In the next session at the AoIR 2025 conference I was part of an excellent roundtable on data access organised by Fabio Giglietto and featuring Jessica Yarin Robinson, Josephine Lukito, Richard Rogers, and me, which of course I didn’t blog; for the first post-lunch session I’m in a session on strategies and tactics that starts with Leandro Augusto Borges Lima. His focus is on the Mexican band The Warning, which consists of three sisters from Monterrey; through playing the video game Rock Band they became interested in rock’n’roll and went viral when they posted a Metallica cover on YouTube in 2014.
Leandro examined their communication strategies from the position as an aca-fan over the past 11 years, studying their online communication activities as well as music and concerts. After they went viral in 2014 they appeared on the Ellen DeGeneres show in 2015, released a digital EP, and eventually a first full album in 2017 through crowdfunding. They also appeared as an opening band for Aerosmith and The Killers, and a song of theirs appeared in a new edition of the Rock Band game; they even did a TedX talk about their success.
Their main platforms in these first years to 2018 are Facebook, YouTube, and Instagram, as well as crowdfunding platforms like GoFundMe, Kickstarter, Patreon, and Spotify; they attracted Boomer and GenX audiences at first, and connected with these fans via traditional social media entertainment formats such as vlogs. Such formats invite the public to participate and build a sense of belonging in the band’s fanbase. Indeed, some of their fanbase consider the girls as their granddaughters, and this also resulted in substantial crowdfunding support. Such audiences were also open to paying for special fan merchandise.
During the next phase of the band’s life, in 2018 to 2022, the band members grew up, and also had to navigate the COVID-19 pandemic. More Kickstarters supported the recording of the next album; fans also started a Kickstarter campaign to bring the band to Europe for concerts there, but this was disrupted by the pandemic. The band signed with Lava Records, and by 2023 finally toured Europe and opened for Muse.
During this period, the band teased some of the recordings for the new album, and through the #SOON hashtag created hype for the new album too; they did so now especially on TikTok, using the aesthetics popular there, and thereby especially also attracted new Gen Z fans. The content had aspects of amateurism, spontaneity, and humour too.
During the pandemic, too, each member of the trio had one day of the week dedicated to them for posting, and this served as a mechanism for connecting with fans during periods of lockdowns and social isolation. This transformed the challenge of the pandemic into an opportunity.
From 2023 onwards, especially with the added support and professionalism of a record deal, their communication efforts became a great deal more professionally organised; they collaborated with other bands, presented the Latin Grammy, appeared in one of the leading concert venues in Mexico, and recorded a concert movie and live album that was screened in Mexican and US cinemas. TikTok continues to serve as a key platform, with focus on shorts and reels on YouTube and Instagram too; major fan activations are continuing as well.
This also brings the challenge of negotiating authenticity and growth, however, and increases the band’s labour efforts too. Overall, then, the band’s fanbase, communication strategies, pool of resources, and communicative abilities have evolved considerably.
