Your Weekly Antidote: Oasis unveils The Masterplan
Fair warning, I’m in my mid-30s. So the announcement that the Gallagher brothers have buried their issues and agreed to reunite Oasis for a tour next year was a major one. It’s one of those stories you’d have to be living under a rock to miss, and it’s far from surprising the band has already announced an additional three shows before tickets even went on sale.
When something that appeals to so many consumers is announced, it’s inevitable that there will be plenty of data to work through to understand the impact…
What does the data say?
- There were 14 years, 11 months and 30 days between Oasis’ debut album Definitely Maybe being released and the band splitting up. There were also 14 years, 11 months and 30 days from the break-up and the reunion announcement. Coincidence? We think not.
- According to analysis by the Daily Mail, the true cost of attending an Oasis reunion show may well be approaching £1,000 once travel, accommodation and bucket hats are taken into consideration…
- Talking of bucket hats, Google Trends data suggests fans haven’t flocked to buy one - not yet anyway. The height of interest was actually in late June, well before the reunion announcement was made but right in the middle of the Euros.
- The Independent is reporting that the Gallaghers are set to pocket £50m between them from the UK reunion tour alone. That’s before their cut of merch sales and sponsorship deals.
One issue fans will be worried about is the threat of scalpers and ‘bots’ buying tickets and listing them for resale for a huge profit. In fact, the New York Attorney General has been investigating the issue and highlighted up to 1,000 tickets being bought by bots in a minute and 7,000% mark-ups on reseller websites. These fans will be pleased to hear that a clause in the ticketing T&Cs will see anyone attempting to buy tickets fraudulently will be reported to the National Crime Agency.
The buzz around the Oasis reunion does highlight the importance of a well thought-out PR and social strategy. The hints meant the rumour mill started spinning and when the announcement was made, it was almost impossible to miss. In contrast, Linkin Park managed to show that a less strategic approach can have quite the opposite impact. A 100-hour countdown on the band’s website got fans talking, but when this amounted to nothing more than a mysterious “It’s only a matter of time…” post, the backlash came.
Does the data back this up? According to Social Blade, the Oasis X account has seen a 34,045% increase in the number of new followers in 30 days, whereas Linkin Park’s follower growth has dropped by 272% over the same time period. This shows the importance of strategic comms, whether you’re a corporate entity, a B2C brand or one of the largest bands in the world.
On another musical note, I’m out of here to try to scrub my mind of the flashbacks to the karaoke session during our summer away day. Looking back, I probably should have opted for an Oasis classic, rather than going for Stan by Eminem…
That’s the end of the third edition of ‘Your Weekly Antidote’. Come back next week for another dose of data-driven news analysis on one of the biggest stories of the week from your favourite comms tech agency.
