Q U E S T I O N T WO : H O W EFFECTIVE IS THE C O M B I N A T I O N O F YO U R M A I N P R O D U C T S A N D A N C I L L A RY TEXTS?

Daisy Edwards

WHAT IS A BRAND?
A brand is a particular make or look of a product. In terms of music artists, it would be the same style of clothing or make-up that would link in with their image from their albums, posters, music videos etc. However, when regarding branding as a whole, they need to be consistent throughout all versions and medias when presented to an audience, to avoid confusion.

Example of branding, although the products are individually different, the layout of the packaging and the colours are very different and stand out though an audience member would understand d they are from the same company.

EXAMPLES OF BRANDS
Heinz also has a very clear brand image, in their adverts they relate to happy families, friends and warmth and general happiness. Their design consists of the bold Heinz on their products as well as the boarder around the text.

Dairy milk chocolate has a very specific brand image. The colour purple is used throughout their products, as well as their logo (Cadbury) written in the white swirly writing. Spirals and swirls are also shown in their wrapper designs.

EXAMPLES OF MUSIC BRANDING

For their new album, Kasabien have had a brilliant set of iconography and branding. The above is the album cover, next to this text is a still from one of their new videos. As you can see, there is an obvious connection with the colour coding.

The colour coding is the same and the monochrome wash on the camera, for the video, links back to the album. This look is also very striking and would easily catching the attention of the audience, which, after all, is the aim for music artists.

EXAMPLES OF MUSIC BRANDING

When looking how to brand an artist or band, I analysed the artist Corinne Bailey Rae, who is an acoustic/jazz artist.
The relaxed, natural iconography of the artist is clearly shown in both album covers though mise en scene and the colours involved (the first album and the second) and although her name/logo is written differently, the order in which it is, Corinne on top, Bailey in the middle and Rae on the bottom, allows the audience to recognise the artist. Other factors in her videos such as camera angles (close ups are used frequently to show her none make-up covered face) , locations (usually in calm places such as rivers and forests) and the general iconography of the artist also remind the audience of her genre.

OUR BRAND IMAGE

Our artists brand image in three words: Unique, timeless, quirky.
While creating our print products and music video we had to be aware of our artist iconography and the themes throughout both photo shoots, album artwork and music video. One link you can see is the curling boarder on the back cover, connoting fairy tales and linking back to the music video.

With the front and back cover of our album, we wanted to keep it simple but effective. We kept the colour red throughout our products, as the colour suited our artist and their style of music. Above, you can see how we have kept the colour coding and the iconography the same for both the front and the back.

OUR BRAND IMAGE

Keeping in mind of our colour coding for our artist, we had to think of our music video. We used the title of the song Big Black Horse and a Cherry Tree to link in with Fairy Tales. In our music video, there is a frequent use of intertextually, and we used Little Red Riding Hood red cape to fit with the iconography of the artist and the theme of the video. We also used the timeless aspect of our artists branding in her make-up. Our actor wore black eyeliner and red lipstick which not only fits with the artists branding but also links back to her iconography with the colour red. To link back to the artist genre, we used the prop of a guitar during our on-location photo shoot. Not only does this keep up with the branding (as we have a guitar in the music video and studio shots) this also reiterates to the audience that she is an acoustic rock artist.

OUR BRAND IMAGE

Regarding the inside panels for our album cover, we based one of our panels on a Florence and the Machine montage. This was incredibly fun and interesting to do as we had to take photos, edit them and place them appropriately to give an even view of our artist. Some had to be funny, serious, normal etc. in order to engage the audience with the realistic nature of the artist. We kept our colour coding of red, black and white consistent as well as the make-up and other mise en scene in the images; we also used an acoustic guitar to link back to the artists genre of music (acoustic rock.)
With our thank you page, we used only one location shot and white writing (linking back to the front cover of the album, the iconography and the branding.)

OUR BRAND IMAGE

Also, as you can clearly see from stills from our video, we have kept the make-up and the artists iconography and branding very close for both the album and the promotional poster.

Same make-up Red (lipstick and cape.) Mise en scene (woods and acoustic guitar.)

H O W H AV E W E C O N T I N U E D O U R BRAND IMAGE?
As previously shown, we have kept our colour coding for our artist constant throughout the medias shes been present in. Here are a few examples, linking the video back to the colour coding and the overall iconography of the artist in other parts of the video and in the print products.

Red lipstick Red Hood

Long angled shots

Acoustic guitar Fairy Tale reference

H O W H AV E W E C O N T I N U E D O U R BRAND IMAGE?
The timeless aspect of our artist allowed the make-up for our artist to link between the video and the print products, as well as the colour red. However, we used intertextuality in our music video (with the fairy tale references) and with our album cover. We also focused on the costume used in the The red writing across the face performance and narrative parts of our music video. can link back to singer/song To allow our branding to stay true to our artist. writer David Bowie and can link back to our research of Ingrid Michaelsons album Be OK

Clearly we kept the colour red used though, in the studio shot it was in very subtle ways with only the red heels (shown once in the whole video) red necklace and a red bracelet. With the on location shots we asked the actress to wear a simple, plain dress though something bright as it would hopefully stand out amongst the dark forest, which is did. The red cape involved the red colour code and also involved our intertextuality. The back of the album cover included the heels and jewelry with the addition of black bottoms and a red top (this outfit was quite simplistic, reminding the audience that her talent matters more than her looks as she is an acoustic rock artist.

H O W H AV E W E C O N T I N U E D O U R BRAND IMAGE?

Our Video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kp7 TsPZcTdA&list=UUZAea7I6ZqbiolDi 67HfhgQ&index=26&feature=plcp

Although in the location shots few close ups are used, in the studio footage we have several close ups and few extreme close ups which link back to the front cover close up of the album. We can also see, ever so slightly, the red necklace in the front cover close up which is seen in the studio footage in the video. The smoky eye make-up is also the same as is the artists hair style, the only difference in appearance is the costume and the KS written across the artist face. The spot light on the album also links back to the video, where we see a side view of a spot light on the artist in the studio. The KS written on the artist face also links to the very beginning and the very ending of the video, where we see the artists logo, KS, on the fairy tale book, opening and closing.

H O W H AV E W E C O N T I N U E D O U R BRAND IMAGE?
You can clearly see the colour coding has been kept to in the inside panel, the montage page. On this page, the iconography of the artist (being fun and quirky) can be seen. It also allows the audience to see behind the scenes images from the video shoot and the studio shoot. The striking on location shot links back to the video and creates successful brand imagery with the text linking back to the front cover of the album and also links to the location footage in the music video with the red cape and the image itself. The black swirly boarder is a clever branding technique which links back to the fairy tale aspect of the music video and the costume and props link back to the music video and can connote the artists music genre via the acoustic guitar.