ABBA Omnibus

ABBA is a group that appeals to a broad spectrum, both to older demographics and to the pre-teen crowd. ABBA singles have even appeared in new wave and punk charts. Glew says that in seeking radio play Atlantic went after the Top 40 formats primarily, though The Album also received AOR play as well. With the release of the single there were also ti... p sheet and trade ads placed in various publications, while the publicity department hired an outside p.r. firm, Solters and Roskins. There were also Top 40 radio time buys for theTake A Chance On Me single in 14 markets. The theory behind this, Glew says, was to create so much excitement on the single that it would enable the LP to take off again as if it was brand new. The bulk of these ads were run at the end of last May and the beginning of June. In May, Atlantic erected a giant billboard in Los Angeles for ABBA, and, for in-store display, created large standups of the group, again all featuring visuals of the four members. There were also two-by-twos and mobiles created for the campaign. All were shipped together with the LPs and singles, allowing the stores to put them up immediately. To make sure the displays had visibility, Atlantic mounted one contest for the branch distributors and another "ABBA bucks" contest for store employees. In this contest, WEA branch members and Atlantic staffers gave store employees the "ABBA bucks" entry blanks if they saw an ABBA display in the store. These were sent in to Atlantic with the winner of a drawing getting a trip to Sweden. Atlantic also made up ABBA T-shirts to be given away at three levels: for Store Employees, radio giveaways and for members of the press, given away through the publicity department. All this, too, was timed for May and June, as were stuffer cards Atlantic provided clerks to put in the shopping bags of store customers. To further bolster the group's visual appeal a videotape was made for the various WEA branches and for stores that use video merchandising. To reinforce its campaign Atlantic put ...Read More