How Yellow Claw’s extensive DJ Mag campaign helped them attract votes
As the leading poll in the electronic music industry, DJ Mag’s top 100 poll is at the centre of many artists campaigns through the year. With voting opening mid-summer and not closing until October, there is plenty of time for artists to campaign and sway voters across the course of the year. For many artists, achieving the number one spot is at the top of their wish-list, which comes across in the extensive campaigns that envelop social media during the voting period. Once a trio, Dutch duo Yellow Claw regularly put together detailed campaigns in order to encourage more votes during the poll. We’ve taken a closer look at their campaigns and what can be learned from them.
The DJ Mag poll itself has shifted drastically over the years, with current results sharing no resemblance with results when the poll first started in 1991. Back then, only artists who were well established stood a chance of placing in the top ten. Some of the earliest winners included Carl Cox, Paul Oakenfold, Sasha, John Digweed, Tiësto and Paul van Dyk. In stark contrast, the list now features many more recently renowned artists including Martin Garrix, Dimitri Vegas & Like Mike, Hardwell and more. Though the poll has shifted over the years, it has gained momentum and the result has become more eagerly anticipated with each passing year.
Currently the number one spot is held by Dutch megastar Martin Garrix. Having only achieved his breakthrough into the mainstream in 2013 before topping the poll for the first time in 2016, the timescale of his rise to the top is something that no other artist has been able to outdo. Martin Garrix is now a source of inspiration with many budding producers eager to recreate his success. Although the speed of his rise to fame is something that may seem out of reach for most artists, anyone can achieve this level of success with the right strategy and campaigning. When the poll was first created, there were no campaigns, artists simply accepted the results without striving to improve their position. Now, most artists run campaigns of varying strength.
Some artists simply share the link to the voting page and make one social media post asking for their fans to vote, while others run extensive campaigns to try and maximise their votes. Simply sharing the link to the voting and requesting fans to vote for you is no longer a viable option and will not attract the level of votes that is necessary to achieve success. While it is simple and not as time consuming as creating a campaign, there is a lot more to be gained by putting a great deal of time and effort into creating an effective campaign. The poll has been surrounded by controversy in recent years, with fans and artists alike debating just how far artists should be able to go in order to gain votes. Dimitri Vegas & Like Mike were at the centre of this controversy when it emerged that they had been using iPad teams to approach young festival goers in order to gain votes. Though most artists have their own approach when it comes to the poll, there definitely appears to be a fine line between what is accepted by the masses and what is not accepted.
Yellow Claw have launched their own campaigns during recent years. Last year, their campaign was based on the phrase ‘Save EDM Vote Yellow Claw’. As part of the campaign, they even set up a website called saveedm.com, although the website has now been taken down and the URL simply directs users to Yellow Claw’s Instagram page instead. This phrase was present across all of their marketing materials, consistently reinforcing their message about the need to vote for them in order to ‘save EDM’. This included social media posts, which regularly included the phrase. In marketing, reinforcement is one of the key elements of any campaign. In order to make sure a message is memorable and has an impact, it is always imperative to repeat it multiple times. The key is to repeat it without making your posts boring for your audience. For this reason, it is vital to slightly adapt the messaging each time, but maintain the main message.
As part of the campaign, Yellow Claw even produced their own video, detailing exactly why fans should vote for them. In the style of a political campaign, the video shows the pair engaging in positive activities, including ‘helping the helpless’, ‘preserving culture’, ‘tearing prejudice apart’ and ‘standing up for animals’. At the end of the video it circles back to the core message stating:
“This year we will take it upon us to save EDM because electronic dance music is worth saving. That’s why we say save EDM, vote Yellow Claw.”
By reinforcing the main message while entertaining viewers, the video is highly effective as a voting motivator. Yellow Claw effortlessly combined humour with campaigning, which is one of the best methods for engaging your audience while spreading a message. Humour is always a key motivator in keeping people interested. Nobody likes to listen to consistent demands, which is why it is not effective to simply ask your fans to vote repeatedly. For the best results, involve humour in your campaign wherever possible in order to really connect with your audience and generate more interest. If your audience finds your content funny, they are much more likely to share it with their friends, generating even further engagement, views and in turn, votes.
For well-established artists like Armin van Buuren or Tiësto, it is not entirely necessary to complete an extensive campaign in order to chart in the poll. However, for any artist less-established, a campaign is completely necessary. It is simply not enough to just ask fans to vote. In order to really turn heads and make an impact, you must offer something unique and stand out from the crowd. Yellow Claw made a statement with their video and mirrored the messaging across the rest of their channels. In order to create an effective campaign, there must be a core statement that catches the attention of the masses. Without a core message and an exciting offering, your pleas for votes will quickly be lost amongst the many other artists also requesting fans to vote for them. More examples of prominent marketing for DJ Mag include Hardwell’s skydive, Nicky Romero’s #PlayNicky video game, and Dimitri Vegas & Like Mike’s Tomorrowland campaigning. Each of these large campaigns took the spotlight away from the smaller, less inventive campaigns, proving highly effective for the artists involved.
SAVE EDM. VOTE YELLOW CLAW. https://t.co/agyHzv5O4Y
— YELLOW CLAW (@YELLOWCLAW) July 5, 2017
Once you have revealed your main campaign, it is then important to make sure that you share the campaign around the world. For example, if your campaign is a YouTube video, it is not enough to simply tweet about it once then let it be. In order to generate the best results, it is imperative to share the content multiple times, but always ensure not to make your messaging too repetitive. To do this, make sure to vary your posts, while always mirroring your core message. By varying your posts, users will be much more likely to engage more than once and share your content with their friends. If you repeat the same post, it is likely that fans will be reluctant to engage multiple times with the same message. Engagement is key, as it will enable you to reach even more fans and ensure that your entire following is aware of the need to vote for you and share your campaign.
When campaigning to encourage votes in the DJ Mag poll, it is always important to strike a balance. Make sure to break up your promotional posts with some of your regular social media content. Constant promotion is off-putting for fans, as it feels too corporate. Balance your campaigning with footage from your live shows and engaging with fans, this way you enable your talent to speak for itself alongside your campaign. This is how you enable your campaign to really flourish, by making a connection with viewers, entertaining them, telling them you would like them to vote for you, and lastly, by offering evidence that you are an artist who deserves their vote.
While reaching the top of the DJ Mag poll may seem an impossible feat for many artists, stars like Martin Garrix and Hardwell have proven that it is possible to launch to the top extremely quickly. For less-established artists, it is the campaigning that really gives the best chance of charting within the poll. Without a well thought out campaign, it is much more difficult to really make an impact on the poll and reach the position you deserve. Find a focus for your campaign with a humorous element to add entertainment for your viewers, consistently share it across your social platforms, and make sure to keep continuity through your content. Consistently reinforce the message to make sure that your whole audience is aware, and soon the votes will be flooding in.