Mboa Urban Music / Engineering a Culture.


DOTS LABS collaborated with Mboa Urban Music to create an identity for the startup. As the relationship grew, the Dotters were entrusted with the company's launch campaign as well. Our collaboration resulted in an innovative transmedia experience that engineered a community centered around the culture of the company.

The Challenge


Mboa Urban Music · M.U.M was facing a strong competition from well established brands in the segment. Beside the competition, the bigger question was how to sell or promote music in an industry where piracy reigns king and content is scarce. We had two problems to deal with: Piracy and lack of quality content.


The Solution

Cameroonians like most of African millenials, spend their time on their cellphones and tablets. If we were to engage them it was important to activate the conversation in their usual touch points. We studied the Cameroonian millennial to understand where conversations happened, their hot topics and most importantly their lingo.


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In order to preview the content that would be available on the M.U.M platform, we wanted to give a mixtape for free to create a conversation while the platform was under construction. Thus solving problem both problems at once. When M.U.M turned to the Dotters for a name, it was a no brainer: “Mboatape”.


We developed a transmedia solution and activated it in 3 simple steps. First we identified and contacted taste makers. Team MUM had compiled a list of influencers and we invited them to listen to the tape exclusively. Then we launched a mini site and introduced the Hashtag #Mboatape as the unique and central point of any and every conversation around the tape. We invited the early listeners to come share their emotions and impressions about the tape on twitter with us to spark interest.


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The Campaign was well received.


Experiential Marketing (Transmedia Activation)

The mini site helped the brand get traction towards all their social media channels (twitter and Facebook). At the same time, the mini site was the only place where the Mboatape was available.

We engaged in social media listening and watched the public carry the conversation and create their own content.

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At this point, we had successfully created a community of brand evangelists advocating for the brand. We decided to move the conversation offline.


The last and final step was offline activation. Our insights showed that not all millennials in Cameroon had steady internet access. To solve the issue and make the tape available to people we invited artists featured on the tape to tour local radio stations, creating offline engagement through airplay and interviews. Radio personalities and listeners took the conversation back online through social media, bringing it to a full circle.



Innovation is our DNA.

Our innovative work doesn’t just improve sales, or create visibility. We provide brands with Social currency. Creating communities and engineering cultures. Looking for an innovative, agile and refreshing team?

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