DRIVING STREAMS AROUND LINDA RONSTADT'S "LONG, LONG TIME"
DRIVING STREAMS AROUND LINDA RONSTADT'S "LONG, LONG TIME"
On January 27, 2023, I woke up in Japan to an email confirming Linda Ronstadt's "Long, Long Time" for a significant moment in an upcoming episode of The Last of Us on January 29. With just three days to execute, I immediately started strategizing how to maximize this opportunity for Linda. After over two years of building her brand awareness and story across socials and web, I wanted to make this moment count, especially with the news about a forthcoming biopic with Selena Gomez still under wraps. Brand building blocks like this don’t come often.
Under my leadership and direction, we secured a collaborative post with HBO that went live on both Linda and HBO's social accounts, significantly increasing engagement. Our Reddit campaign yielded 1.3 million views, 509 shares, 534 comments, and 7.8 thousand upvotes. Reigniting a dormant relationship with her record label, we also confirmed advertising across Linda's social platforms, prioritized the track across artist-controlled playlists on YouTube, and worked with them to commission a new, premium video asset for the song incorporating themes of strawberries (which were relevant to the show).
The streaming impact was substantial. The song was added to key Spotify playlists, including Big On The Internet (3.1 million followers) and The Last of Us playlist, where it peaked at number one. On Apple Music, it topped the Brazil Risers and Spain Risers charts and ranked #3 on Amazon's Mellow 70s Gold. "Long, Long Time" climbed to #3 on the USA Spotify Daily Viral Chart and #11 on the Global chart, achieving notable positions in numerous international markets. On iTunes, it peaked at #3 on the US Top Tracks All Genre chart and #2 on the US Top Tracks Pop chart. Linda was dubbed “The Kate Bush of 2023” all because of The Last Of Us and the digital marketing efforts.
Individual Skillset in Focus: Strategic Planning, Viral Marketing, Streaming Marketing
I’ve worked with Tripleplay Studios on a few occasions to do Reddit mention campaigns around key viral moments to maintain moments. We opted to work with them to continue to keep Linda’s track top-of-mind for fans, especially since prior to the show, it was not one of Linda’s well-known hits.
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Linda Ronstadt is having her Kate Bush moment after streams of her song "Long, Long Time" have majorly spiked after being featured in Sunday's installment of The Last of Us.
The 1979 tune played a pivotal part in the third episode of the HBO acclaimed series, which focused on the surprising love story between post-apocalyptic survivors Bill (Nick Offerman) and Frank (Murray Bartlett).
By Monday, streams of the rock icon's tune on Spotify had increased by 4900 percent. That's similar to how "Running Up That Hill," Bush's 1985 song, catapulted globally after being featured on season 4 of the Netflix hit Stranger Things last May.
Read more on People.com
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The Last of Us fans may have a classic Linda Ronstadt song stuck in their heads for a long, long time.
Ronstadt's "Long, Long Time" is enjoying a boost in popularity after being memorably used on HBO's The Last of Us. According to Spotify, the 1970 track received more than a 4,900 percent increase in streams in the U.S. between 11 p.m. and midnight Eastern on Sunday after the show aired.
"Long, Long Time" was heard multiple times on the post-apocalyptic drama this week. The episode, which is titled after the song, depicts a love story between two new characters, played by Nick Offerman and Murray Bartlett, over many years. In a key scene, the two characters both play "Long, Long Time" on the piano just before sharing their first kiss.
Read more at theweek.com -
Linda Ronstadt’s “Long, Long Time” appeared not once but three times in Sunday’s episode of “The Last of Us.” And fans of HBO’s newest hit were clearly moved by Ronstadt’s song, as streams of her ballad have ballooned since the episode premiered.
Between 11 p.m. ET and midnight on Sunday, Spotify streams of “Long, Long Time” increased 4,900% compared to the week prior, the platform reported this week. CNN has reached out to Spotify to confirm the number of streams before and after “The Last of Us” aired. In the meantime, the song is already appearing in TikToks from weepy viewers who loved the episode.
The song was performed by actors Murray Bartlett and Nick Offerman in a pivotal sequence in the third episode of “The Last of Us” in which their characters meet by chance, take turns playing Ronstadt’s song at very different tempos on an antique piano and share a kiss (and, eventually, almost 20 years of their lives). The episode closes with Ronstadt’s rendition of the song played on a cassette tape.
Read more at CNN.com