How Harry Styles Used a Treasure Hunt Method to Pull the Most Viral Music-Marketing Campaign of 2019

Eroda: No Land Quite Like It

By: Ariana Richard

Picture Credit: Eroda

Harry Styles unique marketing and PR tactics have changed the way music artists can promote their albums. His sophomore album, Fine Line, was released on December 13, 2019, and debuted at number three on the UK Albums Charts, and number one on the U.S. Billboard 200. This is Styles’ second number one album in the U.S. 

When Styles announced that he was coming out with his sophomore album in December, fans were ecstatic! His first single, Lights Up, was a hit and his fans were streaming it everywhere. However, Styles and his marketing team came up with a totally different way to promote his second single, Adore You. On a great many social media feeds, targeted ads of a mysterious place called Eroda started popping up. These ads were mainly targeted towards people who had visited his website previously or follow him on social media. When fans started seeing these ads on their feeds, there was immediate confusion, but also curiosity.
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So, what is Eroda? Why has no one heard of this place before? Where is it located? Why is it all of a sudden popping up out of nowhere on the Internet? And what does it have to do with Harry Styles? Well, Eroda, is a peculiar, yet beautiful island between Ireland and the UK, better known as a fishermen’s town, with clouds that continue to cover the island, for as long as anyone living there seems to remember. Despite the yearlong cloud cover, the island, surprisingly, has beautiful green mountains and silver beaches that could take someone’s breath away. 
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Before you get too excited and book your flight, let it be known that Eroda, is a fictional island that Styles and his marketing team made up to promote his second single, Adore You. If you haven’t figured it out by now, Eroda is “Adore” spelled backwards. The marketing strategy of this treasure hunt method was a lot more elaborate than one might think. Styles’ team made an Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook page to promote this fictional island and all it has to offer.

Instead of just using social media as their marketing reach, Harry Styles and his marketing team created a website explaining everything Eroda has to offer. They have multiple living accommodations such as Martin’s Heaven Bed and Breakfast, or the Yuna Inn. There are many other attractions listed, that visitors can enjoy as well, such as a painting studio, hiking trails, multiple pubs, and more! They also created a map of Eroda, showing exactly where it is and the villages that make up this mysterious, yet wonderful island.

Picture Credit: Eroda

Eventually, posters started appearing in different parts of the world, announcing that the Adore You music video would be out on December 6th. Once the trailer for the music video came out, all of Harry’s fans understood what all of this was about. Overtime, they realized that this was all part of a clever marketing scheme made up by the one and only, Harry Styles.

​The particular marketing strategy that Styles’ team used, was intricate and thought-out, and was definitely a success. Adore You became his first single to be ranked in the Top 10 hits on pop radio worldwide. This type of recognition has not happened since Harry Styles was in One Direction. Now that it is clear that Eroda was a marketing tactic for Styles’ second single, it is clear that this technique was very well done, with a very satisfying and successful ending. This marketing technique was the cleverest one yet employed by Styles, and is just the beginning for other artists to learn from.