It’s true — beer really does make music better and this Chinese brand could be a genuine force for good in British music
At Secret Sessions we believe brands and music go hand in hand.
We are dedicated to nurturing new and emerging artists with the help of brands who wish to contribute meaningfully to culture and the arts.
In today’s culture, brands need access to growing and passionate audiences whilst creating a continuous output of meaningful content — both things new artists can support well.
Early this year, leading Chinese beer brand Tsingtao (pronounced Ching Dow) began their marketing mission to take their beverage ‘from China Town to Downtown’ with an initial focus on London millennials. Working with Manchester based digital agency Mojofuel, Tsingtao opted for music as the vehicle to do this.
Our monthly music night ‘Secret Sessions Live’ — which picks support acts from our artist development program — caught the attention of Mike Moran, Mojofuel’s owner.
We put forward an idea for a 2 month pilot partnership between Secret Sessions and Tsingtao which would see us discover and develop two new bands.
In late February 2017 we launched The ‘Tsingtao Artist Accelerator’, a program designed to work alongside audiences to uncover the next wave of musical talent. We focussed on live events and video content — the areas we believe are most relevant to artists at this stage.
The activation began with an audience vote on Twitter which saw our community of music lovers cast over 1,000 votes using #TsingtaoSecretSessions and the artists’ handle.
Top of the pile were these 5 artists:
- Valerio Lysander (male soloist)
- Cash Taylor (male soloist)
- Oska Zaky (male soloist)
- Vei (female soloist)
- Canvas Wall (band)
- Silver Wilson (band)
Working with Mojofuel we agreed on the most promising act. The first winners of the Tsingtao Secret Sessions Artist Accelerator were Silver Wilson, a Nottingham 3 piece.
Silver Wilson were invited to play Secret Sessions Live at The Hospital Club in Covent Garden on the 24th March. They spent the day filming a stripped back version of their track ‘Fool’ and an Emerging Artist Profile mini documentary which introduces the band. Later that evening, they played to a packed and enthusiastic room of discerning music fans who all got tipsy for free courtesy of Tsingtao.
Silver Wilson summed up their experience:
“Being part of this Artist Accelerator was a great experience for us. We cannot fault the final outcome! Since the Secret Session, we’ve seen our online following grow so fast!… and we’ve had some great opportunities off the back of it.”
Round Two
A week later and round two of the program saw a brand new batch of artists uncovered. Our final 5 acts were:
- Kris Evans (male soloist)
- Hume (male soloist)
- Bridie Florence (female soloist)
- Blushes (band)
- Friends of Friends (band)
Leeds based 5 piece Friends of Friends were chosen as the winners from this lot. Partnering with production outfit Straight Up Grizzly, we spent the day filming the session and artist profile with the guys before they opened Secret Sessions Live that night.
Friends of Friends said:
“Being able to shoot a live session and perform our material in a premier London club is an opportunity that simply would not have been available to us without the help from Secret Sessions and Tsingtao. It’s exciting that a globally successful brand still has faith in new and unsigned artists and we feel honoured to have worked with them on this project.’’
Secret Sessions Live is rumoured to be the best date night in London. If you’d like to receive updates about upcoming shows, sign up to the newsletter on our website
