[ Insert 3 x main products here ]

HOW EFFECTIVE IS THE COMBINATION

OF YOUR MAIN PRODUCT AND
ANCILLARY TEXTS?

By Emily Jerman

IMPORTANCE OF PROMOTION
Promoting your product, will only become successful, if you can successfully build the
brand. In the digital age, it is important that media institutions used media
convergence to engage with their audiences across different platforms.

A common way of doing this is to create synergy between the products which are
advertised. This is shown through the similar conventions which are used, across all the
different media platforms on which the product is advertised.
If a digipak and poster are designed to promote the music video, then it is important
that they offer the audience an accurate reflection of what to expect. For this reason
it is important that the products are all linked: thematically, stylistically and
generically.
For all of my products: video, digipak and poster, I have featured the artist as the
focus point.

SYNERGY
As you can see from the examples on the right hand side (and indeed
the other examples on my blog), it is important that there is a clear
relationship between linked products.

The Beyonc digipak (top) uses a particular font/typography for both

the title and the artist, whilst the main image shows the star styled in a
particularly striking and unique way.
Audiences will therefore be drawn to the promotional poster (bottom),
which uses the exact same typography for the artist and title. Whilst the
main image is slightly different to the digipak, it is recognisably similar
in style and tone, creating a clear link between the two products.

SYNERGY: DANCE
The artist is represented as part of the pop
genre in my music video, as the opening scene
shows the artist to participating in a dance
routine with two backing dancers. The type of
dance moves shown communicate to the
audience that the song and video are from the
pop genre. I purposely choreographed the
dance to achieve this effect; they are not slow
they are relatively fast as the pace of the song
picks up.

Then on the front cover of my digipak, I

feature a photo of Stefi (as Beyonc).
Although I took the photo myself as a
still, it could be seen as a freeze frame
of a dance move from the video. As the
pose is confident and independent, much
like the artist in the music video, it
creates a relationship between the two
products. Although the dress is different,
many aspects of the mise-en-scene (the
artist, type of costume, body language)
are very similar.

THE ALBUM NAME 4

The use of multiple shots of the artist
featured in the video in 2 occurrences.
The artist is shown 3 times side by side
when she jumps in the air, and is shown 7
times when she completes the dance in
cannon. This helped to develop my
production skills (as it was tricky to edit)
and also create a striking, visual product
for the audience.

The artist is then shown on the poster 4 times,

as a link to the albums title, in various
stages of throwing a flower. On the digipak
she also features 4 times in varying opacity.
Thus successfully providing links between
production and ancillary products, in terms
of multiple artist shots.

PROPS, COSTUME AND MAKEUP

The artist is shown to take
pride in her appearance,
featuring heavy makeup
in both the video, digipak
and poster. Before each
shoot we worked to ensure
that the artist was styled
appropriately (hair, makeup, costume). This follows
conventions of the R&B
genre, as well as targeting
the young and female
audience successfully. I
made use of glitter
eyeshadows, in the red
and silver dress scenes of
the video, in order to show
elements of the pop
genre.

The artist is shown to wear

items of clothing in both the
digipak, poster and video: e.g.
the red dress as shown in the
champagne scene of the video,
and the middle page of the
digipak. This further develops
the relationship between the
products, establishing a clear
representation and developing
the artists brand.

COLOUR SCHEME
The use of dark colours appears in
both type of product: black colours
as the background of the back of
the digipak, as well as using the
dark night in the video, in order to
follow conventions of dark elements
of the R&B genre.

I also used a lot of purple and red colours in my music video,

digipak and poster. Red could be seen as symbolising love and
passion (a reference to the songs title and content), whilst also
supplementing images of rose petals on the digipak.
Purple is also a feminine colour which has connotations or royalty
and prestige. This further adds to Beyonc's representation a
Queen of the pop music world.

THEMES
The song highlights the element of love and relationships, which the target audience would find
themselves in, or others around them, and thus would be able to relate to these themes. I have
supplemented these lyrics with images of rose petals (poster) and love hearts (hair on the
digipak).
In my video, I then use various gestures to imply the artist is talking about her love story, these
include: touching the heart, jumping out of joy, keeping a watchful eye and drinking with them.
I have also tried to promote a strong sense of female empowerment and independence in my
products. Aside from the two male dancers at the start of the video, the products contain few
representations of men, instead emphasising women.

LOCATIONS
I shot a large percentage of the music
video on plain backgrounds: black studio,
patterned wall at studio and white popup for group shots. This is conventional for
pop music videos. This would also
highlight the artist as the main feature,
rather than having distractions or
connotations coming from the
surroundings.

As I was shooting on the same white background

and cutting images of the artist out, I then used
plain backgrounds as the artist would be shown in
large photos, or multiple photos i.e. front of
digipak.

I showed synergy between the digipak and

poster, as I used the same colour petals in the
background of 4 poster photos, as well as the
middle pages of my digipak. Thus, this branding
using petals would be recognisable in both
products.

CONCLUSIONS:
Overall I have successfully been able to show synergy between my 3 products: the
video, the digipak and the poster.
All of my promotional products feature the artist in independent visions, which follows
with her representation in the music video and the media.
Although my products show synergy, there are still new ideas featured on each, which
will keep the audience interested in each different type of promotion.