Battle of the band branding
Season 6, Issue 4 - what can tech learn from music?
Annyeong Mehketeers,
Rebrands are such a big deal in tech. They’re huge projects, happen very rarely, and usually there’s a LOT of opinions flying around internally. For example, Miro introduced their new “visual identity system”, and It’s Nice That leads their coverage of the new design with “It’s been four years”.
From Miro’s blog:
Making the decision to update a brand requires opening people’s minds, preparing for risk, and deep conviction around what makes your brand relevant and compelling.
For the record, I really like the rebrand!
But lately, industries and companies that are way less precious about their visual identities and take a super flexible approach to the whole concept.
A24 released 3 sticker packs, each with a completely different set of logos.
Ador, the label of Korean pop sensations NewJeans have a new logo for every video (and they even have a logo maker on their website… it’s like they knew I was going to make a logo issue?!)
Isn’t it all so fun? It’s refreshing, allows brands to be responsive to what’s happening, keep things current, and express themselves in many ways.
To discover more about how it all works and what tech can learn from the music industry, I reached out to Anya Lange, Creative Director at SPRBLM, and independent designer for a super impressive roster of artists, including Nirvana, Janet Jackson, The Wiggles, and heaps more. Check out her work on Instagram.
Q&A with Anya Lange
Kayla: Branding and visual identity is often held onto so tightly by big brands, whats your experience on how musicians see it?
Anya: In general, musicians have a more fluid concept of branding, versus the way commercial brands approach it. Some bands/artists will retain the same logo throughout their whole existence but reinvent it in some way for each album cycle. Some artists have a totally different logo for every album or tour. They usually have a clear understanding of the aesthetic that is appropriate for their brand and allow for a lot of creative freedom within that aesthetic.
K: From one release to another, a musician might change their logo, their colour palette, fonts, and so on. With so much of what’s visual being different, how do you keep the essence of the musician? How do you make sure someone double takes when they see new merch or album covers from their favourite artist?
A: In the same way the artist might reinvent their sound to varying levels in each album cycle, they tend to like to reinvent the visuals to a similar extent. As with the music, it might be quite divergent from previous eras, but you still know it’s the same artist. Even if they want the merch to lean on a current trend or reference a certain era, it will always be designed in a way that relates back to that particular artist. For example, Ice Spice liked vintage bootleg merch vibes, so one of my designs featured layered photos of her with chrome text effects, but it was in duotone with vibrant pink and a curvaceous script font, so it was bootleg but with an Ice Spice flavour.
The way you retain the essence of the musician is hard to put your finger on, but it comes from the designers having an understanding of the musician’s persona and designing merch that is inspired by the music.
On top of that, more often than not, the artists themselves like to have final sign-off on the designs. They will only approve things they love and feel are representative of their personal brand.
K: Branding often includes “brand values” and all sorts of wanky bits and pieces. Do you see this in music too?
A: Not in such a rigid way. Artists will often have some strict rules around their brand for merch (e.g. Dead & Co – always use an ampersand, never write “and”, or Britney Spears – never put her image in a box, always have it floating organically on the garment) and some loose rules (not too much distress, avoid certain colours etc). They might also have visual themes they like to focus on (which may vary with different tours or album cycles), but you would rarely see a style guide with “values” or “vision statements” and the like.
K: Olivia Rodrigo just released GUTS and she’s getting a lot of split opinions on how she’s kept the purple scheme. What’s your take?
A: I worked on the merch for GUTS and the direction came from the themes and vibe Olivia felt were intrinsic to this album. She wanted the merch for GUTS to be darker and more vampy, as compared to the merch for SOUR. But of course she still went for designs that were irreverent, tongue-in-cheek and a little 90s, as is her style. Olivia is synonymous with purple and has (in my opinion) probably been responsible for influencing its staying power in fashion over the last couple of years. She was specific about keeping purple in the colour scheme for the GUTS merch, but the purple is a marginally different tone to the las
t album. Similar to the music, it’s slightly darker. The butterfly motif is also a continuation from SOUR, but in different shapes and colours.
K: What do you think tther industries (like corporate or tech) can learn from design and branding in the music industry?
A: I think once a corporate brand is established and readily recognised, it could afford to be more flexible and less strict with brand style guides. Most designers love working in the music industry because it’s fun, creative, and allows them to be more artistic. When designers have fun with a brand (doesn’t matter if it’s music or corporate or tech) I think customers can tell, and they appreciate it.
Why do we care about brand so much?
Not from the marketing perspective, I think anyone reading this newsletter is likely already aware of brand being important.
As consumers though, why are pre-teens obsessed with Frank Green water bottles? And would those same pre-teens be ok with having a Kmart dupe, or is it really all about having that Frank Green logo?
Personally, I have brands I will never buy from. People find this hilarious but I’ll never get bubble tea from Cha Time (had a bad customer experience literally only one time but it has stuck with me). I’ll never buy anything from Nike (love the marketing, hate that they use child labour and sweat shops even in 2023). Likewise, I really dislike Will Ferrell’s comedic style, so I won’t buy a ticket to movies he stars in (I did buy a ticket to Barbie).
I have a strong “vote with my dollar” stance, but it’s more around what I won’t buy.
On the other hand, feeling so strongly about a brand that you must have its latest releases, signals something (see: people lining up for the iPhone 15). What the brand says it signals and what you feel like it signals doesn’t always have to be the same thing.
Tech companies are not excluded from this, either. There’s a reason people pick Monday over Asana or ClickUp. Yeah, later on finance might get on your back about how much a licence is and you’ll churn from Monday to go to the cheaper alternative, but at least at the beginning, brand counts for a lot.
Just like my one negative Cha Time experience has made me into a lifetime “never buy”, one positive experience with a brand can turn someone into a lifelong net promoter.
I went down a real Frank Green rabbit hole the other week and I honestly just kept coming back to “can these pre-teens actually articulate why they want the bottle so much?”
The answer is, they can’t. Even as marketers, we occasionally fall into the trap of branding and getting caught up in FOMO or impulse buying. So stop and ask yourself:
Why do I want this?
What do I like about it?
Would I buy the same product with a different brand’s logo?
If you’re struggling to come up with answers, the brand has truly sucked you in and done an excellent job of it.
Related reading
Here’s a campaign breakdown from Stacy Goh from a previous Mehdeeka on using brand status and “be the first” messaging for lead acquisition:
Click this out
ClubCX is a tool/community/resource for customer marketing
Chris Chow’s Five Faves Friday newsletter on LinkedIn always gives me “oh yeah it’s Friday!” reminders and it’s always a fun mix of things!
Not a link, but a reminder to talk to your sales team about the end of year season, and decide on when/if to slow down marketing efforts
And finally, the Mehdeeka rebrand is still rolling out, this week my stickers arrived!
Substack ranks subscribers from 1-5 stars, and I’ll be reaching out to anyone with 5 stars to give first dibs on stickers to. These are also a referral reward if you refer two subscribers to Mehdeeka, I’ll send you one of each sheet, just use this button:
Ciao,
Kayla