Olivia Dean

2023 saw the release of Olivia Dean’s debut album Messy, a refreshingly textured snapshot of a young woman embracing the beauty in life’s messiness through her relatable, soul-bearing lyricism and her most expansive and varied production to date. Amongst a run of successful live dates including Glastonbury festival, Somerset House, Roundhouse and more, Messy earned Dean three BRIT Awards nominations and a spot on the Mercury Prize shortlist. This campaign earned inside out a Music Week Best PR Campaign nomination.

OVERVIEW

Through promoting the album, the key aim was to raise Olivia’s profile exponentially, from longtime rising talent with potential to the year’s most exciting breakout pop talent. We’d achieve this by building upon a solid base of years of strategic media positioning, returning to fans new and old at music, fashion and culture press to push her to the forefront of conversation in 2023. It was important to pair Olivia with the appropriate and aspirational media to help explore the themes on Messy; belonging, womanhood, family, and the evolving process of her artistry and growth.

The main objective was for Messy to ubiquitously be regarded as one of 2023’s most essential and well regarded albums, for her to reach a much wider audience than ever and to chart in the top 10 of the UK’s official albums chart.

STRATEGY

The overarching strategy of the campaign was to use wide-ranging media titles to tell Olivia’s story, raise her profile and reach new fans while staying selective with opportunities that were befitting of her level and true to her ethos.

By loading the campaign with strong music press features and reviews ahead of release, we would lead with the artistry and reinforce the messaging of Messy. These pieces were complemented by cooler positioning and fashion moments throughout to appeal directly to her audience, and longer form pieces (eg. broadsheet, Music Week features) would dive deeper into the nuances of her story and situate her in the cultural moment.

Post album release we were strategic with opportunities that would highlight her ongoing successes and place her visibly in mainstream media, for example video pieces, Time Out cover feature, Glamour Woman Of The Year awards. Her Glamour WOTY performance put Olivia in front of global celebrity names including Halle Bailey, America Fererra, Ariana DeBose, Hannah Waddingham, the Lionesses and many more who gave her performance and speech their undivided attention and were won over as new supporters.