Lewis Griffin
Creative Solutions Specialist
AVIVA
HATE 2 LUV U
I began working on the Hate 2 Luv U project for Psycho records on behalf of AViVA near the end of 2022.
My initial assignment was to work on visual identity and branding that would be carried through the first six months of the project, alongside editing the first teaser video for the album.
The project expanded over the fourteen month period to include branding, custom font work, website redesigns, merchandising, brokering, logistics management, video editing and design for both print and digital formats.
PHASE I
RELEASE
Deployment of Hate 2 Luv U was split into four primary phases. These consisted of the initial announcement and merchandise launch in January 2023, followed by a mid-year specialist launch to reignite interest, and the final album release in November 2023.
Phase I began with an announcement trailer, filmed by the artist in Sydney, AUS. The footage was then edited by myself to the specifications provided by the team.
This was also followed by the launch of a premium merchandise piece to introduce the new era of music - A set of ten foil Trading cards featuring the artwork being used for each single throughout the year, alongside the artwork for the album.
Alongside the primary content releases, I also developed a new brand identity for the first half of 2023, built upon a more dark fantasy style to tie into the settings and narratives AViVA wished to explore in the following year.
PHASE II
SEASON OF THE WYTCH
The second phase of the Hate 2 Luv U release schedule was to create an interactive experience during the Summer period to promote engagement and discussion surrounding the album cycle.
Requirements on the specifications included sourcing an engine to operate the experience, following a branched narrative written by artist Aviva Payne, and the ability to operate the game on the web whilst being embedded into the web domains owned by Psycho Records to encourage customer conversion on the site.
After consulting multiple options, the game was built on the Python-based Ren'Py visual novel engine, in which I created a series of dungeons-and-dragons-inspired functions such as multiple-choice dialogue options, simulated dice roles of multiple denominations, and hidden choice-dependent dialogue and gameplay features.
Once developed, I also provided multiple assets for the promotion of the final product, including static images, social media reels, final logos and email campaigns, working with external designers and illustrators to ensure the delivery of the product. The game, titled 'WYTCH', went on to become the crux of the summer marketing for the album, resulting in 1000+ unique player sessions during the primary marketing period.
PHASE IV
RELEASE
Leading up to the Release of the full album on November 24th, the final part of the marketing strategy was to include to collaborations with two differing artists, both in geographical location and in sonic composition.
The first of the two collaboration tracks was 'Erupt' Featuring Stilleto on October 30th, an artist that the AViVA brand had worked with previously and had a successful track record with previous collaborations.
The second track was 'Strangers' featuring UK band Enter Shikari, who had also recently come off the back of gaining their first number 1 UK album. This track was released on November 10th, helping to promote the upcoming album to a brand new audience and help break into the UK music space - something that had not yet been managed in the previous album cycles.
Alongside these two collaborative singles, a joint competition/webstore sale was created to help continue generating community interest and web traffic through multiple sources. during the promotional state of the album. This aided in retaining relevancy and a constant callback method for audience retention whilst marketing the upcoming release.
The final piece of the launch was less strategy and more sheer creativity. The top-tier bundle included all physical media and merchandise, limited to three copies (a limitation placed by the number of test pressings created for the album). I spent the next three months designing and hand-crafting a deluxe edition box set to house all of the media being sent to the fans who had purchased this bundle. This included designing the physical box, sourcing materials, and inserts, and designing the artwork to be placed around the box, along with assembling the final products. The final result was a cloth-bound slipcase greyboard box that held two vinyl records, a cd, an enamel pin, and a metallic gold print, housed in paper-based foam board packaging.
These boxsets were hailed as "a deluxe edition done right" and "the definitive way to showcase an album" by fans and industry peers alike. There is now active development to streamline this process to make it easier to assemble and more cost-effective for future releases.
Overall the designed strategy proved to work, as overall sales figures saw a rise of 250% during the release month compared to the launch campaign of the previous album.
PHASE III
Merchandising
During the 12-month marketing period of 'Hate 2 Luv U', a range of merchandising materials was created to support various songs. These items ranged from standard apparel to enamel pin bages, flags, keychains, custom socks, metallic art prints and more.
Beyond Design and layout, I have also been responsible for sourcing and production of various merchandise items. For this album cycle, I took on managing the physical production of all 'mass-produced' items such as CDs, vinyl, enamel pins, and art prints.
This strategy of creating smaller "limited run" merch drops meant as a team we could keep a closer eye on community response and reaction, and adjust or adapt strategies on the fly for the next drop, and to make sure we were consistently listening to community feedback and delivering items that the target market really wanted.
By the end of the twelve-month period, sales statistics had increased by over 300%, causing the strategy to be taken forward for later release campaigns.
