Evaluation Question 2

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

For our band 'Loyal Blood' we created a three part promotion package, consisting of; a Music Video, Digipak and Website.
When creating our promotion package we found that ensuring we had a recurring theme throughout the three products was very important, in order for them to tie together and create a strong identity for our band 'Loyal Blood'.
In reference to this Synergy was very important (Synergy - 'The interaction of two or more agents or forces so that their combined effect is greater than the sum of their individual effects.')
When researching into existing bands and their use of synergy we looked specifically at the alternative/rock genre as this is the genre of song that we chose and we would therefore have to take into consideration the conventions of that genre when creating our three products.  

A band that particularly interested us in terms of the synergy was Coldplay, with each new album they re-design their website to compliment their new digipak, this conformity is also evident in their videos, which tend to follow a similar theme:

The album sets a very colourful and graffiti style colour scheme for the band. This clear theme runs throughout their different products including the Website, Music Videos, Styling and Merchandise. By creating such a strong brand identity through this consistent theme/colour scheme the bands products can be easily recognised.

The website continues this bright/neon theme as in the Digipak, also continuing the bands font style/logo. The icons at the top are also in a doodle style, much like the graffiti that can be seen on the album cover. The website itself has numerous links to social media, such as Twitter, Facebook and Spotify. This again is an example of the band using synergy to promote themselves and spread to a wider audience - which is also complimented through a link to their 'Shop' in which numerous items of merchandise can be bought by fans. Links can also be seen on the homepage to buy different versions of the album (Vinyl, CD, Digital) and the concert DVD; as well as there being a separate tab 'Recordings' which takes users directly to a page in which they can buy all of these products. 
Additionally on the website there is a tab that will take them to the tour page - in which all of the dates/locations that the band will be playing are listed, as well as links which will take users to other websites where they can purchase tickets. 
Their website is therefore very strong in terms of synergy as it links all of their products together in one place, making it very accessible and easy to navigate for fans.

The video for 'Charlie Brown' also follows the theme that is so evident in the Digipak and the website. Bright/neon colours are used as well as the fun/party style that is presented. A matching font is also used for the bands logo at the beginning of the video meaning that the bands identify is established clearly, the fact that this appears at the very beginning of the video also means that it is immediately known that this is a Coldplay album, the font and colour of the text also means that the album which the song is from can also be quickly identified.

 

Overall all of Coldplay's band persona ties into this colourful and pop like theme for the 'Mylo Xyloto' era - all of its products can be easily identified as to be belonging to this album and it is this strong synergy that we aimed to recreate when creating our own band 'Loyal Blood.

Another band that we looked into was 'Royal Blood':

For our research we also looked at the band 'Royal Blood' because we really liked their style and their music and it was very similar to the style of band we wanted to create. Royal Blood are very successful in the way they create a 'brand' image and the links between their music videos, website and album are very strong. 

There is a strong common theme running throughout all of the bands media texts. This is evident in their use of Typography. With the use of the unique and interesting type face, which is like an old 'Times New Roman' but decaying and eroding away. We felt that this is an extremely interesting style which makes their logo instantly recognisable. As it is prominent throughout all of their products it makes it a lot easier for the fans to recognise the band but it also helps communicate to a new audience. This is a characteristic we wanted to follow throughout our products. 
We also found that the use of dark and desaturated colours was a common theme in Royal Blood's products. This is another key characteristic we found that helped to identify the band and create their 'brand'. All of these are factors and conventions of a typical rock band and we used them as influence for our own work. 

Website

When looking on professional websites such as Royal Blood's we found that their website was a very good example of successful branding. With their use of a simple, black and white colour scheme and a consistent type face throughout, it creates an effective and successful 'brand' for the band. As the website is a simple black and white it allows the user to easily navigate around the site. Also, with the bands logo situated at the top throughout the site it reinforces their identity and image. The use of Social Media is also very prominent and also important. With the use of social media it allows commercial fans but also new fans to stay up to date with the band and feel part of them. This was definitely a feature we wanted to incorporate into our work as we felt that it encourages interactivity within our own website but also in our social media pages. 

 

Apart from the use of social media the website also uses Synergy to promote the band's products. This is evident in the bands 'Store' page in which fan can purchase their music and merchandise.

'Loyal Blood'

When creating the three products for our band Loyal Blood we understood that it was very important for them to work together and compliment each other in order to create a successful promotional package. To do this we set our with a clear colour scheme and stylistic approach to ensure that all three products followed this shared theme. We first established a dark/low key lighting colour scheme as this fit in with the conventions of the Alternative/Rock genre and set a font, which would be shared throughout the digipak and Website (Perpetua Titling MT). By setting this common theme it was easy for us to be able to tie all of our products together - and make them all aesthetically similar.

When  attempting to establish clear synergy throughout our three products we felt that the most important feature would be the bands logo/font, as this would be something that would be included in both the website and digipak. We therefore create a clear logo for our band, which would also feature on our merchandise available on our website.

On our website itself there are multiple marketing techniques to promote the other media products. There is a music page which allows you to buy the whole album or individual songs, we also incorporated a merchandise store which allows you to buy clothing and accessories associated with the band. On the 'Home' page we also had the music video in a large banner to make it stand out and eye catching to the fans/viewer. These are all effective marketing techniques to help promote and advertise the band. 

Our website also ties in with our video as it, like all three of the products follows the dark colour scheme, and additionally has low key lighting. The website also features numerous 'on-set' images of the band recording the video. Some of the images which feature in our digipak were also taken when we shot the music video, meaning there is a clear link between the three products.

Social Media

We also found the use of social media websites such as Twitter, Facebook and Instagram to be very prominently used by bands nowadays. We therefore created 'pages' and accounts for some of these sites, so that our band could interact with their fans easily. These were then linked on our website so that users could find the bands social media pages easily. Once we had set up these sites we were able to make posts about what the band were doing - which then linked into the production of our music video for 'Out of the Black' fans were able to see exclusive behind the scenes images of the band filming their video and read updates on when it would be released.

Overall I believe that our three products work well together to create a well rounded promotional package for our band 'Loyal Blood'. Through these products we have created a strong brand identity which can be clearly identified in each individual product. This can be seen in the:
- Colour scheme (all share a similar dark/low key lighting scheme, which also helps to represent the genre of Alternative/Rock)
- Typography - by having the font Perpetua Titling MT running throughout our website and digipak and also being the font for the bands logo, a clear link can be made to the products.
- Consistent instruments - band members often have a 'signature instrument' when playing - we therefore followed this convention by having the guitarist/lead singer play with a recognisable instrument (the white guitar) this then also featured in one of the images on our digipak and on pictures of the band playing on the website - which again created a link between the products.