​​​​​​Dive Brief:

• Mobile game Candy Crush Saga is teaming up with the Jonas Brothers for exclusive in-game experiences promoting the band’s new album, “The Album,” and upcoming tour, according to a press release. 
• For the effort, the three members of the Jonas Brothers will become “candified” game characters from May 8 through May 28, a period within the app called Music Season. Today (May 11) players can also listen to new tracks “Summer Baby” and “Sail Away” 24 hours before the songs are available elsewhere. 
• The tie-up also includes a promotional video and a Candy Crush-exclusive remix of the band’s single “Waffle House.” The game continues to be popular, having celebrated its 10-year anniversary last year and surpassing 3 billion downloads since its 2012 release.

Dive Insight:

The first stop on the Jonas Brothers’ upcoming tour is in the world of Candy Crush for a tie-up that sees the band angling to capture the attention of the mobile app’s massive user base, many of whom might recall the band’s early days which coincide with when Candy Crush was on the rise in the early 2010s. 

Indeed, the Jonas Brothers harken back to what could be nostalgic for many, noting in press materials that they would play Candy Crush during downtime on set. In a promotional video, the group jokingly refers to playing the game as an incredibly serious aspect of their lives, with Nick Jonas noting that it was what they were put on Earth to do. 

Through May 28, the gamified Jonas Brothers will join players during gameplay on the Music Tour Bus for a series of events and challenges that yield guitar candies that can be traded for in-game rewards. The tie-in could prove effective in generating buzz around the band’s album and upcoming tour, its first since 2019. Even ten years after its founding, Candy Crush is a popular app, pulling over 200 million monthly active users and claiming rights as the top-grossing game franchise in U.S. app stores for more than five years, per release details.

For Candy Crush, layering in musical experiences such as with the Jonas Brothers could help immerse and attract consumers to the game, and it’s definitely not a new strategy. For its anniversary celebration last year, for example, the game introduced 12 new audio tracks recorded with a live orchestra at Abbey Road Studios in London. Such experiences align well with the app’s overarching strategy, according to Fernanda Romano, CMO at King, which owns the Candy Crush franchise. 

“As we celebrate King turning 20 this year, and continue to drive the Candy Crush franchise forward, we're excited to create a space for curated music experiences and exclusive content, as well as provide our players worldwide with new immersive ways to play and engage with the game,” Romano said in press materials.

Gaming continues to present opportunities for marketers, with about two-thirds of U.S. consumers reporting that they are gamers in some capacity, and more specifically, mobile devices have risen to be the most popular format for gameplay. Still, despite gaming’s potential, the space presents obstacles for those looking to move beyond more opportunistic strategies toward an experience that truly generates value.

For musicians, experimenting with new ways to reach audiences is particularly important as a former business model that relied on radio is now outdated thanks to the rise of streaming. As a result, several artists, including the Jonas Brothers, have centered efforts around digital, with many resorting to social media platforms like TikTok to get the word out.