Use the city of Memphis to help write a song. We found an up-and-coming indie rock band struggling with the final song for their new album. So we sent them to Memphis’ most iconic music attractions for inspiration. They crafted the song “Fracture” along the way, then recorded the final track at historic Ardent Studios.

We documented the band’s journey and released it online as a short film. Then to promote it, we had the band perform the song at 35,000 feet on the first Southwest Airlines flight from Dallas to Memphis. We invited social influencers and press to make the trip, and to attend a special pop-up concert with the band on Beale Street.

We also used pre-roll, social and native placements to drive people to watch the film. Viewers could get a free song download for sharing it and explore the locations that inspired the lyrics, line by line.

The campaign made headlines in USA TODAY, New York Post, SPIN Magazine and elsewhere. It generated 17M impressions for under $11 CPM ($16 CPM is average) and a CTR seven times the industry average, proving it was both effective and engaging. More importantly, a 12% increase in Memphis search interest on Google and 7.59% increase in Memphis flight traffic showed the campaign not only drove interest, but actual tourism to the city.