand by 16%.

And we gave the artists a meaningful boost in their careers. In just two months, Ruby Ibarra’s social following increased by 389%. Radkey booked four opening tour dates with Jack White. William Prince’s cover made #4 on Apple Music Canada’s “Breaking Singer/Songwriter” playlist. And The Tracks were signed by a respected independent music label.