Marley 75

Launched on Bob Marley's 75th birthday, and running throughout the entire year, this multi-platform campaign was powered by our team's original content. The Marley 75 campaign is UMG's best-performing catalog campaign of all time and has continued to push Bob Marley's streaming growth YoY.

Executive Creative Director / Producer: Mike Johansen

"Legacy" series Showrunner / Director: Dezi Catarino 

Marketing: Harold Gutierrez & Tom Smith

Media Planning: Dylan Shapiro

Insights: Chris Toth

Bob's Legacy

With Bob Marley's 75th birthday on the horizon and no new music releases to market, I pitched the idea of building a campaign around Bob's influence in today's culture almost 40 years after his death. His songs and lyrics still provide hope, comfort, and inspiration to multigenerational people across the globe, and telling their stories would open up incredible opportunities to broaden the reach of his music.

This is Marley 75

The "Marley 75" campaign was content first and crafted to unique markets built from his audience data. It was driven by the Webby award-winning docuseries "LEGACY," along with eight original music videos, remastered and unseen live content, and countless original audio/visual content pieces.

Video

Video was the heartbeat of the entire campaign, commissioning hundreds of pieces of visual content for the 75th. The videos were the building blocks for every other piece of content and marketing. We worked with incredible artists such as Kristian Mercado, Mason London, SEED Animation, and more across the globe to bring Bob's message to life. The 8th episode of Legacy, entitled "Rebel Music," was honored in 2022 with a Webby Award for Best Video - Music.

Bob Marley: Legacy - Episode 1 "75 Years a Legend" - Dir: Dezi Catarino

Bob Marley "No Woman No Cry" Music video - Dir: Kristian Mercado Figueroa

Bob Marley "Three Little Birds" Music Video - Dir: Morgan Powell - SEED Animation

Marketing & Press

With the 75th campaign, we met our goal of reaching new markets for Bob Marley, including being featured in FIFA 2020 with a custom kit, collaborations with the World Surf League, and features in Rolling Stone, Spin, Essence, and more.

Key results

3.5m

689%

31.5%

750m

Youtube Subscribers Gained

Channel Revenue Growth

Overall Catalog Revenue Growth

 Engagements