To launch his new album Revival, Eminem and Interscope Records subverted the very idea of a high-profile record launch by dropping it on the down-low, using the most un-hip-hop type of marketing there is – pharmaceutical advertising.

Media channels included primetime TV, OOH, owned media (site and 1-800 number), as well as paid digital and social.

The 30-second pharmaceutical spot was planned and executed in a 6-day window, with network clearance being a major hurdle. Thankfully, many local markets did not understand the content and it cleared quickly, even though the pharmaceutical product was completely fake. The site is still up months after launch while the paid media cycle was a 14-day window.

Eminem’s record debuted at number one and fans rallied behind Eminem as an artist the still knew how to f with the media.

Artists and labels are challenged to one up themselves for each album launch, with fewer and fewer “never-been-done-before's”. Eminem’s Revival launch was a genuine idea that came from the artist and was executed flawlessly. From the :30 TV spot, to the seemingly unrelated Instagram post, with a piece of OOH strategically placed in the background. The entire campaign was a labor of love, wrapped in a cheesy pharmaceutical campaign.

The target audience for the Revival campaign was Eminem’s most die-hard fans. Eminem’s fan base includes people from all socioeconomic backgrounds, races and religions. The common thread for his base was their feeling that the system was no longer serving them and as a result, Eminem’s anti-establishment stance continues to resonate with them.

To mimic a real pharma campaign, the launch moment was a high-profile spot on Saturday Night live in local markets. The next step was a carefully timed Instagram post which used an OOH placement as a backdrop which lit up Reddit and Hip-Hop blogs and then paid video placements across digital to get reach and bring a broader base of fans into the experience driving to a 1-800 phone number with a piano track played by Skylar Gray, a longtime collaborator of Eminem’s.

Interscope Records was looking for a unique launch for one of their most important albums. With Eminem being the highest-selling hip-hop artist of all time, there is never a lack of hungry superfans. As an artist, he has famously never hesitated to use personal struggle as creative content. The launch of his much-anticipated new album needed to encapsulate both while intriguing the rest of pop culture.

Eminem has long railed against establishment, and his political views about America becoming tricked by slick messages was the perfect foundation for putting subversive content into a fake pharmaceutical ad. Eerily convincing but with a twist.

The brief: create content that, on the surface, felt like pharmaceutical advertising, yet hid subversive meaning into the advertising copy that only superfans could decipher. Unlike 4:44, Jay-Z’s cryptic album launch, the Revival vibe was completely square and middle American.

The objective—simple: create buzz by stoking the superfans.