IRL has become a fixture of every release campaign. Most of it is terrible.

A coffee shop takeover on release day: a queue, a photo wall, a hashtag. Fans aren’t silly; they can tell when something exists just because there’s something to sell.

We can all do better. Not with bigger budgets, but by starting from a different question: not “what can we activate,” but “what do these fans actually want, and where do they already gather?” That means listening properly – the social listening that shapes our online communities should be shaping what happens in the room. It means the announcement, the RSVP, the room and the content afterwards are one continuous piece of work. It means thinking much bigger and in the long term.

An effective fan engagement campaign goes far beyond the 6-inch screen of an iPhone. Fans live in real life, so we need to meet them there. Digital content should be an extension of the world you’re building, but a story truly sticks once it becomes something people can actually step inside.

IRL takes the fan communities we already run online and gives them a real place to gather – listening parties, release events, meet-ups, the occasional bit of absolute chaos. Same fans, same culture – just reaching out and going beyond the screen.

Once fans are in the room together, content becomes memory, marketing becomes community, and music becomes shared identity. The event lasts a few hours; the stories travel much further.

This role leads that work, sitting in our Fan Engagement team with the whole studio around you.

WHAT WILL I DO?

Listen before you build.
Our community management and amplification teams live in fans’ comment sections, Discords and group chats – you’ll be alongside them, using their read and our social listening to work out what a fanbase does together, where they’re clustered and what they’d genuinely turn up for. That’s where every idea starts.

Shape ideas, then write them up.
We create collaboratively; ideas will land from all over the studio. You’ll be in those sessions, then take the strongest thinking and turn it into a proposal: concept, format, timings, activities, content deliverables, budget and how we’ll measure it, and present it.

Find the rooms that already exist.
Record shops, club nights, promoters, collectives, university societies, book clubs, run clubs, and so on and so on – you’ll build that network out, keep the contact book live and share it around the studio, so we’re pitching from real relationships.

Produce it, properly.
Recces, venue contracts, suppliers, quotes, licensing, risk assessments, run of show, call sheets, door and guest list, and being on site when things shift (they always do!). You’ll direct our production team and partners through the build, with ops behind you on contracts, insurance and budget tracking.

Build the anticipation.
Announcement moments, launch assets, RSVP and ballot mechanics, waitlists, attendee comms.

Make it travel.
Working collaboratively with the team for shot lists, photographer and videographer briefs, live posting, and an amplification plan so the best moments are live before we’re even done for the night.

Feed it back.
Post-event reviews the whole team learns from: attendance, content performance, what fans shared unprompted, what fell flat, what we’d do differently. IRL is a discipline we’re building here, and you’ll have a big hand in shaping it.

WHO ARE YOU?

• A fan, first.
  You understand why people queue for hours, travel across the country or post 20 stories from the same event. You know the best fan experiences aren’t always the biggest – they’re the ones that make people feel part of something.
• A producer.
  You genuinely enjoy making complicated things happen. Timelines, suppliers, venues and logistics don’t overwhelm you – they’re puzzles you like solving.
• Social-first.
  You instinctively think, “how will this live online?” while everyone else is still deciding where to put the bar.
• Organised.
  Events rarely go exactly to plan. You stay organised when everyone else is running around.
• Collaborative.
  You’ll spend your week bouncing between strategists, creatives, producers, artists and clients. You enjoy making other people’s ideas happen.
• Curious.
  The first event shouldn’t look like the tenth. You’re always looking for new formats, new technologies and better ways to surprise fans.

What’s in it for You?

Salary: £32,000 – 39,000K
Unlimited Annual Leave: With tracking and support to ensure a minimum of 28 days per year.
Generous Pension Contributions: 2:1 employer match on pension contributions.
Career Progression: A clear path to grow with the company and develop your role over time.
Hybrid Working: Two days in the office per week, based in East London, with the option to work remotely.
Overtime Pay: Extra for the late nights, content shoots, weekend festivals.
Regular Event Invites: Festivals, gigs, networking, the proper stuff.
Vibrant Work Culture: A team that actually likes each other and takes the work (not themselves) seriously.

Who Are We?

Something Something is the digital-native content strategy studio.

We’re a collective of social strategists and content producers who believe the voices we love deserve to be heard clearly amongst the noise.

Working directly with music artists and cultural brands, we know what’s happening online before it’s even “happening”, not because we study trends, but because we live them. We don’t believe in artists working for trends; we believe in making trends work for them. And we measure success in worldbuilding and real fandom, not just like counts.

Now What?

Send an email to hello@somethingsomething.social with the subject “JOB APPLICATION: IRL Coordinator”.

We want to hear about the time you made something happen for a community you care about. A fan event. A meet-up. A community project. Something you organised, built or brought to life, whether it was brilliantly planned or held together by a group chat and sheer determination.

Tell us what you did, and what it taught you. Maybe it sharpened your eye for logistics, taught you how to bring people together, or made you think creatively when things inevitably went a bit sideways.