Cryptic mail seems to be a productive way of promoting new music these days. Last week, Florence And The Machine fans received a pink envelope with a playing card that had the word “KING” spelled out on it, which ended up being the title of their new single. Arcade Fire fans are the lucky ones this time; they shared on both Reddit and Twitter that they received postcards from the band with musical notation, the words “we missed you,” and the Arcade Fire logo. At least this is less cryptic and more of a promise of new music.
3/3/22 ARCADE FIRE.
Something from my favourite band is coming. Received this postcard today.
And god knows how much I love this kind of marketing. You guys are fucking ______ !!!
😍😍😍More info ? @residentmusic @lesinrocks @arcadefire @butlerwills #arcadefire #winbutler pic.twitter.com/i0p2w3mLTV— ibo o. (@ibra_ozhan) March 3, 2022
The Canadian sextet’s last album was 2017’s Everything Now. It was also marketed in a creative way, which they ended up apologizing for: they sold Kendall and Kylie Jenner tour shirts and $109 fidget spinners, instituted a formal dress code for one of their shows, and made a strange joke about “removable jihadi beards.” They also got Stephen Colbert into the action, having the Late Show host’s Twitter account “leak” a series of obviously phony demands made by the band. Hopefully they learned their lesson from over-the-top marketing campaigns and will stick to sending postcards to fans, which is much more sensical and pleasant.
