Australian musical royalty joined in the fun at a Song Division session with kids from the Spastic Centre and their mentors from ING this week.

Jimmy Barnes and his daughter Elly-May surprised the kids when they turned up at the legendary Alberts Recording Studios in Sydney, to help record the song they had written with the help of the Song Division team.

The ING mentor program matches ING employees with young people with cerebral palsy. Over the course of a year, they help coach the kids personally and professionally and above all else, develop a friendship.

For the past 4 years, Song Division has run a songwriting and recording session to help celebrate and express the success of the program.

But the absolute highlight of the year it seems was having Jimmy sing their very own song!  Jimmy and Elly-May (who also has cerebral palsy) were the perfect guests to celebrate the night and the song.

The song, photos and footage can be viewed on our website shortly.

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VisitBritain’s Magellan Award

We are very proud to announce our client VisitBritain has won a prestigious Magellan Award from Travel Weekly for their Song Division-based experiential marketing campaign in the USA.

Full details of the campaign are at www.songdivision.com/services/experiential-marketing/

And award details are at www.travelweeklyawards.com/winners/

Song Division Australia

Our amazing Austrlian team have just picked up runner-up in the “Event Entertainer Of The Year” category at the 2009 illustrious BT Publishing E-Awards!  There will be a feature on the team in the next edition of MICE Magazine which we’ll be sure to post.

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Sheridan – Shine Brighter

Who says rock n rollers don’t like getting up early?  Our Canadian band were soundchecking at 6.30am at the Missassauga Convention Center – led by Angus Clark (Trans Siberian Orchestra) their credits included Nelly Furtado, Norah Jones, The Temptations, The Philosopher Kings, Snow and Lionel Ritchie.  As Angus likes to say, “they can make anyone sound good”.

And they had a talented group to work with – the 800 faculty and staff from Sheridan College.  The mission?  To write and record a song based on the new marketing slogan “Shine Brighter” in just 50 minutes.  Using Song Division’s globally proven process for involving everyone (yes, all 800 people) in writing the music and lyrics to a totally original song, Sheridan recorded their very own hit before the second coffee of the morning.

Red Door Family Shelter

Every November, some of Canada’s best musicians perform at The Open Door Festival Music Festival to raises funds for Toronto’s Red Door Family Shelter.  What better way to raise awareness for the festival than helping particapants from the shelter write their very own song with the help of Song Division and wonderful singer-songwriter Sara Kamin!

Around thirty young children, teenagers, parents and shelter workers wrote all the music and lyrics to a beautiful song about what the Red Door Family Shelter means to them.

See the amazing work the Red Door Family Shelter doeshttp www.reddoorshelter.ca

Check out the details for the Open Door Festival, November 18th at www.opendoorfestival.com

Hear the angelic voice and songs of Sara Kamin at www.myspace.com/sarakamin

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Song Division has all three as a result of an amazing team and lots of hard work.  On the PR front, it’s not easy getting the attention of journalists who are constantly bombarded with stories.  Here’s a few tips that worked for us:

1) Read the appropriate industry publications, get familiar with them and the contributing journalists.  Get to know them by replying to blogs or requests for information.  Once you know who’s who, you’ll have a much better idea of who might be interested in your story.
2) Join the appropriate industry associations and go to the industry conferences you can afford to attend.  That’s where you’ll find the journalists who cover your industry, introduce yourself.
3) Use resources like www.helpareporter.com and reply to any requests that you can contribute to.  Don’t reply if it’s not really related to your business and story – the journalists are asking for specific help and if you can answer their question, they’ll include you.

The strategies above worked for Song Division – here are links to a few recent stories;

1) Bizbash – “Making a Corporate Group into a Rock Band”

2) Event Marketer Magazine – “Song Division”

3) Plannerwire – “Communication 101: Listen, Question, Rinse, Repeat”

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Even though every session is different in terms of number of people, venue, purpose and length, it’s always about writing an original song.  And it always has the same effect on people – at first they are in a slight state of shock, thinking “I’m not musical” or “this isn’t going to work”, followed by the realization they are actually writing a song with their own professional band and having way too much fun in the process.  The final stage is to revel in their mutual achievement – “I can hear this on the radio” and “Honey, I’m going to be home late, I’m mixing the track” are typical refrains.

You’ll see in the clip just how much fun it is achieving something together you didn’t think was possible.

We’d love to get your feedback on this clip – does it give you a good understanding of what to expect in a Song Division session? What questions remain unanswered? What concerns do you have that might stop you from experiencing it first hand?  All comments are welcomed and appreciated!

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It’s a tough job, but someone’s got to do it.  My wife and I have just returned from a seven-night cruise as guests of one of the major cruise lines.  With stops in Jamaica, Grand Cayman and the Bahamas, our journey was one luxurious loop around Cuba, like a shark circling its prey. If you haven’t already been to charming Cuba, get there ASAP before the floodgates open, the cruise ships pull in, and it becomes an extension of South Beach.

The cruise industry appears to be weathering the recession well. Our vessel was at capacity, as were other ships from other major lines that we met along the way.  And it’s not hard to figure out why. These floating cities have all the modern amenities, from Broadway shows to specialty shopping, and you wake up each morning in a new, tropical paradise without having to pack a bag.  These luxury liners also have state-of-the-art meeting facilities, and group packages are extremely reasonable.  As far as unique meeting venues with an amazing built-in reward component go, the cruise industry would have to be one of the best international options at the moment.

Another overseas destination offering great value is Great Britain.  I can hear you groan, “But, Britain is so expensive!”  It’s actually 25% cheaper now than it was a year ago, as a result of a weakened pound.  I should know after spending a day in one of NY’s finest recording studios helping twenty of the top US tour operators write and record ‘Gotta Go To Britain, I Wanna Go Now!’ What they lacked in vocal technique, they made up for in lyric writing and enthusiasm. They also had the help of David Bowie’s guitarist and Aerosmith’s producer.  So, if you’ve always wanted an excuse to see Big Ben, Wimbledon and the Queen -now’s the time to go.

We think we’ve got it tough here in the US with all the financial doom and gloom. Spare a thought for Pakistan and Thailand!  The head of Pakistan tourism recently declared tourists had nothing to fear from visiting Pakistan and highlighted the country’s many cultural and natural attractions. Shortly after his plea to the global travel industry, Paksitani militants killed 24 people and injured 300 in Lahore. Thailand is also having a hard time with recent political unrest, however they have an easier road to recovery.  They’ve begun an aggressive advertising campaign to restore their normally thriving leisure and business travel industry by offering visitors limited travel insurance at no cost.

So cruising the Caribbean, Pimms on the Thames, or a tropical beach in Phuket are all providing great value overseas at the moment.  Pakistan might just have to wait awhile yet.

Andy Sharpe is Director, Song Division in New York.

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The Song Division band consisted of our US music director Angus Clark (Trans Siberian Orchestra), Earl Slick (David Bowie, John Lennon), Mark Husdon (Aerosmith, Ringo Star) and Jason Gianni (Trans Siberian Orchestra and drummer on the Sponge Bob Squarepants theme – this credit received the most racaus reception of the day).

The participants wrote, performed and recorded a very rocking track called “Gotta Go To Britain” in just three hours.  The event was filmed and is the centerpiece of a major PR campaign resulting in over 35,000 hits to the industry website  in the first week of the campaign alone.

“Song Division enabled VisitBritain to extend our product marketing message to the vast travel industry community across the USA with a fabulously innovative approach.  Professionally facilitated and executed, Song Division provided the perfect platform to deliver an energetic, creative and interactive campaign enabling me to bring industry leaders to the forefront and be the ‘voice’ of expertise within our B2B community.

This is a fresh and innovative approach to destination marketing and, in my opinion, an ideal solution for any B2B marketing.  Thanks for expert guidance and creativity.” Carl Walsh, VisitBritain, Regional Director – Travel Trade, Business Visits & Events (Americas)

Click on the images below to see footage

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