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Hitwise Intelligence - Robin Goad - UK

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O2, Led Zeppelin and the iPhone

September 19, 2007

Two big music stories have caught the media’s attention over the last couple of weeks. Firstly there was the announcement last Wednesday (September 12th) that the remaining members of Led Zeppelin are to reform for a one off reunion concert in November. This was followed yesterday (September 18th) by the UK launch of Apple's iPhone. The common thread is mobile telco O2, which sponsors the venue for the Led Zep gig (the former Millenium Dome, now rechristened The O2), and will also be the exclusive network provider for the iPhone in the UK. The company has consciously aligned its brand with music (it also sponsored the Wireless Music Festival this summer), so it’s interesting to see the impact of these recent announcements on its brand.

First, the concert. Three of the of the top 10 most popular search terms containing 'led zeppelin' last week included 'O2', and the O2 arena’s homepage jumped up the rankings along with Led Zep’s official homepage. The site was the most visited Bands and Artists page in the UK for 5 days last week. The chart below illustrates both sites' share of the Music category.

O2 led zep.png

And what of the iPhone? As the graph below illustrates, O2’s main site didn’t see an increase in traffic following the Led Zep announcement last week, but it did receive a boost yesterday following the iPhone announcement. Its increase in traffic was 21%, compared to 6% for Apple and 12% for Carphone Warehouse (the sole independent retailer carrying the iPhone).

iPhone O2 carphone.png