Start small,
Dream big

The challenge

Our brief was to inspire young musicians to choose Yamaha brass and woodwind instruments, either those playing an instrument for the first time, or building loyalty with more experienced players. As Yamaha instruments are typically at a higher price point, the campaign also needed to persuade parents that buying a Yamaha is a good investment. And as Yamaha only sell through dealers, the campaign needed to be dealer-led and attractive enough that dealers would make room in their physical space to promote Yamaha over and above competitor brands.

The creative

We created an aspirational ‘Start small, Dream big’ campaign across multiple touchpoints and mediums. We recruited three budding musicians to front our advertising and organic digital campaign. We used a series of ambassadors including musician Jamie Cullum and children from the National Youth Jazz Orchestra as case studies, designed to inspire those who hadn’t yet picked up an instrument.

For the dealer space, we launched a flute for kids with a display that would attract them to play, including finger charts and guides, specifically positioning Yamaha as education experts.

The results

The campaign was rolled out into dealers, and was so successful that it has been live for 10 years and counting! It could be seen on shop windows and point of sale materials across the UK, and became a pan-European campaign that was translated into many languages.

Our young musicians’ videos were viewed hundreds of thousands of times on social media, and the Facebook page for the campaign has 80,000 followers.