Back in August of last year, Sprint came to Organic looking for a way to create buzz and raise awareness for their recently launched Music Store.

We went in knowing two things:

1. the space was very crowded – Verizon, T-Mobile, AT&T/Cingular and even Walmart offer music downloads. Whatever we did, it had to stand out.
2. the audience we wanted to reach, called "Advanced Connected" in Sprint terminology, is extremely averse to traditional advertising and blatant promotion.

Our solution was to create an entertaining and engaging online destination featuring two “music experts”: Ian and the DJ. Each has a back story – Ian is a washed up pop star from the 1980s running a record store on Melrose and DJ is an aspiring turntablist, working in Ian’s store. Users participate by creating playlists and getting a personalized “expert” review of their choices.

To further embellish the story we created a music video for Ian’s one and only hit from the 80s, “Under the Moon”. Launched simultaneously on YouTube and Ian’s MySpace page, the video has gone viral, currently appearing on 25 sites. Music video legend Nigel Dick, (Tears For Fears, Guns N’ Roses, Britney Spears) directed both the “Under the Moon” video and the Mix Sherpa video performances.

Visit the site:
http://www.mixsherpa.com/

See the entire Ian experience:
http://www.sprintspecialoffers.com/ian/index.html

Dave Sylvestre and the Sprint cast and crew