Welcome

Welcome to my media blog, which I will use for posting the progress of my coursework throughout the year. My name is Sebastian Hodge (0330) and I'm in Group 5 alongside Louis Caldwell (0131), Vivian Oparah (0621) and Joshua Brooks (0110). To the right you'll find labels which can be used for easy navigation of my blog.

NTLS - Heart Skipped A Beat video

NTLS Album Cover

NTLS Album Cover
Album for the self-titled NTLS debut album cover

NTLS Website

NTLS Website
Click on image to open the NTLS website

Saturday 3 January 2015

Q2. How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?

A major goal of ours was to create a strong band identity via the creation of a sense of synergy amongst our main product ans ancillary texts. This would enable us to more easily attract our specific target audiences. In this post I will detail how we combined all of our texts into a united brand and how effective this combination was.




Identity

In keeping with Richard Dyer's theory of star image, the style of our artist was an intrinsic part of the identity of both our artist and brand image. The most effective way to convey the artist's image is via the use of costume and makeup. Costumes seen within the music, video, album cover shots and on the website all depict the artist in similar costumes which in turn conveys a consistent overall identity across all three texts.

The costume needed to provide us with a means of relating the artist to as large a potential audience as possible. Due to the fact that the male singer, Nathan, is black and that the female singer, Lulu is white, we had no issue of transmitting a signal that both race and gender were of no bias when it came to NTLS. However, age then came into question and we needed our audience members needed to be reached regardless of their age. Therefore, we came to the decision of attempting to make the costume elevate the artist to a more mature style, yet keep it's alternative roots. The maturity would appeal to an older audience as it would make the artist seem older and thus, more relateable. The alternative quirks would appeal to the entire audience base as an alternative nature is the very essence of our brand identity. Below is a diagram showing the reasoning behind each item of clothing that makes up the artist's base costume:


Beyond just the costume, lies the more subtle decisions that went into makeup. One, less obvious defining aspect of NTLS, is the fascination with dots. They appear both in the makeup of the artist and the graphic that is seen on the album cover and website. 


The dotted makeup itself was inspired by the convention found amongst other alternative artists to adopt an element of tribal tradition/culture in order to create a spin off 



A perfect example of this being SBTRKT's tribal mask which largely defined his physical appearance
Alongside the artist identity, it was important to have a brand identity. This is achieved not only by the use of a a consistent artist physical image, but also via the use of a consistent product style. To ensure this, we would use the same or very similar images within all three texts and have the logo visible as often as possible. Below are a few examples of this synergy:




Music Video

The music video was the main product of the project. This is a result of the video releasing time with the artist's debut album, so the video provides the most depth in regards to NTLS' image, character and style. On top of this introduction of the artist identity, the music video deals with the genre, tone and themes of the artist's music. The main challenge that came with the music video was the balancing of a unique video that engaged the audience and the informative nature of a "debut" music video for an artist. In order to conquer this balance we needed to ensure that the visual style was consistent within the video, so that we could also transfer this somewhat rigid style onto our other products. Below is a gallery highlighting examples that are a result of this effort to be consistent:






This style is then synergistic with the promo shots that we took for use on the album cover and website:



FKA Twigs has been successful in the creation of her recognisable yet growing identity. One staple of her identity is simply the colours blue and purple. They appear as the background for her album cover, her website and even her iTunes album section. Although we couldn't really exploit the idea at the same level of simplicity, we attempted to do so with the logo and merged face graphic. In addition to this, but to a lesser extent, the monochrome colour scheme and forest backgrounds are also staples of our brand identity.


FKA Twigs' iTunes album section


Website

The website is the hub of all things related to NTLS. It deals with content such as the two other main text (video and album) as well as more minor elements such as social media links for the individual artists and contact information. By functioning as the connection point for all of these features, the website is the flagship of the promotional effort created by the NTLS brand. It operates by using both below and above the line marketing.

The website was designed on the informed assumption that those visiting would have reached it via a direct search for the website in question. In consistency with the style of the brand, we wanted to keep it mature as this would limit lack of appeal to older audiences. Moreover, as the visitor is most likely a knowledgeable and committed fan, there is no need for shallow gimmicks on the website. Those who are visiting will want the information they're seeking to be easily accessible and readily available. Staying focused on this simplistic ethos will also mean that merchandise and event tickets should see a rise in sales as they are so clearly and informatively presented.

However, it is necessary that there is information that can be digested by the uninformed visitor who may have simply stumbled upon the website or because they had purchased the debut album without knowing the artist. This information takes the form of the about pages for both Lulu and Nathan, granting the visitor with a basic understanding of who's who and what NTLS is all about. This will then hopefully develop into the new visitor following the artists on their chose social media site and possibly contemplating the purchase of some merchandise or tickets.


Album Cover

The album cover obviously has the job of appealing to the audience's eye, but arguably just as importantly, it needs to provide a taste for what the artist is all about, especially in regards to a debut album.

We spent a vast amount of our album cover time on the front cover as this was by far the most important side. It's what catches the audience's eye and can possess the most character of the artist. There are three aspects to the front cover, the graphic, the logo and the background. The background is a panoramic which spans round to the back, making it a major defining factor of the album and it's also synergistic with the website background. The NTLS logo appears all over the website and again in the interior of the album cover. The graphic is aspect that conveys the most information about the artist. What they look like and the creative tone of NTLS are connoted via this one graphic. The same graphic is also seen on the home page of the website. All of these aspects come together to anchor the artist's stylistic image and physical image onto the album cover.


NTLS front cover

Altogether, the three products and their synergy enabled me to reach our targeted audience by providing three different media products.  Audience reach (accessing and attracting them) was achieved through the initial representation of the artist on the album cover and in the video, and by creating a visual representation of NTLS based upon audience expectations,we were able to appeal to them- with the website collectively combing all aspects of the band identity in detail.



Logo Saturation

Saturation of a logo was a vital aspect of the synergistic campaign. It would act as a representation of the brand when it wasn't appropriate for the artist themselves to be seen - on both the merchandise and website contact page for instance. If the audience could recognise the logo as being one and the same with the artist, then promotion of the brand would become a lot easier and efficient. Therefore, we tried to use the logo as much as possible in all three texts.





Synergy and Social Media
After the artist identity had been clearly defined by the consistencies between the three texts, it was necessary to promote this idenitity within social media, in turn reinforcing a brand identity. The wesbite would also be the nexus for these third party sites, but these various sites were what created a substance to the artist via each sites content. Below is a presentation that delves into how the website acted as a hub and what the thrird party sites brought to the table, so to speak: [Please note that clicking on i in the slideshow was bring up an in depth description of each slide]





Record Label

The fictional record label, Red Pigeon Records, draws direct influence from real record labels focused on a similar alternative genre. The most major thing in regards to the record label was to stamp the logo wherever appropriate. This presents their contribution and also gives the NTLS image a professional feel to it. 






Audience Reach and Communication


Reaching and communicating with your audience is the vital method of ultimately selling your profit creating products, which in turn leads to a successful campaign. Therefore, we had to carefully plan out various means of getting our products to reach our audience in order to ensure success.

Our website will be published onto the internet, as will our music video. The internet has a potentially limitless audience reach, with virtually every Westerner having daily access to it. In particular, the video is posted on YouTube, a video sharing website that has one of the highest traffic rates in the world. As a result of the scale of YouTube, we are essentially guaranteed to receive some attention, even just to the those who randomly stumble upon it via video recommendations. 

Physical albums have been driven out of the market on the most part, by the fairly recent development of online music consumption - by way of downloads or streaming. So, to combat this, the NTLS album is available on iTunes, Amazon MP3 and Google Play, three of the largest music download sites. Physical albums will still be produced, but the digital versions been there is more diversity in product and therefore more potential profits to be made.

In regards to merchandise, we followed the trend of contemporary street designer wear, as well as styles of clothing produced in the name of similar artists. This makes the merchandise instantly appeal to those in our secondary target audience and to those who are interested in similarly styled street wear. This decision essentially guarantees audience consumption. Below is an example of the merchandise style:





Radio appearance

As a great way of exploiting below the line marketing, we turned to radio. It would raise NTLS' profile and cost very little, which is ideal. BBC Radio 1 was the ideal suitor as it has commonly dealt with up and coming alternative artists in the past. Below is an example of an interview that takes place on BBC Radio 1 and some screen grabs of their online presence:






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