In an effort to get advertising companies to promote a new track by one of its artists, German label Kontor developed an ingenious new device to capture the attention of creative directors: The Office Turntable. Record labels usually send advertising firms promo CDs, which are often treated as spam and promptly thrown in the trash. To avoid this, Kontor "went with what all good DJs use to grab their audience: real vinyl."
Sort of.
Kontor sent out a mailer with a real vinyl record in it, but knowing that most offices wouldn't have a turntable to play it, they provided a digital solution. The cardboard mailer itself has a printout of a turntable on it and comes with a QR code. The recipient puts the record on the cardboard turntable, scans the QR code with their smartphone, and plays the music through the phone. The result, according to the video, is "analog fun with a digital device." Check it out in the video above, via Mass Appeal.
It might be a gimmick, but it's a gimmick that works. Kontor reports that of the 900 Office Turntable mailers sent out, 71% were activated, which is 64% more than when CDs were used. Although vinyl purists would probably object to it, Kontor's Office Turntable is groundbreaking for its use of old and new technology. Vinyl, it seems, is making a comeback in more ways than one.
Source: Spin.com
