The voice of hope in The Man In The High Castle is represented by the Resistance, a band of underground freedom fighters striking back against their fascist oppressors to keep the American dream alive. So we created a mouthpiece for that group: Resistance Radio, a musical storytelling experience in the format of live radio broadcasts by pirate DJs, sending out their stories of hope and resistance to an oppressed America, infused with an original soundtrack of “illegal” music from upstart rebel musicians.

And while music had been featured in the TV show primarily as background, we recognized an opportunity to create a complete musical landscape for this dystopian world, reimagining what would Rock and Roll sound like in a world where gospel, blues, and jazz had been so thoroughly repressed, a darker, dystopian alternate history just one butterfly wing flap from our own?

18 reimagined versions of well-known songs were produced by Danger Mouse and Sam Cohen, with performances by top alternative artists including Beck, Norah Jones, The Shins, Grandaddy, Sharon Van Etten, and more.

We also recorded over four hours of original audio narrative, featuring three DJ characters, filling the interstitials between songs with stories of hope and rebellion from this alternate universe.

Listeners could tune into the radio broadcast via a custom player at Resistanceradio.com, iHeartRadio, Rollingstone.com and Alexa-enabled devices. Promotional elements included a staggered rollout of featured tracks on Soundcloud, Spotify and iTunes, Facebook Audio Live segments, extensive promotional interviews by Danger Mouse on terrestrial and streaming radio, a limited edition 7” vinyl single sent to social influencers, YouTube music videos, and a live showcase at SXSW. All of which leading to the release Resistance Radio: The Man In The High Castle album, available via all major music outlets.

Within weeks of launch, Resistance Radio garnered major press attention and over seven billion PR impressions, including mentions from The Washington Post, USA Today, Newsweek, Buzzfeed, Huffington Post, NPR, Mashable, Fortune, and People. Interviews ran on national radio stations, and a #resistanceradio promoted hashtag ignited a firestorm as both sides of the political spectrum jumped on the launch of an anti-fascist radio station, reinforcing the campaign’s relevance to contemporary America. We delivered over 2,000,000 minutes of branded audio in the first three weeks to over 250,000 listeners, with an average listening time of over 10 minutes (26 minutes on Alexa). And qualitative response from listeners was universally positive. Resistance Radio moved from a marketing initiative to a pop culture phenomenon driven almost exclusively by earned media. It also created an ongoing revenue stream from album sales and has now been written into the TV show as part of the storyline.

At the heart of Resistance Radio are 18 musical tracks produced by Danger Mouse, featuring 17 known Musicians as an integral part of an audio storytelling experience. Representing a fictional 1960s radio station set in the world of Amazon Studio’s The Man In The High Castle, the campaign is live 24/7 on the web, mobile, iHeartradio, RollingStone.com and on Amazon’s Alexa-enabled devices. The songs, recorded with vintage equipment and mastered from pressed vinyl, represent a forged cultural artifact from a fictional world and curated on “Resistance Radio: The Man In The High Castle Album” available from all major music outlets.

While continuing to attract the largest possible audience (A18-54), we recognized an opportunity to better connect with men 18-24, and more women. These audiences are more attracted to hopeful storylines, and character- driven drama rather than the deep mythology and speculative fiction loved by longtime fans. For these audiences, we introduced new, relatable characters and hopeful storylines, utilizing familiar songs by upcoming artists with large social followings. We also drew parallels to contemporary America to make the show more relatable and immediate.

For existing and lapsed fans, we identified a deeper dive into the story’s world and mythology as the main draw. Within our music and narratives, we wove “easter eggs” of mythology content such as puzzles hidden between radio frequencies, and historical background not yet explored onscreen.

The Man In The High Castle is the most streamed Amazon Original Series, with two seasons available on Amazon Prime Video.

Based on the novel by Phillip K Dick, the complex narrative imagines 1962 America where the Allies lost WWII, and the Nazis and Imperial Japan have split control of the US.

Despite the inherently oppressive tone, our mission was to turn the series into a global franchise with an always-on promotion. Additionally, we wanted to make the series accessible to new viewers — particularly women and younger men. We wanted to develop a concept that 1) sustained engagement with current fans and created interest among new viewers; 2) created a narrative bridge across all earned, owned and paid media; 3) leveraged each medium as a storytelling device and 4) had global appeal to maximize amplification.