Prince EstateSign O’ the Times

The immense responsibility of safeguarding the unique artistic vision of music and cultural icon Prince was not lost on the Base team. In branding his estate, we developed a rich, digital experience to drive visibility for potential partnerships and to further engage past, present and future fans.

Prince. Prolific. Symbolic. Iconic… Need we say more? His status is cemented in the minds of generations of fans who have incredible respect for the artist, and such a deep love of the music. Prince’s untimely death caused the world to reevaluate his colossal impact on pop culture, spanning multiple eras, names, genres, and styles. And in this process, an important question arose: how do you ensure the legacy of a legend for generations to come?

The Prince Estate, which is tasked with just that, wanted to find ways of introducing and reintroducing audiences to the late musician’s work that are as innovative and forward-thinking as he was. Educating existing and new fans of any age, but particularly younger audiences, in a way that captured Prince’s unconventional and experimental spirit was of utmost importance.

We approached it not as a static archive, but a full universe of community-focused content.

Rather than bringing together all things Prince in a single website, we produced a series of microsites that encompass different aspects of his life and career. These ranged from an immersive scroll through his discography, to a one-of-a-kind interactive map that charts his early years, and a real-time stream of tributes made by thousands of fans – each created using a wide variety of technologies.

We then released the sites one by one, in the same way that an artist drops singles or albums. This not only allowed us to digitally tailor the look, feel and interactivity of the microsites to specific themes, but build anticipation and sustain momentum around the work – something to which the music industry constantly aspires. The sites ladder up to a central hub, so the platform remains lean and easily adaptable to future technologies, trends, and an unlimited amount of upcoming content.

In the first year alone, over a million users visited the sites, signed up to subscribe, created individual tributes and shared on social media. And... we won two Webby awards. This entirely radical approach to the preservation of a life’s work, conserving an artistic vision, and furthering engagement in Prince’s genius has ensured one thing: his legacy will live on.