The remastered Beatles albums were a huge commercial success upon their release in 2009. They dominated music charts around the world and set sales records. A massive marketing campaign supported the release, including a dedicated website, radio specials, promotional partnerships, television advertising, and the Beatles Rockband video game. The exclusivity of the remastered albums helped drive interest and demand among fans new and old.

1. REMASTERED

2. THE BEATLES REMASTERED Can a band who split up in 1970 become the best selling act of the decade? With examples from the marketing and promotion of the remastered albums, the bands website, video games, in-shop promotional materials, press interviews, live music streaming sites and chart information I will be researching the elements that go into a launch that make it a successful one. On 09.09.09 digitally re-mastered versions of all 15 Beatles albums will be released. The entire catalogue will be available as a 16-disk set with special features including album art, liner notes, rare photographs and short documentary films. Re-mastered versions of each album will also be sold individually. The label is shipping 4 million copies worldwide on street date, including 1.9 million in the United States.

3. The Website www.thebeatles.com The Website has been marketed around the release of the remastered albums. At the top it gives you the option to play clips of 5 songs. In the main body of the website it shows the two trailers for the re-release of the media. It shows quotes from fans which change everyday and there is a chance to create a Beatles widget. You can listen to clips and watch video clips of The Beatles and has a large archive of media to chose from. The Website www.thebeatles.com

4. Radio 2 Bank Holiday Weekend Between March 1962 and June 1965 the Beatles performed 53 times on BBC Radio, leaving a rich legacy of recordings which plot the band’s evolution. On Bank Holiday weekend, The Beatles take over the BBC airwaves once again, as Johnnie Walker interviews Paul McCartney, and Radio 2 presents new programmes and extensive material from the BBC Archive, including the 'lost' master tape of The Lennon And McCartney Songbook which first broadcast on August Bank Holiday Monday back in 1966. The Weekend includes request shows, the story through the words of their fans, a tribute to George and a re-recording of Sgt. Pepper with Bryan Adams Razorlight and other celebrities.

5. Exclusivity The Beatles have not made their albums available on i-tunes or live streaming sites like Spotify, the only search items that appear are tributes to the band and covers by other artists. The re-mastered albums are only available on hard-copy and not yet on i-tunes. The only live-streaming of the tracks are on The Beatle’s website with clips of the songs and videos – but only clips. “ The Beatles are one of the few bands whose catalogue has never been approved for sale as digital downloads on iTunes. That could be part of a "conscious strategy to maintain some level of exclusivity," said Sonal Gandhi, a media industry analyst at Forrester Research.” – ccnmoney.com

6. In-Shop promotional materials HMV have a “remasters feature page” on their website which includes direct links to buy the music, the Rockband game and other memorabilia. In the HMV shops in the windows there were big banners advertising the releases and displays full of the CD’s right in front of the door so that it was the first thing that you saw when you entered the shop.

7. The Official UK Album Chart. 13/09/09 4 days after the release, The Beatles proved that the re-release of their albums and campaign and advertising of the merchandise was successful, they dominated the UK album chart with 11 albums in the top 40. #5 Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club band #6 Abbey Road #9 Revolver #10 Rubber Soul #21 The Beatles #24 The Beatles in Stereo #29 Help! #31 Past Masters #33 Magical Mystery Tour #37 A Hard Days Night #38 Please Please Me

8. Radio The advert for the remastered albums shows the album artwork and different videos of The Beatles performing with a variety of their music playing throughout. The tagline is ‘Remastered. Repackaged. Rediscovered.’ This trailer is played directly after the other one on their website and played during prime-time TV also. In America t he relaunch will also get its own $1 million-$2 million TV advertising campaign, which will include spots on key cable networks like ESPN, TNT, TBS, TV Land, USA Network and MSNBC.

9. The Beatles: Rockband The Beatles Rockband game features Limited edition Beatles drum kit and guitars. The game includes 45 remastered in game songs and proceeds from the downloadable song “all you need is Love” going to the charity Doctors without Borders which provides aid in over 60 countries worldwide. It also features never before heard in studio chats between George and Ringo. You can play the game with almost every music-game instrument that you have. The game has its own website www.thebeatlesrockband.com “ EXPERIENCE THE BEATLES’ MUSIC AND LEGACY LIKE NEVER BEFORE, USING THE CORE ROCK BAND GAMEPLAY. YOU WON’T JUST WATCH AND LISTEN AS THE BEATLES MAKE ROCK HISTORY, CREATE LANDMARK RECORDS, AND CONQUER THE WORLD – FOR THE FIRST TIME, YOU’LL BE PART OF THE BAND!”

10. advertising campaigns For The Rockband game the trailer re-creates the famous Abbey Road album cover with lots of people walking across the Zebra crossing singing and playing along with the music, interacting with digitally imposed members of The Beatles. With the tagline “Meet the Beatles. Rock the world” which has been played during prime time TV. In America sources say that the primary spend will be at Nickelodeon as part of an effort to turn the network's young, game-playing audience into Beatles fans.

11. The Beatles box set is the No. 1 top seller at the two main German Internet retailers, Amazon and JPC. It is selling for €183.99 at Amazon and €189.99 at JPC. In Germany, many consumers found that record stores had already sold out of the Beatles box sets on 09/09/09. Retailers now hope that, following wide media coverage, the strong interest continues up until the Christmas trading season. Some record dealers estimate that EMI sold up to 4,000 stereo box sets in Germany In France, the stereo box set is at No. 1 on the Amazon France sales chart, with "Abbey Road" at No. 6 and the mono box set at No. 7 . In Australia, next to the box sets, "The White Album" is the most popular album in Australia today closely followed by "Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" and "Abbey Road," says EMI Music Australia. “ We sold out within two hours. We now have a backlog of orders from customers." Ken Kirkwood, director of purchasing at HMV, the largest entertainment retailer in Canada, says that sales exceeded the company's expectations in Canada. "It was Beatlemania in every HMV store yesterday as they dominated every HMV Chart throughout the day, from books, to videogames, to t-shirts and of course our CD charts," he says. "It was quite amazing to see our top 15 selling CDs being all from the Beatles."

12. The release of the digitally remastered albums and game has reignited a Beatles frenzy in Japan. Michiko Setsu, a spokeswoman for entertainment retailer HMV Japan says that over 10,000 of the new box sets were pre-ordered and fans have been streaming to HMV to buy the individual reissued albums. "Japan has been hit hard by Beatlemania, again," says Setsu . There is now and official Japanese Beatles store. The store will offer Beatles fans high quality products produced locally in Japan as well as selected Beatles items imported from other territories. The store will provide a chance for Japanese fans to get Beatles products more easily and soon overseas customers will be able to buy Japanese made goods.

13. Yellow Submarine in 3D The original motion picture (released in the U.S. on November 13, 1968) was based on the music of The Beatles. The movie is set in Pepperland, an undersea paradise inhabited by music lovers who live in peace and harmony and are protected by Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. That is…until they are threatened by the music hating Blue Meanies. It’s up to John, Paul, George and Ringo to set off on a magical adventure in their yellow submarine and bring music and harmony back to Pepperland Walt Disney Studios have made a deal with Apple Corps Ltd. to develop a new 3D performance adaptation of the 1968 hit animated film "Yellow Submarine“ The film will feature 16 featured songs and recordings from the original feature.

14. George Harrison Custom Mini On September 18th 2009, The George Harrison Custom Mini Is Auctioned For The Material World Foundation This Friday marks the one and only opportunity to acquire a 2008 customised edition of George's Mini Cooper S, which features artwork inspired by the psychedelic and Sanskrit artwork hand painted on his original Mini Cooper S. The artwork has been created by family friend David Costa who has created a number of iconic album covers and books including The Beatles Anthology book. The proceeds from the sale of the car will fully benefit the Material World Charitable Foundation, which George founded in 1973.