Branded entertainment is exploding in the U.S. as marketers endeavor to mitigate advertising avoidance by reaching consumers through shared passions and values. The most popular approaches are product integration into TV shows or movies, licensing deals with musicians and curated content or experiences. The transactions are simple: A brand pays to be associated with an entertainment property and leverages it to appeal to its audience.

But there’s a stark difference between co-opting culture and creating it. We flipped the model from brand as sponsor to brand as programmer in order to create an authentic role for Hyundai in music that would earn the attention and respect of young music fans.

So we developed an innovative music program that would celebrate the music of thousands of aspiring artists and give them the tools and exposure to take their passion for music to the next level.

Giving artists and fans alike a voice in who gets "discovered" as the next generation of artists on their road to the GRAMMYS.

Leading up to this year’s GRAMMY Awards, Hyundai and The Recording Academy launched the 3rd annual GRAMMY Amplifier program. We made an announcement at Billboard’s Power 100 event in front of music's most influential people.

This announcement, along with branded content of Mark Ronson remixing a new track with one of last year’s winners, generated significant press on Billboard, The Hollywood Reporter, NY Times, Rolling Stone and Los Angeles Times. This coverage drove fans to www.GrammyAmplifier.com where they could listen and "amplify" newly submitted tracks to their friends, which in turn drew additional attention to the program.

This year we set out to increase awareness and raise the industry profile of this emerging artist platform. Our launch activities around the GRAMMY Awards, along with Mark Ronson’s participation in the program, drove a significant increase in awareness. Helping us earn over 150 million media impressions from PR coverage on Billboard, Hollywood Reporter, NY Times, Rolling Stone, LA Times as well as on a variety of music blogs. This translated into a big spike in fan participation:

• We received over 1,500 submissions from emerging artists

• Website traffic to GRAMMYAmplifier.com spiked at 1 million page views from 600,000 uniques

• More than 300,000 fans shared or listened to tracks submitted by participating artists

• Our branded content earned 9 million combined YouTube views

• Over 4,000 downloads of Mark Ronson “Heavy and Rolling” Remix recorded with Eyango, as Eyango’s 2014 Amplifier prize fulfillment