Branded entertainment in the public realm is still an emerging discipline and as such no specific rules or regulations exist in the UK. Different Councils have different guidelines. The more savvy boroughs recognise that privately funded brand activity has the opportunity to bring investment and entertainment into their local area.

The rule of thumb in the UK is that any privately funded brand event should not impair public services and any request on these services - be it policing, road closures etc need to be at the cost of the brand. Whilst this is sensible in principle the cost implications on such an event are considerable, as all pricing is fixed by non-private sector bodies and as such are a lot higher than could be achieved on the private sector.

The UK planning authority that deals with regular forms of OOH advertising such as Billboards, have not as yet formulated a clear policy on activity that involves projections. As a general rule if less than 10% of content shown is branded then the activity doesn't need planning consent.

The audience of 500 selected to attend the event was a mixture of media and competition winners.

Nokia created an online competition entry mechanic for its community on its website and promoted it through social media channels. Retail partners such as Phones4u were also given a ticket allocation to run competitions.

Because the gig was secret, competition winners were not advised on the location until the last possible moment.

A global audience viewed the concert online in a live streaming. PR and social media engagement provided a call to action for deadmau5 fans to view the legacy video on YouTube

The official legacy video has received over 4 million views with over 5,000 likes and nearly 700 comments.

Facebook interactions reached 1.6 million consumers.

Over 120 media attended the event itself. Coverage OTS was 361,773,086 while coverage appeared in 31 countries. The PR value was £5.2 million.

Media feedback

“a spectacular music and light experience”

Metro UK

"If the phones are anything like the incredible lightshow then perhaps we'll be making the switch”

Gigwise

"the creative synchronization of the square is truly a feat of modern technology”

Electro Jams

"the perfect platform to show off [the Lumia 920's] low-light camera capabilities”

Gizmodo UK

In the brand tracking study delivered by ICM research, consideration for Nokia Lumia increased from 12% (pre-event) to 18% (post-event).

Building positive brand sentiment is valuable in itself. But the deadmau5 event would have failed if it didn’t have a positive impact on sales figures.

UK sales of Lumia devices increased 68% between Week 46 (pre-event) and Week 51 (post event).