Branding and Marketing an Artist: The Phenomenon of The Brand That is Taylor Swift

Description
This thesis explores the strategies utilized when branding and marketing an artist. This idea was inspired by how Taylor Swift's Eras Tour has captured headlines consistently for over a year now. This thesis will discuss how aspects of Taylor Swift’s…

This thesis explores the strategies utilized when branding and marketing an artist. This idea was inspired by how Taylor Swift's Eras Tour has captured headlines consistently for over a year now. This thesis will discuss how aspects of Taylor Swift’s brand - her core values, fan engagement, co-creation, fear of missing out, scarcity appeal, and nostalgia - have promoted her success. The thesis will then consider what marketing and branding elements led to this phenomenon that an aspiring, or developed, artist can learn from and implement in their career.
Date Created
2024-05
Agent

Social Media Visuals.png

Description
Releasing music 20 years ago looks a lot different than releasing music today, and it is still ever-changing. Artists can make music in their bedrooms and release it independently by simply uploading it online. These artists can use social media…

Releasing music 20 years ago looks a lot different than releasing music today, and it is still ever-changing. Artists can make music in their bedrooms and release it independently by simply uploading it online. These artists can use social media to market their music themselves. But with it being so easy for new and small artists to put out a song it begs the question: in this customer era of marketing, how can new and small artists use co-creational marketing strategies, such as themes of nostalgia and hidden messages, to differentiate themselves? This project seeks to answer that question. In this partial creative project and partial research project, I tasked myself with writing and producing a song myself, then using that work to test these different marketing strategies. I distributed a survey where participants would listen to the song and then decide which of two visuals they preferred for a cover, merchandise item, and social media feed. Each set of visuals had one with a nostalgic theme and one that utilized hidden messages. This project discusses the importance of social media in an independent artist’s career and marketing efforts, as well as discusses customer-centric marketing and co-creation marketing strategies through nostalgia and hidden messages. I found success in a nostalgic strategy and interest in hidden messages. This research sets the stage for testing similar strategies by collaborating with other artists and their work in the hopes of creating guidance for independent artists when marketing their releases.
Date Created
2023-05
Agent

Measuring the Effectiveness of Nostalgia and Hidden Messages in Marketing Materials for a Single Release

Description

Releasing music 20 years ago looks a lot different than releasing music today, and it is still ever-changing. Artists can make music in their bedrooms and release it independently by simply uploading it online. These artists can use social media…

Releasing music 20 years ago looks a lot different than releasing music today, and it is still ever-changing. Artists can make music in their bedrooms and release it independently by simply uploading it online. These artists can use social media to market their music themselves. But with it being so easy for new and small artists to put out a song it begs the question: in this customer era of marketing, how can new and small artists use co-creational marketing strategies, such as themes of nostalgia and hidden messages, to differentiate themselves? This project seeks to answer that question. In this partial creative project and partial research project, I tasked myself with writing and producing a song myself, then using that work to test these different marketing strategies. I distributed a survey where participants would listen to the song and then decide which of two visuals they preferred for a cover, merchandise item, and social media feed. Each set of visuals had one with a nostalgic theme and one that utilized hidden messages. This project discusses the importance of social media in an independent artist’s career and marketing efforts, as well as discusses customer-centric marketing and co-creation marketing strategies through nostalgia and hidden messages. I found success in a nostalgic strategy and interest in hidden messages. This research sets the stage for testing similar strategies by collaborating with other artists and their work in the hopes of creating guidance for independent artists when marketing their releases.

Date Created
2023-05
Agent

Not Just a Pretty Face; Designing a Resonant Agency Rebrand

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Description
It takes 1/10 of a second to make an emotional impact on your audience. Once you do, customers are eight times more likely to trust your brand, seven times more likely to purchase more, and six times more likely to…

It takes 1/10 of a second to make an emotional impact on your audience. Once you do, customers are eight times more likely to trust your brand, seven times more likely to purchase more, and six times more likely to forgive a mistake. Audiences make deep connections with resonant brands, that is brands that build trust with and provide substantial value to their consumers. Brands that resonate with customers enjoy above average economic gains and business resilience superior to their competition because they rank higher in engaging and connecting with their audience, delivering products/services that matter to those who care, and creating brand loyalty in the form of repeat customers and brand advocates. While resonant brands exceed on both the trust-building and value-providing dimensions, there are also those brands that do not build trust with or provide little value to their consumers, making those brands transactional. Not striving to attain or maintain brand resonance risks not differentiating, becoming irrelevant, and providing transactional value, which can quickly be replaced by alternatives offering a better deal. To avoid from becoming transactional, this study seeks to uncover what elements make for a resonant brand and outline the steps to achieve brand resonance.
Date Created
2022-05
Agent

How Can You Not Love Okami? Success Dynamics in the Video Game Market

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Description
Okami was released by CAPCOM for the PS2 in 2006. It received critical acclaim, as seemingly everyone who played the game loved it. This culminated in Okami winning Game of the Year in 2006. It's financial success was an inevitability,…

Okami was released by CAPCOM for the PS2 in 2006. It received critical acclaim, as seemingly everyone who played the game loved it. This culminated in Okami winning Game of the Year in 2006. It's financial success was an inevitability, until it wasn't. Okami failed to sell nearly as many copies as it had hoped, leaving Guinness World Records to give it the "award" of Least Commercially Successful Winner of a Game of the Year Award. My research goes into how this could have happened. I wanted to look at why Okami failed, including specifically the game's flaws and CAPCOM's marketing. I then devised my own marketing plan for a hypothesized relaunch of Okami.
Date Created
2022-05
Agent

The Importance of Brand Meaningfulness: An Analysis of the American Girl Brand

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Description
Today’s consumers desire brands that are purpose-driven, stand for something bigger than the products they sell, and leave a lasting impact on their customers and community. Using this idea of brand meaningfulness as part of the larger concept of brand…

Today’s consumers desire brands that are purpose-driven, stand for something bigger than the products they sell, and leave a lasting impact on their customers and community. Using this idea of brand meaningfulness as part of the larger concept of brand purpose, “The Importance of Brand Meaningfulness: An Analysis of the American Girl Brand” questions whether a brand perceived as meaningful to consumers is actually a meaningful brand and identifies what it should be doing to become a meaningful brand. This thesis analyzes the concept and effectiveness of brand meaningfulness through an analysis of the American Girl brand, a brand that is personally meaningful to the thesis author, among many other consumers. Using data from over 200 survey respondents and 7 interpersonal interviews, an observational analysis, and insight from personal experiences working for the brand, this thesis provides recommendations to increase brand meaningfulness, complete with visual prototypes.
Date Created
2022-05
Agent
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