Feature: Flumtel, the intelligent partnership

When rock legend, the late Lou Reed, took to the stage at the advertising industry’s biggest international festival in 2013, it signalled a major turning point in the relationship between the music industry and the advertising business.

“Things have changed,” said Reed as he addressed the international marketing and advertising community. “The advertising people actually pay musicians for what they do. It’s a startling turn of events. It used to be thought of as selling out but now it’s the opposite, people like the ads now.”

Marketers searching for new ways to connect with hard-to-reach audiences have embraced the music industry, leading to an explosion of creative collaborations: Beyonce and Pepsi, Skrillex and G-Star and Swedish House Mafia and Volvo. Most recently Australian audiences reaped the benefit of electronic artist Flume’s collaboration with Intel.

The collaboration, called ‘Intelligent Sounds’, comprises a unique sound and light installation, a specially-composed Flume track (The Greatest View), a robot conductor and a ‘band’ powered by Intel tablets.

The three-minute film sees a robot conductor “play” a series of tablets, which are programmed with synthesised notes and linked to custom-made instruments, which recreate the sounds within the track. The robot is programmed to hit the right note in time with the track.

The 12-week production included 2,000 developer hours, more than 60 Intel powered tablets, and created a piece of content that captured the attention of geeks and music lovers alike.

“We wanted to create something fun and engaging that could create an emotional connection with people,” says Intel National Marketing Manager Anna Torres. “We wanted something that would surprise and delight audiences; something they can enjoy and engage with, so that later when they are in the shop, they think about our brand.”

Intel, the brand behind the processing chips which power devices such as laptops, tablets and mobile phones, needed an entertaining way to showcase how its products enhances people’s lives.

Enter Intel’s advertising agency The Monkeys.

The rest of this article is in the Australian Music Industry Quarterly – out now. To read on, click here.