The creative idea behind Make it Metal was to leverage what metal fans love doing most, head-banging.

So, we’ve decided to give away the album’s first single DIAVOLOS, but it needed to be earned.

A microsite was created, the world’s first head-banging activated digital experience. Upon entering the microsite, fans were asked to activate their webcams. The 4 minute track would then stream as long as they sustained their head movements. But if they stopped, the track would too.

Thousands of fans were further rewarded with a personalized artwork of their own individual head-banging motion from the image tracking algorithm. These were then shareable on social media and generated a priceless word of mouth worldwide around CROSSFAITH.

Make it Metal was launched in July before the worldwide album release in August, via a dedicated micro site. To execute the world’s first head-banging activated digital experience, we started by using an algorithm that captured the head-banging movements of fifty metal fans. The data was then fed into Optical Flow, a motion tracking program that reacts to color and brightness - a tool better than any current facial recognition technology.

The promotion of the experience was initiated via CROSSFAITH’s digital and social channels and personally introduced to the fan base by the founding members of the band.

Within the first few hours of the online launch of Make it Metal, more than 20 thousand fans engaged with the microsite across 114 countries, creating unprecedented media attention worldwide. This resulted in 80% increase in projected sales, and sold out shows across CROSSFAITH’s tour.

Make it Metal is a brand-new direct experience that engaged thousands of metal fans around the world by activating their passion for headbanging.

By inviting fans for a challenge that they are deeply passionate about and further rewarding them with the first single of Crossfaith’s new album, we not only connected with the fan base in authentic way but created an unique memorable moment forever related with the band from Osaka, Japan.

To reach a young urban audience between 18 to 28 years old that are not just CROSSFAITH fans but are also interested in heavy metal, technology and new music trends, we’ve created a strategy based on the knowledge that our target responds better when they are driven to authentic unique experiences instead of traditional advertisement launches.

The limit resources and the fact that our audience is constantly online made it clear that the solution had to come to life with a new digital format to conquer the attention of metal fans as well as the tech geeks.

Sony Music asked us to launch a new album by CROSSFAITH, a heavy metal band from Osaka, Japan.

But given there are hundreds of albums launched each year, how do you sell an album in an innovative way?

We needed to engage the metal community with an authentic and personalised experience that no-one else could give them. Plus, to succeed the idea had to be authentic, memorable and digital native considering our target spends a considerable part of their online.

The ultimate goal was to gain more fans across the world through the launch of the new album.