Ashton Simmonds (born April 5, 1995), better known by his stage name Daniel Caesar, is a Canadian, Grammy-nominated R&B and soul singer-songwriter.

After successfully releasing two independent EPs Praise Break and Pilgrim's Paradise to critical acclaim, Caesar released his debut full length album Freudian in August 2017, which was widely received; so much so that he was listed twice in Barack Obama’s list of favorite songs of 2017. 

Other high profile admirers of his work include Stevie Wonder and Kylie Jenner, and he was recently listed on Rolling Stone’s Top 20 R&B albums of 2017 for Freudian. He has growing international attention and was mentioned by The Guardian UK as ‘one to watch’ for 2018 in light of his Grammy nominations for Best R&B Album (Freudian), and Best R&B Performance (Get You).

Most recent work includes 2018 single release Figures, A Reprise, a collaboration with fellow Canadian artist Jessie Reyez. New solo material is expected later this year and Caesar currently continues to tour the US and internationally. 

Angle focus: His growing fanbase among different celebrity influencers such as Kylie Jenner, Chris Martin and Stevie Wonder - good because they all have completely different individual followings, so would be able to reach a wider audience when using those names as keywords. It will help increase readership and help raise awareness and positive media for Daniel Caesar.

Highlight: After drawing in the audience to the blog, it would be good to highlight Daniel’s authenticity as an artist. Discuss his independence from major labels, following his own vision for his work and the influences he draws from. Listeners respond to real and down to earth, they want to feel like they can relate to the story - Daniel Caesar writes about relatable things - unrequited love, leaving his religious upbringing among other things. Many people can relate to this and the evidence to show people respond to relatability is clear through many hit songs by John Legend, Adele etc.

Grammy nominated in huge categories (Best R&B Album and Best R&B Performance)

Authentic songwriting and persona

Young and attractive

HIgh profile fanbase

Positive media response to all releases

High quality live performances

On brand - similar bigger artists: Frank Ocean, John Legend, The Weeknd

Get You Ft. Kali Uchis - 40 million views (YouTube)

Best Part, A Visual Ft. H.E.R - 6.2 million views (YouTube)

Violet - 5 million views (YouTube)

Freudian, A Visiual - 1.6 million views (YouTube)

Video exclusive with ThisisRnB.com or Rolling Stone if possible, a few days prior to release on other DSPs. Try to get review of single and article written on artist.

Pitch for interview with ThisisRnB.com prior to album release - try to get highlighted article - his fanbase is high compared to some of the artists they interview, which serves for a higher chance of this.

Rolling Stone spot - Because they recently listed him as number 6 in their 20 best R&B albums, pitch for an article / interview prior to album release. 

After the album release, pitch for a spotify sessions feature to showcase his quality live performances.

Pitch for a feature on singersroom.com prior to album release and upon video release. Embed video in article.

Pitch for features on popular music podcasts such as ‘On Shuffle’, ‘Deja Vu’, ‘And the Writer is…’, ‘Dissect’, ‘The Joe Budden Podcast’.

Pitch for late night TV performance spots - Jimmy Fallon, James Corden, Jimmy Kimmel, Seth Meyers etc.

Other blogs / websites to pitch to: YouKnowIGotSoul.com, ratedrnb.com, Rnbass.com, escape tracks. The Boombox, Pigeons and Planes

Objectives:

Increase following

Build awareness for new video and music

Encourage fan engagement

Important for artist to post personal content on their social media channels as this is what drives engagement from an already existing and growing fanbase. As mentioned earlier, authenticity is important. - Post personal thoughts on twitter / stories on instagram -  e.g. backstage footage - before and after show

Live instagram / facebook / Twitter videos - Host Q&A sessions - can answer questions fans send through the platform.

Competitions / Giveaways - For new music / shows - offer chance to meet Daniel before/after show / giveaway signed Vinyl etc.

Partnerships with similar artists - to help drive awareness and increase following, team up with other similar artists through their social media and either host takeovers / mutual live videos etc - reaches a wider audience, good way to reach further.

Polls - facebook - give fans a chance to be involved in the shows and increase engagement - what songs would they especially want to see Daniel perform - e.g. a cover song. Ensure it is kept authentic though, and it is Daniel asking the question, not just a generic post.

Teasers - prior to video and album release, post teaser trailers working up to release date.

Publicity - If Daniel lands a TV performance spot, post the video on social media, thanking the show. Utilize hashtags to create wider reach on the back of successful show performed on.

Note: It is hard to fully personalize a campaign without information on the final product i.e. final music / general theme / title / tracklist / final artwork, however below are some general ideas on how the campaign could take shape.

Ensure new artist photography, branding and artwork is in place across all social platforms so it is clear to followers / fans a new musical season is beginning for Daniel.

Following on from his simple but effective and beautiful videography for Freudian: A Visual, continue this to help announce the next album.

Utilize Instagram / facebook stories to help announce the album in the following way - a few weeks before album announcement, start to post the below videos each day as teasers:

First clip: Either Daniel speaking on a short video clip, or a video clip with text showing either the track name OR some words associated with the track / have meaning to Daniel surrounding the track.

Second clip: video with tiny snippet of a new song.

Third clip: Image of track number. “#5” for example.

Tracks don’t have to be in the order they are on the album

Once all tracks are announced, highlight them and put them as saved /highlighted videos in an album on SM channel. 

Release album title and artwork on the story as the final piece to the ‘puzzle’, as well as track listing and release date. Also add these to the grid /timeline and use paid promotion to send out as sponsored post.

A few days later - drop the first single and video. Post to grid / timeline. Paid promote.

Adwords:

Adwords videos for YouTube: this would be a great option for Daniel’s campaign - as his visuals are popular, it would be good to continue with his style of visual to tease his upcoming album with clips of his songs being used in ads, with click through links to his YouTube channel / website. Keywords could include:

Related artist names 

Related song titles

Music genre related searches

General music searches eg. new music

The above words can also be utilized in general adwords campaigns for Google.

Be sure to be strategic in timing these campaigns, to coincide with album announcements / teasers / single and video release.

Increase mailing list sign-ups by offering additional and special content to those on the list - could incorporate this into a fan club, however this would have to be more low key as it isn’t really the artist’s brand to have a ‘fan club’. Utilizing mailing list makes things slightly more low key than an official fan club. 

Special content could be teased through social media channels by the artist. Mailing list would offer behind the scenes footage not available to all. Additionally offer special prices for merchandise.

Through Instagram / facebook / youtube - ask fans what songs they would like to see him perform acoustically - Artist could utilize live videos and engage fans by playing short mini shows for them on social media platforms.