建立宇宙：睡眠代币如何悄悄地将匿名变成营销机器

在过去的十年中，英国金属乐队睡眠代币一直在悄悄地建立自己的宇宙：匿名，面具和斗篷

British metal band Sleep Token has been slowly, patiently, teasingly building its own universe for what feels like an eternity. Anonymity, masks and cloaks, band members identified only by Roman numerals, a dearth of interviews or explanations of any kind — it’s all part of the mystique that has drawn in fans just as much as the music itself; the group’s followers comb through Easter eggs and hunt down clues — in website source code, for instance, or by linking QR codes scattered around Los Angeles, or through the lunar eclipse live stream from Griffith Observatory — looking for hints at what is to come, and what the band might do next.

英国金属乐队睡眠代币一直缓慢，耐心，嘲笑地建立自己的宇宙，因为它感觉像永恒。匿名，面具和披风，乐队成员仅由罗马数字识别，缺乏访谈或任何形式的解释 - 这都是神秘的一部分，与音乐本身一样吸引了粉丝。该小组的追随者通过复活节彩蛋和追捕线索（例如，在网站源代码中，或通过链接散布在洛杉矶周围的QR码）或通过Griffith天文台的Lunar Eclipse Live Stream链接的QR码来寻找提示，以查找即将发生的事情以及乐队接下来会做什么。

Lately, that has ratcheted up, as the group signed to RCA and began releasing singles on a major label for the first time ahead of their upcoming album, Even In Arcadia, set for a May 9 release. It started with a detailed campaign ahead of the release of the single “Emergence,” which began with the group’s first-ever TikTok video, led to a website where fans were instructed to choose between two coats of arms, involved multiple Instagram accounts and messages released in Morse code and a numerical cipher that spelled out the name of the single — and even that is an oversimplification of the campaign. But the scavenger hunt that ensued, of course, was only part of the story of the song’s success: it became the band’s first-ever Hot 100 entry, and is now spending its third straight week at No. 1 on Hot Hard Rock Songs.

最近，随着小组签约RCA并开始在即将发行的专辑中首次发行单曲，即使在Arcadia将于5月9日发行。它始于单一“出现”之前的详细广告系列，该活动始于该小组的第一个Tiktok视频，导致网站指示粉丝在其中选择两层武器之间，涉及多个Instagram帐户和在Morse代码中发布的多个Instagram帐户和消息，并在数字密码中发布了一个数字密码，这些密码拼写出了单个名称 - 甚至是该广告系列的过度涂鸦。但是，随之而来的寻宝游戏当然只是这首歌成功故事的一部分：它成为了乐队有史以来第一个热门100的作品，现在连续第三周在Hot Hard Rock Songs上排名第一。

British metal band Sleep Token has been slowly, patiently, teasingly building its own universe for what feels like an eternity. Anonymity, masks and cloaks, band members identified only by Roman numerals, a dearth of interviews or explanations of any kind — it’s all part of the mystique that has drawn in fans just as much as the music itself; the group’s followers comb through Easter eggs and hunt down clues — in website source code, for instance, or by linking QR codes scattered around Los Angeles, or through the lunar eclipse live stream from Griffith Observatory — looking for hints at what is to come, and what the band might do next.

英国金属乐队睡眠代币一直缓慢，耐心，嘲笑地建立自己的宇宙，因为它感觉像永恒。匿名，面具和披风，乐队成员仅由罗马数字识别，缺乏访谈或任何形式的解释 - 这都是神秘的一部分，与音乐本身一样吸引了粉丝。该小组的追随者通过复活节彩蛋和追捕线索（例如，在网站源代码中，或通过链接散布在洛杉矶周围的QR码）或通过Griffith天文台的Lunar Eclipse Live Stream链接的QR码来寻找提示，以查找即将发生的事情以及乐队接下来会做什么。

Lately, that has ratcheted up, as the group signed to RCA and began releasing singles on a major label for the first time ahead of their upcoming album, Even In Arcadia, set for a May 9 release. It started with a detailed campaign ahead of the release of the single “Emergence,” which began with the group’s first-ever TikTok video, led to a website where fans were instructed to choose between two coats of arms, involved multiple Instagram accounts and messages released in Morse code and a numerical cipher that spelled out the name of the single — and even that is an oversimplification of the campaign. But the scavenger hunt that ensued, of course, was only part of the story of the song’s success: it became the band’s first-ever Hot 100 entry, and is now spending its third straight week at No. 1 on Hot Hard Rock Songs.

最近，随着小组签约RCA并开始在即将发行的专辑中首次发行单曲，即使在Arcadia将于5月9日发行。它始于单一“出现”之前的详细广告系列，该活动始于该小组的第一个Tiktok视频，导致网站指示粉丝在其中选择两层武器之间，涉及多个Instagram帐户和在Morse代码中发布的多个Instagram帐户和消息，并在数字密码中发布了一个数字密码，这些密码拼写出了单个名称 - 甚至是该广告系列的过度涂鸦。但是，随之而来的寻宝游戏当然只是这首歌成功故事的一部分：它成为了乐队有史以来第一个热门100的作品，现在连续第三周在Hot Hard Rock Songs上排名第一。

Building on that was the release of the followup single, “Caramel,” teased in part by WRAL Raleigh, North Carolina weatherman Chris Michaels during a news broadcast, which also helped introduce the band’s next step, which is forthcoming — with “Caramel” jumping out to an even bigger streaming debut so far than “Emergence” had. “It’s truly a marketer’s dream project,” RCA Records’ vp of marketing Aaron Stern says — and the creativity and success so far helps earn Stern the title of Billboard’s Executive of the Week.

以此为基础，是在新闻广播中发行的后续单曲“ Caramel”，部分由北卡罗来纳州风雨的克里斯·迈克尔斯（Chris Michails）嘲笑，这也有助于引入乐队的下一步，这是即将出现的，“焦糖”（Caramel）跳到了到目前为止的“远远超过了“出现”的播放式播放案）。 RCA Records的营销副总裁Aaron Stern说：“这确实是一个营销商的梦想项目。

Here, Stern helps break down some of the work that went into the campaign, and what’s to come for Sleep Token. “The future is about building community,” Stern says. “If there’s anything to take away from this campaign and what this band has created it’s how you build that sense of fellowship and that’s what I’ll take with me as a focus going forward with all of my projects.”

在这里，斯特恩（Stern）有助于分解竞选活动中的一些工作，以及为睡眠代币所带来的工作。 “未来是建立社区，”斯特恩说。 “如果有什么可以摆脱这项运动的东西，并且该乐队创造了什么，那就是您建立这种团契感的方式，这就是我对所有项目的重点关注的重点。”

This week, Sleep Token’s “Emergence” spent its third week at No. 1 on Hot Hard Rock Songs, and a few weeks ago became the band’s first-ever single to appear on the Hot 100, when it debuted at No. 57. What key decision did you make to help make that happen?

本周，Sleep Token的“出现”在Hot Hard Rock歌曲上排名第一，在第1周上呆了第一周，几周前，它成为了乐队在Hot 100上出现的首个单曲，当时它在第57号首次亮相时。您为帮助实现这一目标做出了什么关键决定？

Before we could approach the rollout plans for Even In Arcadia, it was critical for me that everyone who would be tied to the project deeply understood and respected the profound and expansive world the band created to surround its artistry long before this record. Sleep Token set a best-in-class standard for how an artist can cultivate an audience of fans that sincerely immerse themselves in the music and surrounding visual identity. My role was to take the entirely new creative vision the artist had for this album and help bring

在我们无法在阿卡迪亚（Arcadia）处理推出计划之前，对我来说至关重要的是，每个人都会与该项目联系在一起的每个人都深入理解并尊重乐队在这张唱片之前很久以来创造的深刻而广阔的世界。睡眠代币为艺术家如何培养众多粉丝的观众为自己沉浸在音乐和周围的视觉认同中的粉丝设定了一流的标准。我的角色是采用艺术家为这张专辑拥有的全新创意愿景，并帮助您带来