23 - FEBRUARY, 2015

BRANDING FOR THRASH METAL BAND

MAHESH NADKARNI

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ABSTRACT

The given case paper talks about a young man called Billy who has immense passion for music. He has always been different from others in one way or the other. His immense love for music and a possessed wealth for creativity have established him as a founder and lead guitarist of an upcoming metal band, playing a specific type of music called the Thrash Metal. In a small period of time Billy along with his band – Shredder Business Bureau has made a niche for thrash metal and is well known locally and regionally.

Billy has established his band locally; however he wants to make it big. Hence he dropped in my office, wherein I work as the identity manager offering creative talents to customers via local advertising agency. I have a good name and recognition in the field of branding. Billy comes to me seeking help to brand his image as a musician. This is taken as a challenge as I have mostly worked for branding of companies. It was for the first time that I will be working for identity branding. The good part is that I will be doing this for Billy !!

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BRANDING
Branding is the process involved in creating a unique name and image for a product in the consumers mind, mainly through advertising campaigns with a consistent theme. Branding aims to establish a significant and differentiated presence in the market that attracts and retains loyal customers. To succeed in branding, one must understand the needs and expectations of the customers and prospects. This is done by integrating brand strategies through company at every point of public contract. A brand resides within the hearts and minds of the customer and prospective clients. It adds up to the sum total of their experiences and perceptions.  IMPORTANCE OF BRANDING:

Branding goes way beyond just a logo or graphic element. When you think about your brand, you really want to think about your entire customer experience; everything from your logo, your website, your social media experiences, the way you answer the phone, to the way your customers experience your staff. When you look at this broad definition of branding, it can be a bit overwhelming to think about what is involved in your brand. In short, your brand is the way your customer perceives you. It is critical to be aware of your brand experience and have a plan to create the brand experience that you want to have a good brand doesn't just happen, it is a well thought out and strategic plan.

Many small organizations and start-ups neglect spending necessary time thinking about their brand in this broad sense and the impact it has on their business.

BRANDING FOR THRASH METAL BAND  HOW DOES BRANDING HELP? o Branding Promotes Recognition:

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People tend to do business with companies they are familiar with. If branding is consistent and easy to recognize, it can help people feel more at east purchasing your products or services. o Brand Helps Set You Apart From The Competition: In today’s global market, it is critical to stand apart from the crowd. You are no longer competing on a local stage; your organization now competes in the global economy. o Brand Provides Motivation And Direction For Your Staff: A clear brand strategy provides the clarity that your staff needs to be successful. It tells them how to act, how to win, and how to meet the organization's goals. o A Strong Brand Generates Referrals: People love to tell others about the brands they like. People wear brands, eat brands, listen to brands, and they’re constantly telling others about the brands they love. On the flip side, you can’t tell someone about a brand you can’t remember. A strong brand is critical to generating referrals or viral traffic. o A Strong Brand Helps Customers Know What To Expect: A brand that is consistent and clear puts the customer at ease, because they know exactly what to expect each and every time they experience the brand. o Brand Helps You Create Clarity And Stay Focused. It’s very easy to wonder around from idea to idea with nothing to guide you…it doesn't take long to be a long way from your original goals or plans. A clear brand strategy helps you stay focused on your mission and vision as an organization. Your brand can help you be strategic and will guide your marketing efforts saving time and money.

BRANDING FOR THRASH METAL BAND o Brand Helps You Connect With Your Customers Emotionally:

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A good brand connects with people at an emotional level; they feel good when they buy the brand. Purchasing is an emotional experience and having a strong brand helps people feel good at an emotional level when they engage with the company. o A Strong Brand Provides Your Business Value: A strong brand will provide value to your organization well beyond your physical assets. Big brands like Coca-Cola, Wrangler, Apple, Ford, Chick-Fil-A, etc. belong to the companies whose brand has created a value that far exceeds their physical value.

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IDENTITY BRANDING:

Identity branding defines how a business wants a brand's name, communication style, logo and other visual elements to be perceived by consumers. The components of the brand are created by the business itself, making brand identity the way in which a business wants consumers to perceive its brands, not necessarily how it is actually perceived. Brand identity is different than brand image, which is what consumers actually think. It is constructed by the business itself. A negative gap between brand identity and brand image means a company is out of touch with market sentiment, which will make selling its products more difficult. The brand image held by consumers can reach a point at which a business or product has to rebrand itself or risk not bringing in sales.

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LITERATURE REVIEW:
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WHAT IS THRASH METAL?

Thrash metal is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal music characterized by its fast tempo and overall aggression. The songs usually use fast percussive beats and low-register guitar riffs, overlaid with shredding-style lead work. The lyrics often deal with social issues and reproach for The Establishment, using direct and denunciatory language, an approach which partially overlaps with the hardcore genre

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HISTORY OF THRASH METAL:

The genre evolved in the early 1980s from combining the drum beats of hardcore punk with the guitar style of the New Wave of British Heavy Metal. It emerged partially as a reaction to the more conventional and widely acceptable glam metal, a less aggressive, pop music-infused heavy metal subgenre which appeared simultaneously. Thrash metal was an inspiration for subsequent extreme genres such as death metal and black metal.

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HOW IS THRASH METAL DIFFERENT FROM OTHER TYPES OF MUSIC?

Heavy metal (or simply metal) is a genre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s, largely in the United Kingdom and the United States. With roots in blues rock and psychedelic rock, the bands that created heavy metal developed a thick, massive sound, characterized by highly amplified distortion, extended guitar solos, emphatic beats, and overall loudness. Heavy metal lyrics and performance styles are often associated with masculinity, aggression, and machismo.

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The first heavy metal bands such as Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple and Black Sabbath attracted large audiences, though they were often derided by critics, a status common throughout the history of the genre. During the mid-1970s, Judas Priest helped spur the genre's evolution by discarding much of its blues influence; Motörhead introduced a punk rock sensibility and an increasing emphasis on speed. Beginning in the late 1970s, bands in the New Wave of British Heavy Metal such as Iron Maiden and Saxon followed in a similar vein. Before the end of the decade, heavy metal fans became known as "metal heads" or "headbangers". During the 1980s, glam metal became a commercial force with groups like Mötley Crüe and Poison. Underground scenes produced an array of more aggressive styles: thrash metal broke into the mainstream with bands such as Metallica, Megadeth, Slayer, and Anthrax, while other extreme subgenres Since the of mid-1990s, metal like death popular styles metal and black such as groove

metal remain subcultural phenomena.

metal (e.g., Pantera), which draws influence from extreme metal and hardcore punk, and nu metal (e.g., Slipknot), which often incorporates elements of grunge and hip hop, have further expanded the definition of the genre.  POPULAR BANDS PLAYING THRASH METAL:

Four American bands, Anthrax, Megadeth, Metallica, and Slayer, are credited with pioneering and popularizing the genre. The Clash of the Titans tour (1990–1991), which featured Megadeth, Slayer, and Anthrax, is considered the genre's pinnacle, after which thrash metal saw a decline in popularity throughout the decade. Thrash metal has seen resurgence in recent times, with many of the older bands returning to their roots with their new releases. A new generation of thrash metal bands emerged in the early 2000s, drawing lyrical and visual inspiration from the older groups.

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FOUNDATIONAL ELEMENTS:
For branding there are a few elements which lay the basic foundation and always need to be taken into consideration. While a logo is a good place to start, you should consider building your “visual position” to be something larger. Building a system for your brand allows you to meet the demands of different media, while still presenting a cohesive identity. A logo is a graphic symbol, whereas a wordmark or logotype is just the words of your company or product name set in a specific, fixed way. These elements should be professionally designed and set. Some of the fundamental elements that are necessary for branding are as follows: o Logo:

A logo should always be rendered consistently; you will need variations based on placement and usage. A corporate color palette is usually defined by the colors in a logo. Often these are one or two colors only, although some are more complex. o Corporate typefaces:

Choose just a handful of fonts to be used whenever there is printed material. Make sure these are available on all the computers that will create these documents. o Standard typographic treatments:

Your typographic identity should include ways of handling key types of text, perhaps a consistent way of styling headlines or pull-out text. Work to make these similar from one application to the next. It may be the way you write your URLS, or the way you capitalize your headlines.

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Billy was my classmate from undergraduate classes for an elective I had enrolled in. He was pursuing his degree with majors in music. He immediately caught by attention due to his interesting nature. He possessed unique tastes in tastes in music and was very passionate about what he did, especially with respect to music. He was a very creative person and possessed wealth of knowledge related to music. Recently Billy has established himself as a founder and leader of an upcoming heavy metal band called as Shredded Business Bureau. This knowledge that he shared with me, helped me gain advantage in drafting points to brand his band.

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CRAFT MANIFESTO:
New generations of brand owners are emerging out of the recession. They are about diversity, locality, variety, individuality and depth. They are global in ambition but refuse to sacrifice quality for quantity. They stand in stark contrast to the uniform, global corporation of the world before the crash. They are the manifesto brands. In their desire for change, to draw a line under the past and in their habit of stating their aims in manifestos, these new brands resemble the great artist movements of the modern age. Manifestos are the start of a movement and movements need a vanguard. Gather your fellow travelers together, lock yourselves in a room, speak your mind, discover common ground, agree objectives, and decide what you will do and what you will never do. This is how manifestos get written. Test it, tighten it until it is watertight, and then get it out there. The Futurists were the first artists to write a manifesto and they launched it on the front page of Le Figaro, triggering a national, then a global, debate. They rode the momentum and translated it quickly into several languages as it spread around the world within weeks. To manifesto is to perform. The Futurists literally shouted it from the rooftops. They booked out theatres to read from the stage. There were debates, arguments and riots. When BrewDog ride tanks through London or satirise Vladimir Putin’s record on gay rights, they are following in the footsteps of rabble-rousing Futurists. A manifesto is a series of demands. The Futurists wanted to abolish the past. The Surrealists wanted to liberate the imagination as an act of insurrection against society. Hiut Denim aim to get the town of Cardigan making jeans again. You need to find a common purpose with your audience in order to connect with them. Make it clear that you both want the same thing. Levi’s "go forth" articulated the frustrations of a generation that felt stuck. At times you need to forget the big idea. Your manifesto will hold everything together. From that manifesto, thousands of ideas can spring. They need not look the same because they all ultimately demand the same thing.

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To create a brand for Billy’s band I needed to highlight his bands strong points and create a manifesto out of it. His most strong points were his ability to play the guitar really well. Also the band had made a niche in the market in the genre of thrash metal music amongst the already existing heavy metal bands. This virtue had made their band famous locally. I advised him to make CD’s of his music so that I could use them in my promotions. Also I had to make efforts to reach out to the person who Billy was expecting in his new show. By doing this I would have used his name for attracting more audience for Billy’s show and was also one of my branding techniques.

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TOOLS FOR BRANDING:
One of the tools that I used for branding Billy’s band was the Brand Pyramid. There are several different versions of the Brand Pyramid, but most are based on the model originally created by Millward Brown, a global marketing research and consulting firm, in the mid-1990s. The pyramid, as shown in figure below, illustrates the five key stages that customers go through with a brand, starting with basic awareness and finishing with complete loyalty. Figure – The Brand Pyramid

Clearly, the goal is to get as many of your customers as possible to the higher levels of the pyramid. After all, the higher people are up the pyramid, the more money they're likely to spend with your brand. (This is why the pyramid is inverted.) o Level 1: Presence

At this level, customers are aware of your brand, but little else. They may have tried your products and services before, but they have little or no emotional attachment to them.

BRANDING FOR THRASH METAL BAND o Level 2: Relevance

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At this level, customers start to think about whether the brand meets their wants and needs. It's here that they begin comparing the cost of your products with respect to the value these provide. o Level 3: Performance

Here, customers begin comparing the brand with others, to see whether it delivers on its potential. They're also starting to associate the brand with a specific identity, and they're beginning to recognize it and associate with it. o Level 4: Advantage

At this level, customers have determined that there is a distinct advantage to using the brand, compared with others. They're also beginning to associate the brand with their emotions and with their sense of self. o Level 5: Bonding

Here, customers have established a bond with the brand. They've determined that cost, advantage, and performance are all at levels that they're happy with. They've also formed a strong emotional attachment to the brand; the brand has become an integral part of their self-image, and helps represent who they are. This, in turn, encourages them to exclude other brands in favor of this one. Customers at this level are also likely to be vocal advocates of the brand, which helps build further awareness within their family, social, and professional circles.

 Applying The Tool
Brand Pyramid can be used when developing a marketing strategy for your brand, product, or service. When you understand the five stages that people go through while they build loyalty to your brand, you can focus your marketing efforts on leading target customers through them. However, there is some

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crossover between each of the levels, and it may be difficult or impractical to focus on just one stage at a time. In Billy’s case, I can use The Marketing Mix and 4 Ps to lay the foundation for my marketing strategy, and to help build awareness of Billy’s band. In this case most of the customers will be music lovers, and will have different needs, wants, etc. It helps to use market segmentation here, so that I can focus my marketing strategy on delivering offerings targeted at the distinct groups of people most likely to engage with Billy’s band. In this case an easy target audience will be school or university students. Basically an age group ranging from teenagers to youths. At the same time, price is important here: if the price is too high, customers won't be ready to buy the tickets. If the price is too low, they might assume that quality matches the low price. It can also be helpful to use the Conjoint Analysis tool to measure buyer preferences. This helps to identify what your customers truly want from your service; in turn, this information can help you fine-tune your product design and marketing to address these issues. Different customers will be at different levels of the pyramid at different times. The Product Diffusion Curve helps to think about how you can target different customers at different stages of a product's lifecycle. It is also important for me to know about any other bands that can pose a competition to Billy’s band. I need to ensure that my marketing materials give customers the information they need to compare my services with competing products. To reach the final stages, I need to communicate the perceived further advantages of my branding strategy. It might be lower in price or superior in quality to the competitors. However, "softer" influences may also be relevant here. Customers might begin to identify his band and connect with emotions such as fun, excitement, or approval from peers. Emotions play a vital role in branding. Once

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customers have a strong emotional tie with the brand, they're more likely to advocate its benefits to others in their social, family, and professional circles.

BRANDING FOR THRASH METAL BAND  REFERENCES: 1. http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/branding.html 2. http://www.m-designs.com/portfoliobranding.html 3. http://www.forbes.com/fdc/welcome_mjx.shtml 4. http://www.strategynewmedia.com/why-is-branding-important 5. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thrash_metal 6. http://www.sae.org/globalsections/guidelines.pdf 7. http://www.visiblelogic.com/blog/2010/04/8-essential-elements-to-a-comprehensive-brandidentity/ 8. http://www.campaignlive.co.uk/news/1303682/

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9. https://www.brainmates.com.au/how-to/%E2%80%9Chow-to%E2%80%A6-%E2%80%9D-audityour-brand