However, this is not the only the only thing that makes up a brand. A brand can be a logo, an attitude or a look. A band who understood this very well was The Beatles with their unusual haircuts, Nairu jackets, Beatle boots and humor.
Nowadays, artists and bands tend to use all these aspects to create a band for themselves, from merchandise to their image. I will be researching how bands brand themselves through merchandise, where these products are sold, for what purpose are they designed, how do they work to establish a brand identity and how successful is the merchandise.
Red Hot Chili Peppers are a band that have a band logo which they put on most of their merchandise, including CD's, posters, badges and apparel. These are some of the items I found on the 'store' section of their website:
Red Hot Chili Peppers Merchandise
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These pieces of merchandise are designed with the Red Hot Chili Peppers' logo not only for fans to show their love for the band, but to also promote the band themselves. If a member of the public sees another person wearing one of these pieces of merchandise, they will remember the logo and possibly look up the band name, which could perhaps lead to gaining new fans.
The logo itself helps to establish a brand identity for the band because it becomes an instantly recognisable image for the band. Whenever a person sees the image, they will instantly know that the Red Hot Chili Peppers are associated with whatever the image is used on. This could be used to not only help the band gain new fans, but also gain any institution they are affiliated with more popularity, as a fan of the band would want to be a part of anything they are a part of.
I would say this merchandise is successful as the logo is recognisable, fans would want to buy this merchandise as it clearly shows people they are a fan of Red Hot Chili Peppers and it is recognisable as the bands logo, instead of just a random image or pattern.
The logo itself helps to establish a brand identity for the band because it becomes an instantly recognisable image for the band. Whenever a person sees the image, they will instantly know that the Red Hot Chili Peppers are associated with whatever the image is used on. This could be used to not only help the band gain new fans, but also gain any institution they are affiliated with more popularity, as a fan of the band would want to be a part of anything they are a part of.
I would say this merchandise is successful as the logo is recognisable, fans would want to buy this merchandise as it clearly shows people they are a fan of Red Hot Chili Peppers and it is recognisable as the bands logo, instead of just a random image or pattern.
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Another band's merchandise I will be researching is 30 Seconds To Mars. This band is slightly different in their approach to branding, as they do not have one set logo like Red Hot Chili Peppers. After touring the 'store' section on their website I found that they used many logos for their merchandise:
30 Seconds To Mars Merchandise
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Again, much like Red Hot Chili Peppers these pieces of merchandise are made not only for the fans, but also to help promote the band. However, I do not think that this bands use of branding is as effective. This is because they have so many different logos instead of just one main one which everyone can link the band with. This could lead to confusion among not only the fans but people who keep seeing these logos and think they are for different bands.
This could also be a plus for the band however, as their range of logos and images gives variety to the fans, seeing as they seem to change their logo each time a new album is released. This shows that the band is not just one set brand, but a brand that is forever changing and revamping their style and sound, keeping up with their growing fan base.
In my opinion, 30 Seconds To Mars' merchandise does give the buyer a range of merchandise to choose from with each piece being different from the next, however I do not believe this is successful for their brand. I think it would be better for a band to have a set logo that can be printed onto many different pieces of merchandise so that it is instantly recognisable as the bands logo, like Red Hot Chili Peppers. This is something that I will carefully consider when trying to make a brand for my artist, possibly by choosing a specific symbol to represent the band or choosing key house colours to use across all my promotional material.
This could also be a plus for the band however, as their range of logos and images gives variety to the fans, seeing as they seem to change their logo each time a new album is released. This shows that the band is not just one set brand, but a brand that is forever changing and revamping their style and sound, keeping up with their growing fan base.
In my opinion, 30 Seconds To Mars' merchandise does give the buyer a range of merchandise to choose from with each piece being different from the next, however I do not believe this is successful for their brand. I think it would be better for a band to have a set logo that can be printed onto many different pieces of merchandise so that it is instantly recognisable as the bands logo, like Red Hot Chili Peppers. This is something that I will carefully consider when trying to make a brand for my artist, possibly by choosing a specific symbol to represent the band or choosing key house colours to use across all my promotional material.
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