Sunday, November 16th, 2008
Marketing Music: Your Band Brand
By: Peter Risman Pilot MarketingStrategy Peter@PilotMarketingStrategy Installment 1 – Your Band Brand Everyone has a personal brand –their own unique identity. Everything about you is included in your personal brand: what you look like; how you speak; how you dress; the car you drive; the books you read – the list is endless. You have a personal brand, whether you want one or not. Whether you are intentional about it or not. Everyone who comes in contact with you also interacts with your brand. Your personal brand often precedes you. People begin forming impressions about you based upon the visual aspects of your personal brand, well before you even open your mouth to speak. Think I’m kidding? When was the last time someone who was significantly better looking, better dressed, in better shape, smarter,and more talented agreed to go on a date with you? All right,then. Every band has a brand – its own unique identity. The same rules that apply to individuals apply to bands as well. Everything about your band is part of its brand: what each of you look like; how you dress; the instruments you use, the music that you play – the list is endless. Your band has a brand, whether you want one or not. Whether you are intentional about creating it or not. Everyone who comes in contact with yourband also interacts with its brand. What’s all this marketing mumbo-jumbo have to do with rock and roll The classic example of a rock band being intentional about defining its brand isthe story of Vincent Furnier and his band Nazz. In the late Sixties, Nazz was a struggling Los Angeles band, unable to catch abreak. Living with Pink Floyd, playing on the same bill as the Doors. A solid rock band in a city filled with solid rock bands, and going nowhere fast. Then they got intentional about creating their brand.“…There was that moment of saying: ‘We’re frustrated. We better do something that’s going to get us a lot of attention.’ That’s when Alice was created. That’s when I said ‘Let’s create this character that every parent in the world is gonna hate.’ The audience was going to go with whatever their parents hated...” (Terry Gross interview with Alice Cooper) I said, "I can create this Alice character to be the greatest rock villain of all time." (Andrew Denton interview with Alice Cooper) Alice Cooper was the direct result of a decision to be intentional about creating a brand that was groundbreaking, andat the same time coolly calculated. If every rock band in the world was playing Peter Pan, Vincent Furnier was going to play Captain Hook. (AndrewDenton interview with Alice Cooper) And the rest,as they say, is history. if your band doesn’t define its brand, your audience will define it for you… …And probably get it wrong.
|
Posted By xxseattlerockxx @ 4:54 PM
Author's site: http://www.peterrisman.com/
| [Comment on this blog post] |
|
