Alonzo is one of main hip hop ambassadors of Puma Brand. The artist and the brand have enjoyed a relationship for 5 years now. Alonzo is a strong pillar of French hip-hop community and one of the rap godfathers from Marseille as well. In this strong relationship, Puma is always here to support Alonzo and vice versa. In this Covid context, Alonzo released a special EP “Pack de 6” so Puma had to help him to spread his new creation and be closer to his fans.

There?is only one city?that?was?COVID free, without?any?lockdown and capable of hosting a live music performance… The City of Los Santos in GTA V.

Even 8 years after its release, GTA V is still very strong across the world and is part of the pop culture. The game is listed in the Top 15 best-sellers every year and on Twitch, GTA Role Play category is in the Top 5 most viewed category. But most of all, GTA owns this street DNA that fits perfectly with hip-hop music. So, Puma and Alonzo hosted the first live music event in GTA V. This music show was available through a GTA Role Play server and broadcast at the same time on Twitch. Like in a real music show, fans could cheer close to the in-game stage and share their enthusiasm into the Twitch chat.

We based our strategic approach on one key insight: because of the Covid-19, no live music events could happen. So video game was the solution to let the music play! Due to this new format, we had to legitimate first our experience, so we contacted core hip-hop media's dealing with them specific coverage. They announced the show days before it to drive traffic on GTA server and on Twitch.

Then, after the show, we targeted more mainstream media to explain what we achieved and show that video games could help music industry go through COVID crisis.

Puma was associated with this event in both phases and the brand was presented to media as an enabler.

First, we had to design Alonzo’s character.

We reproduced Alonzo from his haircut to his face.

We implemented Puma brand creating official clothes and shoes.

For the show, we defined a track list and worked on the scenography to connect each song to specific visual effects. For the live, Alonzo was behind his mic to perform a set of songs including hits from his EP “Pack de 6”, in the game, our streamer took the control of Alonzo’s character to let the artist focus on his singing.

Regarding the broadcast, we created specific creative assets to open the live, the pause and the end of the show.

We communicated on the show as the traditional hip-hop events. Media strategy was 100% focus on PR. Core hip-hop media and influencers were targeted to amplify the live experience and drive traffic.

Puma Music Tour was the best PR campaign ever realized by Puma France

It reached hip hop core media and lifestyle / mainstream media

In the French rap game, Alonzo has been validated by other artists

It created a first connection between rap world and gaming world and after the event we have observed several collaborations between these two worlds.

Results

> 1,4M?estimated?impressions of #PumaMusicTour??

> Trending?Topic n°13 in France the?day?of the?event?(04/24)?

> 10K?peak?Live?viewers?on Twitch?

> 80K+?viewers?

> 1M comments on Twitch??

> 11,3M estimated impressions by press release?with 100+ press coverage