More online promotional shenanigans coming out of EMI (either they're doing a lot of this stuff just now, or they've just started PRing it more than before). Following on from Parlophone's online demo service and their partnership with Nabbr to promote Lily Allen, both announced earlier this week, sister label EMI Records has announced a tie up with Yahoo! Maps as part of that previously reported Badly Drawn Boy chip shop promotion.
As previously reported, Badly Drawn Boy will play an instore in a, erm, fish and chip shop, in order to promote his new album 'Born In The UK', which is out now on EMI. Ten local chip shops around in the UK have been shortlisted to host that gig, and fans can vote on which one it should be. To help them, if they go to http://www.badlydrawnboy.co.uk they can check out one of those aerial views of Britain maps courtesy of Yahoo with the shortlisted chip shops marked on it - should you want to you can zoom in to see those chippies close up because, obviously, you ought to check out a chip shop's roof before voting for it (OK, it is quite fun playing with these Google Earth style applications).
Commenting on the promotion, EMI Records Digital Media Manager Eric Winbolt told CMU: "Our objective was to use the online mechanic to complement and strengthen the offline promotion. Integrating with Yahoo! Maps allowed a strong creative execution to be married to the functionality of the Maps tool. A user can quickly and easily locate the shortlisted chippies. The competition's chip shop theme reinforces the overall creative which takes an affectionate look at and celebrates the idiosyncrasies of contemporary British culture".