In less than 24 hours a very cool campaign called Band in a Bubble is starting in NYC with the rock group Cartel entering a sealed bubble, yes a bubble, for nearly a month to produce their new album.  The effort is being sponsored by Dr. Pepper who over the past few years has moved the brand to hit the cool, active, rock kids and i have to give them props for the effort - when it launches it has been set up to suck in the target audience not only with the concept but via blogs, videos, webcams, and of course rock music.  The brand has partnered with MTV who is airing four, 30-minute specials, including one live on May 24 in NYC at 11 PM when the band says good bye to the world and starts their tribute to the classic John Travolta Boy in a Bubble movie from forever ago.

The campaign works because it is speaking in the right tone, language, activities, everything of the target audience.  It also works by leveraging the connection MTV has with this audience for instant credibility, not to mention picking the right band to add to the mix too.  The campaign site has a smorgasbord of features and interactive tools, and even has a sublte "buy some Dr. Pepper" elements by not giving you full access to the site unless you enter a code found on the product, and more codes are needed for some additional content too.  It's a new twist on Big Brother, and one that ultimately should be more entertaining.  I'll be tuning in to also see where all the webcams are pointed at, wondering how far the brand will let Cartel run wild when it comes to bathrooms and showers and possibly nudity, all of it should stir up the buzz too. 

There is nice connectivity to the bubble - you can use two-way speakers in person or pass notes through some type of sliding bank teller box. There will be interactive kiosks around the bubble to send messages and sounds like you can come down and hang out and watch them rehearse and write their new songs whenever you want.  And a special note:  Food will be delivered by the good folks at KFC -- I'm from Kentucky so always like giving a shout out to anyone/thing related to the Bluegrass State.  I'm not sure who the PR company behind the effort, but good on them for showing all of us a great example of the way integrated campaigns should be.