1. Q2. How effective is the combination of your main products and ancillary tasks? Branding Sam McMahon

2. To combine our music video and ancillary task we had to create a brand image which would be maintained throughout all products. A brand image is a blend of certain characteristics and emotions that consumers consistently relate to a particular product or service. Therefore, a brand image is usually a product’s Unique Selling Point and is created to aim at the brands main target audience.

3. Successful brand images cause consumers to travel further, pay a higher price and also refuse to buy substitute brands. An example of this is Coca Cola, for which there are many substitute products, many of them available at a lower price. However loyal customers continuously buy Coca Cola due to its brand image which is linked to high quality and fun. This has been reinforced over the decades in all of its adverts to give it a high profile in the consumer’s minds. A pop star can also have a brand image much like this; which their audience are continuously loyal to. An example of this is Lady Gaga who was unknown to the general public before 2008, and is now a global superstar due to her strong brand image. This eccentric brand image she has created for herself is like no other, and is therefore unique and recognised by people worldwide. This brand loyalty helped her new single Born This Way get to the number 1 spot in 21 countries within five hours of release.

4. Throughout all of our products we have created an element of fun and cheekiness by firstly including the outtakes of filming in our music video, and using cheeky, fun and silly photographs on our digipak and poster. These fun and cheeky photographs are created through Taylor pulling faces and exaggerating her facial expressions. This is the main element of our brand image which I feel compliments the song Oh No! as well as the indie-pop genre we based our ideas on. This is because the pop genre is generally associated with being fun, cheeky and lively. Through the strong brand image I feel we have created across all of the products, the consumer will know what to expect from the music and music video by looking at our digipak and poster. This is because there is a continuous brand image of cheekiness, liveliness and fun. This repetition will reinforce the image. Pop Stars ‘The Saturdays’ enjoying themselves testing out Band Hero (typical pop star brand image of fun).

5. We have created our brand image of ‘fun and lively’ through many different elements in our products, including choices we made during the editing of our media pieces. The colours and lighting in both the ancillary and main task were enhanced during the editing process, as we brightened and increased the contrast on all products. We felt that by making this change to all of our products, a stronger brand image would be created.

6. The title of album, and font it is written in on the album and poster, also links in with our brand image of fun. This is because the album name ‘Self Fulfilled Prophecy’, highlights that the artist’s cheeky personality has led her to the pop star life she leads, and that she wants to spread her fun personality to others, for them to fulfil their prophecies. The brush stroke font we have chosen for our brand is one we downloaded from dafont.com as we did not feel any of the computer fonts fit our brand image of ‘fun and lively’. However we felt this ‘painted effect’ font fits our brand image of fun perfectly, as it is not bland, or tacky and cheap fun. Most importantly, we also felt that the font linked well with the brightened photographs we had edited, creating an overall brand image which links our products together.

7. Images within our products, such as the green cassette and netting which feature in all three products, also add to our brand image as they help link our products together. Firstly, the netting which is dominant in the performance sections of our music video, is shown on the back cover of the digipak and on the poster. This small element helps combine our media products together, as it a factor our target audience will relate to our brand. The cover of the album also being shown on the poster links the products together, creating a stronger brand image, as the poster and video are promoting our album.

8. The bright green cassette also unites our main product to our ancillary task, as it is part of the core image on our digipak and starts/ends our music video. This link between the products will strengthen our brand and help promote our album. I feel the colour palette we chose also corresponds to the brand image we wanted to achieve, as the gold’s, white’s and grey’s link to the indie genre element of our artist, however the splashes of bright pink, yellow and green produce the pop element of fun. Continuing this same colour palette across all of our products helps combine them together as one brand.

9. According to my audience feedback and analysis of our main and ancillary task, our products work well together as they are linked through colour, image, text and character which means the consumer can easily relate the poster and album to the video. This is extremely important when creating a brand image, as the poster and video are promoting our album. Fun Cheeky Lively