What Creative Agencies Can Learn From Beyonce's 'Homecoming'
Post originally written as part of the Forbes Communication Council. Click here for original source.
Netflix recently released Homecoming, a documentary live performance of Beyonce’s 2018 Coachella performance. The release coincided with this year’s Coachella festival and had fans reminiscing about the powerful and historically significant live performance from just one year prior. Whether or not you consider yourself a fan of Beyonce’s music, I believe her work is a study in marketing hustle and flawless content creation.
The major theme of Beyonce’s Homecoming show is education, specifically preserving historically black colleges and universities (HBCU), and Mrs. Knowles-Carter takes us to school. Creative agencies and corporate marketing departments can learn a lot from Homecoming. Here are three takeaways we can incorporate into our marketing and advertising strategies:
1. It takes a village.
“We did a lot of things that were very unconventional for a festival show … It takes a village, and I think we all worked to our limit.” Beyonce’s voiceover describes the sheer volume of talent that combines to make the performance an epic success. The sentiment is supported by footage of endless rehearsals and refreshing camaraderie among performers and crew members. The live show is comprised of dancers, orchestra players, steppers, a drumline, back-up vocalists and the unseen crew of lighting technicians, sound engineers, costume designers, drivers and roadies.
How does this translate for marketing professionals? An effective creative agency must also combine the talents of a number of team members for a mashup of creative magic: copywriters, designers, illustrators, videographers, photographers and account managers harmonize in tune, typically under the direction of a trusted creative or art director. Like the on-stage performers, account managers must dazzle their clients with elevated customer service. Once handed off, your behind-the-scenes creative crew must make the artistic magic come to life, from concept to creation.
2. Details count.
As Beyonce’s fans have come to expect, the execution of the Homecoming performance was flawless. She and her creative team put in the thought work of hammering out all the details that bring a cohesive theme to light. The scene is set for the audience: a celebration of the HBCU college football halftime show. A marching band plays on risers mimicking bleachers; dancers in color guard costumes complete with white gloves, epaulettes and white boots take their seats. Greek letters stitched onto oversized sweatshirts are a call to hype the crowd with the energy of a pep rally.
Behind the scenes, footage and narration by Beyonce show her attention to detail: “I personally selected each dancer, every light, the material on the steps, the height of the pyramid, the shape of the pyramid. Every patch was hand-sewn. Every tiny detail had an intention.”
Marketing and communications departments of well-known organizations, take note. It isn’t enough to rely on your reputation or name recognition. We must continue to elevate expectations and surprise audiences with fresh campaigns that make an impact. The pace of our digital culture means we must stay agile to keep the attention of our existing customers and gain the interest of new ones. Organizations that remain content with current campaigns run the risk of staying behind the curve of their competitors.
3. Play to your audience.
The positioning of the first African American female headliner at a music festival that has had a traditionally neo-hippies-in-the-desert vibe is significant. And Beyonce’s intentional creative direction away from the expected is what I think makes the show so powerful -- what made it “Beychella.”
“Instead of me pulling out my flower crown, it was more important that I brought our culture to Coachella … homecoming for an HBCU is the Super Bowl. It is the Coachella,” she explained in the film’s voiceover.
While it may seem counterintuitive to target your messaging to a smaller niche group, Homecoming is a great example of how connecting with your specific audience beats generic messaging to a broad audience every time. Putting yourself in the place of your ideal customer, the potential for genuine connection is far greater because you solve a specific pain point or gap in the industry.
Not only does the live performance break with expectations, but the added step of filming the live show for the purpose of creating a documentary, a permanent record of the event, is a genius example of how to repurpose content and reach broader audiences. With the release of the Netflix documentary, an entirely new crop of fans, media and interested passersby get a chance to witness an event that would otherwise be limited to ticket holders.
While polished video campaigns with big production costs remain effective, YouTube, Facebook Live and Instagram Stories are also powerful tools for marketers to broadcast messaging to audiences on a larger scale and in an instant.
Let’s take the opportunity to have an office dance party and get inspired by the creative direction that is Queen B and her team. Homecoming reminds us that it’s not always easy to pull off flawless, but the effort is well worth it.