In a landscape dominated by text, vlogs, and voiceovers, the challenge of captivating an audience without relying on words is a persistent one. Blue Man Group has confronted this obstacle head-on, consistently proving that the Blue Men can grab attention without uttering a single word. This led us to position the Blue Man character as the focal point of our social media presence, prioritizing it over brand-centric content.
Every piece of Blue Man Group content is deliberately non-verbal. Our narratives unfold through the perspectives of the Blue Men, with a strong emphasis on music to convey their actions and emotions. Whether it's a humorous TikTok video featuring trending audio, the Blue Men interpreting current song covers on their unique instruments or venturing into new musical territories with freshly composed tracks, our brand voice on social media encapsulates the world through the eyes of the Blue Men.
However, this music and character-focused approach comes with its set of challenges. Our instruments, like the Drumbone and PVC pipes, are one-of-a-kind and performance oriented. Each PVC pipe in Blue Man Group's four domestic shows are arranged differently, and the notes are not chromatic like a piano for a more visual appeal, adding complexity to composing and reimagining songs quickly.
Retention poses another hurdle. With a content style resembling silent films, our social media and content team, meticulously studies content performance to make the right decisions. We analyze how viewers retain our videos and decipher the pacing of each piece of content released. We work closely with the Blue Men to develop creative that represents the character while also ensuring optimal performance based on analytic data.
This year, we made substantial investments in crafting new music specifically for social media, developing custom content featuring trending audio, collaborating with creators and brands, producing our first-ever Holiday EP and working with sound designers to refine our musical storytelling across platforms like YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, and Facebook. Our objective was to remain faithful to our shows and character essence, aiming to evoke emotions such as laughter, wonder, curiosity, or pure party vibes through the Blue Man sound.
1. Experimenting with different forms of sound:
The Blue Men are known for their innate curiosity, so we have prioritized expanding their musical horizons by delving into various forms of sound. This commitment to exploration has propelled the Blue Men beyond their traditional instrumental and unique instruments, fostering innovative connections with new audiences and creative ventures.
Examples of this strategy include:
Content Reel: https://youtu.be/KlERPqoP3J8
2. Conversing with fellow collaborators:
Collaborating with like-minded content creators and brands stands as a central focus in our marketing strategy, allowing us to introduce the Blue Man character to new audiences. When crafting creative content, our priority is to adopt musical approaches infused with comedic storytelling. This intentional blend of music and humor has proven to be a powerful means of connecting with diverse audiences and generating significant engagement.
Examples of this strategy include:
Content Reel: https://youtu.be/aTMWwAadpqY
3. A Musical Dedication to Our Fans
Blue Man Group's social media and content team collaborated with Warner Music Group to craft a 9-song Holiday EP – something longtime fans have been asking for years to receive. Putting the EP at the forefront of their social media strategy, the team produced four original music videos and eight promotional vertical videos. The EP along with the content can only be seen and heard online, making it a unique and inclusive offering for every fan to enjoy this holiday season.
Each track in the album was meticulously designed and crafted with a focus on social content. Analytical insights guided our decision-making, revealing that our Drumbone consistently excels in reaching new audiences, with a high potential for virality. Armed with this knowledge, we strategically executed a song that showcased the instrument in a novel and innovative manner—resulting in the creation of "Jingle Bones," a composition entirely performed on two Drumbones simultaneously.
Since the EP's release in mid-October, Blue Man Group's social media audience has added over 260k followers, and all Holiday EP-related content has accumulated a total of 39.4M views and 1.6M engagements across YouTube, Facebook, Instagram and Tik Tok. The EP itself has been streamed globally 45.8k times across all major streaming platforms such as Spotify, Apple Music and Pandora.
Content Reel: https://youtu.be/kP_BYCVcP8M
4. Covers on topical music pieces:
Certainly, the Blue Men thoroughly enjoy embracing audio trends, incorporating them into comedic shorts or viral dance routines. However, what has particularly resonated is our ability to recreate these trending songs on our distinctive instruments. We've developed streamlined processes to swiftly produce topical and engaging musical pieces. This approach allows us to not only stay current with popular trends but also showcase our musical creativity in a way that uniquely defines the Blue Men.
Examples of this strategy include:
Content Reel: https://youtu.be/r3z7y3dUYiA
Our music-centric strategy yielded remarkable results. Blue Man Group's social media audience expanded organically by 2.3 million, soaring from 3 million to 5.3 million (a 176% increase compared to 2022). This growth was accompanied by a total of 412.5 million views (a 346% increase) and 23.7 million engagements (a 501% increase). Many of those engagements include an increase in comments from those that may have forgotten about Blue Man Group after seeing a show many years ago, proving our reach was expanding to newer audiences.
