Background
Music Playground was one of those rare technologies that was ahead of its time! Back in the mid to late 1990s, the company’s founders were the first to realize the natural interconnect and vast opportunity that existed by placing music on the desktop.

Challenge
Then branded Virtual Music and offering a series of CD-ROM games including the genre-defining “Quest For Fame” (featuring Aerosmith), Virtual Music had little brand visibility, minimal music industry awareness and even less consumer interest in what was then a completely unproven proposition: to put digital music on the desktop and allow consumers of all skill levels to interact with it in a gaming environment.

For MusicPlayground.com, Griffin didn’t simply manage a product launch, but instead an entire corporate ID and accompanying product launch! The agency rebranded the company Music Playground and advised the company on creating the world’s first interactive music entertainment portal! Griffin developed a complete corporate ID program including logo design and usage guidelines; website and collateral design and production; media relations and advertising and special events and sponsorships.

A pre-cursor to Guitar Hero, the new branding explained and positioned the company’s unique V-pick technology that allowed music enthusiasts to jam with their favorite artists in a fun, karaoke-like gaming environment.

Working with its relationships in the music community, the agency coordinated a endorsement marketing program with guitar legend Nikki Sixx from Motley Crue. Sixx appeared in a series of media interviews and at local and national music events in support of the launch.

Separately, the agency arranged sponsorship of the 2001 Yahoo! Internet Life Interactive Music Awards and subsequent Voodoo Music Festival in New Orleans and coordinated a series of live performances of Music Playground technology at local air guitar enthusiast events. Each event was supported by local media outreach campaigns that secured broadcast demonstrations of the technology, local newspaper print placements and online coverage in music enthusiast media.

A simultaneous national media relations initiative resulted in broad consumer placements from the Wall Street Journal to People Magazine to the Los Angeles Times and many online, print and broadcast placements in between!

Music Playground was eventually acquired by Japanese gaming giant Namco for integration into its arcade portfolio.