Rock in Rio is a Brazilian festival that went to Europe after 2011’s edition and returned after a 10-year hiatus, having no website or social networks profiles. The challenge was to develop, from scratch, a digital platform that would centralise communication and engage fans around the brand. Our goal: sell all tickets before its beginning and get 1m fans in social networks without paying for online media.

We started a strategic digital PR work 1 year before the event was due, creating a content and relationship platform that identified opinion makers, offered services for the fans and developed content partnerships with companies like Google and Foursquare. We created special channels like a web-radio with content from the Rock in Rio universe, and a URL shortener which would bring bands' names and curiosities on each link for the fans to share.

The editorial plan integrated the website with several social networks and explored to the maximum the potential of each one, promoting cultural contests, apps, polls, news and multimedia coverage of events. We stimulated fans to participate with us by choosing 2 headliner bands, sending art for products, deciding new destinations for the festival, sending photos, opinions and testimonials. The result exceeded all goals: we had 4.5m fans on social networks, tickets were sold out 4 months before the event; we were the trending topic of 13 countries, beat 2 records on YouTube, generated US$140m in spontaneous media and reached 180m people during the festival.

The work began 1 year before the festival and continued after it, establishing a permanent platform. We created pages on Facebook, Twitter, Orkut, Foursquare, Formspring, Flickr, YouTube, Instagram and Tumblr; and also created an app for Android/iOS and other special platforms such as an online radio for Chrome and a personalised URL shortener. Through several points of contact we offered services (such as information for consumers during sales, orientation on transport and lodging); created contests where fans would send photos, music and videos relating to the brand’s universe; we published stories from our fans; invited them to participate in the festival with ideas and opinions; allowed fans to choose 2 headliner bands; mobilised opinion makers from 4 countries to encourage presence for the festival; and engaged people to participate in social initiatives. During the event we had live coverage based on official, fan made and guest bloggers’ content.

- Rock in Rio became the world´s biggest festival in digital presence, with a universe of 4.5m social network followers. This is more than the total of the other 10 biggest festivals.

- With 10% of the line-up announced, 100,000 tickets had been sold and 4 months before the festival all 700,000 sold out.

- The mobile app, which had 75,000 downloads in less than 24 hours, became the most downloaded from App Store Brazil.

- The newsletter had 75,000 registers and a 40% opening rate.

- On September 25th, the site had 690,000 unique visitors (the average of UOL, one of the 3 main portals in Brazil).- 2 world records on YouTube: the live transmission with the largest audience (3m simultaneous viewers) and the most accessed festival channel.- Trending Topics in 13 countries.

- More than 1,000 fan photos.

- 7.9m indexed links on Google- US$140m worth of spontaneous media.