Our agency was presented with a unique PR/communication challenge. How do you successfully rebrand and relaunch a music icon like Snoop Dogg? The potential risk of rejection by pop-culture and loyal fans could be great. So, extreme sensitivity on how the objectives of awareness, trial and ultimately acceptance were executed on would be critical.

We determined that “transparency” as one of Snoop’s core brand attributes would be the basis for the PR/communication strategy. Let his fans/the public share in the reincarnation and own a part of the journey. A 4-phase PR/communication rollout integrating his persona and music through events, social media and consumer PR was then developed. Phase 1 was to seed pop culture with hints that a change was coming. Phase 2 was announcing the name change to Snoop Lion helping fans delineate between the old and new persona. Phase 3 was to introduce and create buzz around Snoop’s new musical direction. Phase 4 was the crescendo to telling the story via a documentary called Reincarnated. A visual capturing of Snoop’s spiritual and musical transformation during a self-discovery trip to Jamaica. It all culminated with “Lionfest” at SXSW festival 2013, the official introduction of the man, his music and his story.

The phased program garnered over 2,818 media placements, 5,387,534,073 total media impressions, an increase of 15.5 million social media followers, acceptance by critics and the media and most importantly his loyal public.

Snoop Dogg, a music legend became officially rebranded and relaunched into Snoop Lion.

The goal was to build a successful bridge between Snoop’s old and new identity. Creating awareness and trial and ultimately gaining pop-culture and fan acceptance were the key objectives that had to be met in order to call this PR rebranding effort a triumph. We analyzed Snoop's social media chatter, previous identity launches and then determined the right mix of elements that would be delivered over time to his loyal fans, the general public through events, social media and press.

The four-phase campaign was considered a success by our client. Results have been broken out based on our key objectives: Awareness, Trial and Acceptance over the campaign period of April 2012 through March 2013.

Awareness

2,818 media placements, 5,387,534,073 total media impressions through press coverage, placements and events.

Trial

Total Video Views (across 4 releases): 19.2 Milion

Total SoundCload streams (across 4 releases): 1.6 Million

Snoop Lion-specific social media channels: Generated over 630,000 fans

Snoop social media channel growth overall: 15.5 million followers

Reincarnated trailer views: 3,200,000

Total attendance number for screenings: 1,000

Lionfest Attendance: 2,000

Acceptance

The positive buzz with Snoop’s public, critics and media was significant. LaLaLa became one of Snoop’s best selling digital singles in a span of one month. His follow-up hits, “Here Comes the King”/”Lighters Up”/”No Guns Allowed” have proved just as successful. We look forward to incredible album and movie sales results as well.

Phase 1 (April 2012 – June 2012): Press coverage/buzz was created around Coachella 2012, a tease trailer for Reincarnated uploaded to Snoop’s social media channels and release of LaLaLa lyric video to Snoop’s YouTube Channel.

Phase 2 (July 2012): A high profile press conference at Miss Lily's in New York City on the exact day of Jamaica's 50th year of independence proved as the official announcement of Snoop’s name change.

Phase 3 (August – December 2012): Vinyl copies of Snoop’s first reggae release, “LaLaLa” were mailed to select tastemakers. We also launched Snoop Lion-specific social media channels to introduce/build sharing of three additional singles.

Phase 4 (Soft: August 2012/Hard: January – March 2013): Buzz around Reincarnated started at Toronto Film Festival. The big press push occurred around private screenings, sponsored by Adidas, in key markets like LA, New York and Miami.

All leading to “Lionfest” at the 2013 SXSW Festival.

After 20 years of making legendary impact on the music industry, Snoop Dogg found himself at a crossroads as a man and as an artist. He felt a sense of restlessness; a need to reinvigorate his passion for his music. It was during a self-discovery trip to Jamaica that he found his spiritual and musical inspiration through reggae. An album was recorded, a documentary made and a name change instigated. However, Snoop’s management was concerned that there may be fan confusion/backlash with the level of transformation.

Snoop’s leverage/trust with his fans was based on his transparency. So, the rebrand was developed as a shared musical and spiritual journey between Snoop and his public. The phased relaunch thoughtfully eased in the change of persona and music.

Phase 1: Seed pop-culture that an inevitable transformation would be happening.

Phase 2: Introduce the Snoop Lion name change. Helping to delineate between old and new personas.

Phase 3: Introduce the music and utilize social media to help feed his fans need to take ownership through sharing.

Phase 4: Storytelling by way of film. A documentary crew was in Jamaica with Snoop looking to film his recording session but ended up capturing Snoop’s entire rebirth. The end result was Reincarnated, the movie.

The culmination of the rebrand/relaunch effort was “Lionfest” at SXSX 2013. The official introduction of the man, his music and his story.