Branding

A 'brand' is the identity of a specific product, business or service which effects its personality. It allows a product to stand out from the crowd. It can take many forms such as: name/sign/symbols/slogan or colour combination. Brands are intrinsically striking/recognizable and their role is to create an indelible impression. It is the emotional and psychological relationship you have with your customers which will help them to recognize your product. If your product/business did not have a brand, it wouldn't stand out on the market and wouldn't become a well known status. Most well known brands are built up over years by different things such as the image of the company, reputation, how is advertises its products etc.
A brand is more than a product , it is about creating an image that people link to a particular type of product- an image and message that will draw them over and over again to buy the same particular product.
According to mudvalley.com, there are eight elements that combine to create brand identity:
Brand essence- what the brand means in a sentence.
Brand Slogan- other a catchphrase linked to a logo
Brand Personality- what kind of character does the brand have?
Brand Values- what does it stands for/against?
Brand Appearance- what does it look like/sounds like/ taste like?
Brand Heritage- what kind of tradition does it have?
Emotional Benefits- What feelings does it offer customers?
Hard Benefits- is it cheaper, better, does it was whiter? what "real" quantifiable benefits does it offer the buyer?

Brands are created by every well known business in the world, it helps the custome to recongize them and rememebr them. Many business's have catchy slogans to intice the audience in.
Coco-cola is a good example of business with a good brand image. Coco-cola have built up their image from the colours they use, the words they use, the way in which they advertise on tv and also their brand values/heritage. Coco cola's brand image is so distinctive that they even influnced the change of colour of father christmas from Green-Red.

A bands 'brand' is a very important role in their success, each band has a 'brand image' that they wish to portray to there audience so that they target the right market. Different bands do this in different ways, some by recognizable symbols and others by certain fonts and colours. Some bands have very well known brands and this has definitely helped them to be shown to the public as they want to be. Bands create there brand image from a number of things such as, Music videos, album covers, photo shoots which helps them portrays themselves to their target genre/market.
I am going to study specific bands, that I feel have a very strong brand image.

OASIS:
Oasis are an English rock band from Manchester formed in 1991, brothers in the band Liam and Noel Gallagher have always tried to promote the strong brand image of the brand, that is excessive sex/drugs/rock and roll and highlight that they are working class boys from manchester who want to take over the world. Oasis's brand image is shows through their album covers, music videos, posters, interviews, reviews etc and there brand is very distinctive and defined. The band have always wanted their music to be seen as 'real' music for 'real person' and have been heavily influences by their idol Paul Wellar.
Oasis's brand image was first hlighlighted in their first released album 'Definitely Maybe' which shows the conventions on the type of band they are striving to be (rock and roll).

This is the album cover for the first album 'Definitley maybe', this mise en scene highlights well, the brand image as it shows the band, playing guitar in a house, drinking red wine and generally having a good time which is classed as the 'rock and roll image' which is what they are trying to express through their songs. The colours used are quite basic and the logo of the band ('oasis') boldly stands out at the top of the cover, the cover is very basically set out and could be considered as an album cover that is straight to the point, just as oasis are. The first track on this album is 'Rock and Roll star' which is the exact image that oasis wanted to portray to their audience.

This is the logo of Oasis, it is featured on all of their products and on merchandise produced. This brand is very well known and is copyrighted to the band. This brand is a recognizable image to fans and it gives off conventions of the band. This brand is quite plain and clear, it has strong, bold letters that i think are striking which is what oasis wanted to achieve. The logo isn't fancy or very detailed which i think represents oasis very well, the logo is coloured in black and white as are most of their music videos. This font has always stayed the same since they became a band which features on the website, this means that the logo has become very farmilar worlwide.




This video is a typical video of oasis and the 'Brand Apperance' that they want to convey. It shows the 'rock and roll' lifestyle that oasis have a reputation for from there brand image that they have built up over the years. The video is set in black and white, which seems to be as a consistent house style of oasis, as the logo is also black and white. This video contains scenes of models, alcohol, drugs, cigarettes and live performances of the band which is what oasis effectively started a band for. Oasis want to give accross the message of having 'made it' in the music industry and to show that there life is one big party, this is their main 'brand value'. They have cleverly shown us this through their various music videos such as this one. An emotional benefit that this type of video offers to the audience is that, Oasis are saying if you join a band, this is how your life will be and this is the lifestyle you will be able to have.

This is one of the typical tops that are sold amougst the Oasis merchandise. This has very strong branding involved, it has the logo right in the center of the t-shirt which has not been changed since the band started out. It also has the unioun jack cenetered around the logo, this is powerful branding as Oasis are a very iconic british band and like to be associated with the brit-pop genre, so they have included this on their tshirt to get their branding once again across to their audiences and highlight what they esentially 'stand for'. The brand apperance of this top is very straight forward, it is almost like a stamp that a fan will wear, showing that they are a fan of the band, there is nothing fancy about the t-shirt as there is nothing fancy about oasis as a band.

Aswell as merchanside of the band, Lead singer Liam Gallagher also brought out his own clothing range called pretty green: http://www.prettygreen.com/

This clothing line sold expensive,good quality mod clothes that are cosnidered 'cool' in the indie sub genre. The line also sells a range of parka which is what mods used to wear in the 60s. This clothing range adds to the well built up brand image of Oasis as it features Liam Gallagher looking 'cool and cocky' on the photos of him modeling his label. The photos give off the image that you need his clothing line to be cool, and if you dont like it then dont buy it. Which is exactly the image that Oasis protrayed with their music.

JAY Z
Jay z is considered the 'master' of the the rapping world, but he has carefully built up his brand image over years in the industry. he is one of the most sucsessful rapping artists but also entrepreneurs in America.
In the early years, when no one would give Jay Z a record deal, he decided to create his own record deal which gave jay z a massive brand image, right from the start which produced him a reputation in the hip-hop community. Jay Z is known for his flash cars, expensive clothes, expensive 'bling' which follows the conventions of the hip-hop genre.

This is the image of the record label 'roc-a-fella' records that Jay z founded, it stands for the fact that artists do not need big record labels to product their own songs. It gives Jay z the brand image of independance and the fact that he is willing to stand out from the crowd. From starting his own record label, some would say that Jay Z created his own brand. He recorded and produced his own music which has not been done before in this type of genre. Most of todays rappers have the same brand image that they want to convey as most of them belong to the same label, but Jay Z went against this brand image of conforming to the rapping world.



Jay z has created his brand image in many ways, through his music videos, record label, photo-shoot and even his own clothing range that goes alot further than the typical artist/band merchandise.

This is one of Jay Z's most well known albums. The brand image of Jay is reinforced with this cover as it follows the 'gagster' image which is the brand appearance that Jay Z is trying to portray. Its dominantly black which is the brand heritage of the hip-hop genre.





This is the music video 'Jay-Z - Show me what you got' this video really enhances the brand image of Jay Z. It shows the brand values of luxury by the exotic location and expensive cars and boats featured.  Jay Zs brand image is seen as him being powerful, this is shown in the video by him owning the finest of possessions and also dressed in all white to show he is dominant to everyone else in the video.

This is a link to Jay z's own website for his clothing range: http://www.artfuldodgercollection.com/

This is an example of Jay Z's 'The Artful Dodger' clothing line. This enhances Jay Z's brand image as not only a rapper but also a good business man and his new venture, after setting up his own record label. This line is expensive,stylish and exclusive, which is exactly what brand appearance and values Jay Z is showing through this.  The emotional benefits it offers the customers is that they feel powerful and exclusive because this clothing line is limited edition.





This is a poster advertising Jay Zs clothing range. It features the word 'roca' which is Jay Zs brand name for all of this products. This poster highlights the brand appearance of Jay Z being 'cool' and has conventions of the hip hop genre from the black and white used. This poster carrys on the brand image of Jay Z as it shows him in his expensive clothes and sunglasses.

This is another great example of how Jay z's brand image is created. Rolling stones magazine is a very well known magazine in the music industry. For an artist to be featured on the front page is a great achievement and shows their power in music. In this shot, Jay Z looks very serious and gangster like which enchances his brand apperance and values. The clothes he is wearing are very posh and 'swish' which highlight his wealthyness and the good lifestyle in which he has.

By Emma