Maintaining Purpose: A Look at Travis Scott's Astronomical Fortnite Performance
Remember Simon Sinek's infamous Ted Talk about innovative companies and the thing that sets them apart? Yes? No? Well, let me explain. All the great and inspiring organizations in the world "think, act, and communicate the exact same way." Think of it like this:
What? Every organization knows what they do.
How? Some organizations know how they do it, whether it's their unique selling proposition or proprietary process.
Why? AH! Why do organizations do what they do? Very few organizations know why they do what they do. No, to make a profit does not satisfy why organizations do what they do, that is only a mere result. An organization's "why" is its purpose, beliefs, and the reason their organization exists.
You'll find that most companies market from the outside-in. For example, if Epic Games, the company responsible for Fornite, were like everyone else, a marketing message would sound like this:
What? We make great video games.
How? It's a collaborative environment that promotes teamwork, compromise, and communication between players of all skill levels.
Why? Want to buy one?
Here's how Epic Games actually communicates:
Why? Everything we do, we believe in challenging the status quo. We believe in building a community where everyone can win.
How? We create a community where everyone can win by making our products a collaborative experience that promotes teamwork, compromise, and communication.
What? We just happen to make great video games. Want to buy one?
What does this prove to us? People aren't attracted to what a business does, but why they do it. The purpose-driven companies are the ones that are the innovators, the disruptors, and the ones that overcome challenges to continue to serve their purpose to their consumers.
Okay. So, what does this have to do with the music industry? In the age of the coronavirus pandemic, artists have lost the ability to perform live and sell tickets and merchandise to their fans. Where do artists turn to when their entire market disappears? To successfully navigate this new online market, artists must come up with ways to continue to deliver their purpose of providing a musical experience that serves as an escape for their fans.
Travis Scott's collaboration with Fortnite to host his 'Astronomical' concert is the perfect example of a brand and artist keeping their purpose-driven approach constant. They created something that connected players and fans alike and allowed them to participate in something bigger than themselves. George Howard of Forbes explains why Epic games would integrate music events on their platform and how it adds to their purpose. He explains, "Epic realizes that their purpose is far more than "simply" being a video game product manufacturer; like all great companies it understands that its purpose is to make the user feel better about herself when interacting with their product, and that while the product can and must change, its purpose must not."
To fully embrace the shift in landscape, the event had actual tour dates and showtimes for players worldwide. Players could choose to attend the performance that best suits them and watch the performance with their friends. To compensate for merchandise sales, players could purchase Travis Scott Outfits, Skins, and Emotes in the Fortnite store before the show began. Further embodying a real-life event, doors opened 30 minutes before showtime so players could secure their spot before the show reached its capacity. Howard states, "The Travis Scott event was not a skeuomorphic online rendition of an offline event; in fact, it was really unlike anything anyone has ever seen before. It was a collision (rather than a curation) of two seemingly orthogonal mediums, but while the tactic changed, the purpose remained the same, and in this manner, Travis Scott found a way to go to market even when that market had apparently disappeared."
So, did it work? Was Travis Scott able to compensate for the loss of touring and merchandise sales? The 'Astronomical' event had 12.3 million players watching the concert live, and 27.7 million players watched it over its three-day span. Overall, the event had a total of 46 million views, with some players attending the concert more than once. This audience simply could not be matched in an offline environment or even after a 6-month tour. The music video Scott premiered on Fortnite has accumulated over 39 million streams and, following the event, Scott's two singles "Goosebumps" and "Highest in the Room" made their way back to the Billboard charts.
As artists continue to find ways to connect with their audience in a virtual environment, they must continue to serve their purpose. Howard says, "Only rarely do markets abruptly disappear in the way that the touring market has due to COVID-19, but markets are always evolving and changing. Savvy brands and artists must continuously revise and refine their GTM strategy, and do so from a "Purpose not Product" approach to increase the likelihood of continuing to succeed through the constant of change." To all the artists finding their online path, I encourage you to ask yourself again, "what's my why?" and translate that into your online performances. Fans are hungry to find some comfort in these uncertain times.