Branded entertainment on British TV is governed by the rules around commercial references in TV programming, which restrict clear calls to action or specific promotion of a product. So while there are opportunities for musicians to perform on TV shows, it is not allowed to direct people to where they can buy the music.

We got round these regulations by creating a piece of live branded content that appeared solely in commercial airtime and online where these restrictions don’t apply, allowing us to provide direct links to buy Sam’s album.

With the live content only going out on TV once, we needed to make the gig a TV apppointment-to-view moment. So we used teaser ads a week in advance to let viewers know the live performance was coming. These trailers also directed people to Google Play to buy the album.

To make the gig a must-see media event we used PR on the day of the gig to drive massive coverage across all major UK newspapers in the UK, and on the morning of the event Sam was interviewed live on BBC Breakfast News, the UK’s top morning news show.

• 1.3m saw the ad – with more people watching the advert break than the show it was in: 100,000 extra people tuned in especially for the takeover

• 680,000 people viewed the live stream, the equivalent to selling out Wembley Stadium 6 times.

• PR coverage reached 200m opportunities to see, with coverage on the BBC News and in national and international consumer and trade press

• The following week, Sam’s album debuted at number one, selling over 100k copies in its first week. It was the biggest selling debut album of 2014 and Sam has gone on to win 4 Grammys and 2 BRIT awards.

Sam Smith said: “It was incredible to be part of a world first. Stay With Me being broadcast live to the nation was a very special moment for me.”