Teen Debuts Shift Marketing Paradigm
General-market opportunities raise the bar
AS NEW TEEN acts topped this summer's Christian SoundScan and radio charts with strong debuts, unprecedented national media exposure has shifted traditional marketing paradigms.
Atlantic/143's Plus One, ForeFront's Stacie Orrico and Word's Rachael Lampa all benefited from out-of-the-box thinking and some unconventional mainstream promotional opportunities, scanning 19,000, 13,000 and 11,000 units, respectively, in their first week of sales. With strong messages of faith intact, labels and management are taking these artists into venues never before thought possible.
"It's about thinking differently," said Plus One Manager Mitchell Solarek. "I've never been one to subscribe to the conventional way of doing things."
Some of those unconventional marketing methods utilized by Solarek, Atlantic/143 and booking agency William Morris, include a performance on NBC soap "Days of Our Lives" (Plus One performed their No. 1 Christian single "Written on My Heart" in its entirety and had speaking parts); a string of Macy's West grand opening appearances; and a performance at the Democratic National Convention. The group has been featured in the pages of a bevy of teen magazines and Plus One representatives are currently in discussions with Levi's and Paul Mitchell hair products for possible sponsorships of the group's headline tour in spring 2001. Plus One's debut, The Promise, has scanned nearly 200,000 units and has shipped over 300,000 units since its May 23 release.
"With the success of this band, it has happened so quickly it has allowed us to get attention from people we wouldn't normally get attention from," Solarek said. "But my job is to take it one day at a time; to make sure I don't miss any open doors, and don't walk through any I shouldn't."
Senior Regional Special Events Manager for Macy's West Stores Chris Ballastrari hadn't previously worked with a Christian group before Plus One. She told THE CCM UPDATE she was impressed with the group's "great attitude," and was pleased with the event's more than 2,000 visitors who attended a grand opening of the chain's new Sacramento store. A line of more than 750 fans waited for auto-graphs, she said.
"They were wonderful performers and were patient with every single person in line," she said. "We had a lot of good feedback from our customers for bringing them in."
Mark Lusk, vice president of marketing and promotions for Atlantic Records Christian division, said that Plus One and its team owe the group's success to a mutual commitment to the late author Bob Briner's "Roaring Lambs" concept, which advocates stepping out of the Christian subculture to affect the culture with faith.
The group, currently on tour with Jaci Velasquez, filmed a music video in New York of "Last Flight Out," a love song, which is the first mainstream radio single. Atlantic plans to service it to VH1 and MTV, and the single's add date at pop radio is today, Oct. 9.
"Plus One is a Christian band and will remain a Christian band," said Lusk, "but part of our vision is to expand the scope of our industry. If we can put a Christian band, which is straight up about their beliefs, into mainstream opportunities, that is just an extension of what we are already doing."
ForeFront, too, has entered the frontier of new artist development in the mainstream, with 14-year-old Stacie Orrico. Her debut outing Genuine bowed at No. 1 on Billboard's "Heatseekers" chart, and Orrico recently opened five dates for mainstream R&B act Destiny's Child.
With each date, Orrico sang for crowds of up to 20,000. The pairing has proven successful, said Orrico's manager Britt Ham.
"I remember one of the girls from the group telling Stacie when they first met, 'There's such a sweet spirit about you.' They couldn't quite believe that Stacie was so young, yet she knew what she wanted to do with her music."
Just as important as the artist's effect on the audience, is the way Christian labels and management interact with mainstream retail, radio and promoters, Ham said. "Dealing with the mainstream [entities] - that is probably one of the biggest opportunities we have to make an impact with our faith," he said. "People are watching."
ForeFront Records President Greg Ham added, "People ask, 'Why would she be in front of that crowd?' Well, it's a great opportunity for those kids to have the chance to see her and hear her message."
Plenty of set-up time and strategic partnerships helped create a buzz in the Christian market for the Aug. 29 release of Genuine, which has scanned nearly 44,000 units to date. The first single, "Don't Look at Me" held the No. 1 spot on the Christian CHR chart for a record eight weeks.
Earlier this summer, Orrico was already attracting crowds of 1,200 to 1,400 fans at several mall concerts and Christian retail store appearances on a cross-country promotional tour.
"What made this promotion successful was teaming up with radio ... [KCMS-FM/Seattle and KTSL-FM/Spokane, WA]," said Gunnar Simonsen, head buyer for Christian Supply Stores. "Stacie's single was No. 1, radio pushed it, we were there, and everything just fell together."
Word's Rachael Lampa is another teen artist who has crossed the barriers between the Christian and general-markets. She performed before millions on "The Tonight Show With Jay Leno" and "The View," and was featured on CNN's "Showbiz" segment and on "Entertainment Tonight." She has also received print coverage in the pages of Teen People, Teen Style and Tiger Beat. Her debut album, Live for You, has scanned more than 57,000 units to date since its Aug. 1 release. This fall, she will travel with the multi-artist, 20-city "Child of the Promise" tour.
Lampa's manager Michelle Fink believes the 15-year-old's extraordinary talent has opened doors for Lampa, who performed her Christian single "Live for You" before a viewing audience of millions during the "Miss Teen USA" telecast this summer. While such mainstream appearances have been considered somewhat taboo for Christian artists in the past, labels and management now see these kinds of opportunities as key to building the foundation for a new artist's future.
"Career development for any artist is about exposing their talent and taking their message to the mass public," Fink said.
Michele Buc, director of communi-cations for Word Records received positive comments from the editors of Teen People at the photo shoot in New York. "They said they loved working with Rachael and that she didn't have an attitude like some of the other new artists they had worked with."
As marketing paradigms shift for breaking and developing new Christian artists, the lines between the secular and sacred markets have blurred.
Labels may be criticized for pursuing mainstream exposure, but when the artist's message reaches a broader audience, it is worth any criticism received, said Ron Tabb, director marketing and promotion for Atlantic's Christian division, who received negative comments after Plus One's appearance at the Democratic National Convention.
"Whether it's P.O.D. out on 'Ozzfest,' or our new artist Damita out on a Bride's Magazine tour, these are people who would never otherwise hear about God," Tabb said. "As Plus One or P.O.D. or Damita receive exposure in the mainstream, people are being pointed to God as a result. Christian artists, especially new ones, haven't done things like that before, but we can expect to see more of this."
-Joan Brasher
