5 Marketing Lessons from Daft Punk

5 min readFeb 26, 2021

It was impossible to miss the news about Daft Punk break up this week. The way they revealed it, through a video without any details, is aligned with their communication strategy.

In the 90s, they were already doing things differently and continued to do so during their full career. There are fascinating stories about their approach and the way they promote their music.

Their strategy developed during 28 years can be a great inspiration. So, what can we learn from Daft Punk’s marketing approach?

1 — Cultivate Mystery

Mystery is one of the core components of Daft Punk. Shortly after their debut album release, they started wearing masks and created robot characters. What started as a desire of focusing on the music instead of their identity ended up as a strong communication asset.

Throughout their career, the duo made very few public appearances and the only time they talked in front of a camera was probably for an unmasked interview in 1995.

“If you can stay protected and get noticed then it’s all good”, Thomas Bangalter, 2006

The way they announced their break up is no exception. In the Epilogue video, taken from their movie Electroma, the end is quite enigmatic. It leaves room for multiple interpretations, and some fans believe that it’s not the end yet. They may split in 2021, but that leaves 10 months for potential new music, right?

2 — Adopt a Slow Content Mindset

Slow content is a trend becoming more and more popular. We are bombarded with information all the time, and it’s impossible to keep up. While social media platforms want you to publish constantly, slow content adopts a slower pace, with more added value.

It’s the way Daft Punk create music (except the album Human After All, recorded in 2 weeks) but also how they communicate. Their campaign around Random Access Memories in 2013 is one of the best examples. After revealing the album cover, they aired a 15 seconds teaser on US TV show Saturday Night Live. This Nile Rodgers riff from Get Lucky quickly made the world crazy.