“We are going to change the world.”

It is not Steve Jobs. Jobs has already did it. It is Tom DeLonge, guitarist of  blink-182 and  AVA. But not only. He created a social networking website called Modlife; he is the sole owner of Macbeth Footwear; he formed a breast cancer awareness foundation.

I’m going to focus on his AVA. The AVA are not simply a band, ‘AVA’ is a brand within a world where its people think and feel a little differently. This is not simply music, this is a whole experience who astonish the fan. But their project seems to refuse the advertising and the marketing tools. Their third album was  put it up for free-download on their website; their independent movie seemed to appear out of nowhere.

But marketing is everywhere.

The music should be like a glue which creates a movement. On the sly, the fans knew the existence of the movie and stop. It was enough. It was also weird. Where was the promotion? AVA’s music is a sort of niche for few customers. Nevertheless AVA want to reach million of people, but in a sophisticated way. It’s a sophisticated marketing. Former they created an AVA-system of many bands linked to each other in a network to build a network of fans. Latter they created a technology platform so they can do direct-to-consumer sales of goods. The product’s changed: the customers have to judge AVA not based only on music, but based on the whole project.

“The goal is world domination, by merging the film industry and the music industry into one independent production company or collaboration of artists under the umbrella of AVA.”

Seven years are gone and it’s hard to judge. Does this sort of ‘marketing without marketing’ work? Slowly. It is an exciting way of thinking. For real. The music itself should be the medium, it should reach person after person and make he or she willing to buy the goods, to go to the concerts and to watch the movies. But it seems to be a  long process and I’m not sure that without the traditional marketing tools it could be fulfilled. Certainly DeLonge has no doubts.