 For the North American release on 13 March 2012, Columbia Records executives used social media to shape its marketing campaign. Columbia Records co-chairman Steve Barnett and his team decided to reverse the usual pattern of releasing a single on radio. Instead the label mounted a four-month marketing campaign aimed at building a fan base through social media before a single was ever released or played on the radio. The social media campaign asked fans to sign petitions and to enter video competitions to win a concert in their town. The campaign was a success as One Direction's Facebook followers in the United States rose from 40,000 to 400,000. "What Makes You Beautiful" sold more than 131,000 copies in its first week, even though it had yet to be played on the radio. Radio programmers were flooded with calls from fans. Johnny Wright, who managed New Kids on the Block, Backstreet Boys and' 1 Sync, said: "Now they are calling the radio station, and the radio station is scratching its head, saying, ‘ We don 't even have that record yet, ’. It's almost like the return of The Beatles. I call it hype, but it's positive hype because it's all real. It's not manufactured. No one paid these kids."
