Music Marketing Project #2 - Reflection

    For the Music Marketing Project, our group was assigned to create a marketing campaign for our own band using a 15-minute presentation that includes a music video to promote the brand. After doing specific case study research to find marketing techniques for our specific genre (pop/throwback), we began thinking of simple aspects of marketing that we could later expand on. This includes social media, a website, live performances, and merchandise. While doing this we also worked on our music video concept. We decided to create a video that displays a story while also cutting back and forth with the band singing. Together we created a storyboard of just storytelling, and we were able to film without many problems. During this process we also came up with a theme of soft blues and pinks. We specified our audience to mostly female teenagers/young adults, sticking to relatable stories and marketing techniques that fit the audience. This was a challenge, as marketing throwback music would most likely not attract as many teenagers. However, we specified many promotional techniques aimed towards that age range, making it easier to be noticed. We decided on the name "The Romantics", a name that is easy to recall but also fits the theme we were going for.

    For the last week of the project, the planning and discussing made everything in the presentation flow great. We discussed how we could make the music video entertaining and detailed before meeting up and filming the promotional half of the music video. Using the inspiration of other music videos, we decided to film it at a grocery store with a variety of shots and angles. For clothing design, we incorporated the brand's main colors, blue and pink. We additionally wore a casual style to fit the throwback pop genre, along with our brand's style. For post-production, the music video is quick paced with cutaways to always stand out and stay entertaining. The clips of the grocery store were edited more bright and saturated, to not only contribute to the childish theme but also separate the two settings (the storytelling half and the promotional half). 

    

   

    Our group used the rest of the time in class to organize our presentation and come up with more marketing techniques and designs. For example, we created an album that came along with the song "Tonight" and created new merchandise, vinyls, and posters with it. We also designed a website that includes promotion for the new album and music video, along with links to tour tickets, music, memberships, merchandise, and an album store. We also included links to social media, continuing to broaden fan access to anything they want. An important marketing technique we added was the use of Spotify's Ad Studio. With prior research about the software, we understand what the ad looks like and how to make one, which fits perfect for the target teenage audience we want to attract.

        The presentation part of the project, however, was a challenging process. Our group was going to present it through recording our voices and putting them on the slides. We created a script to know what we were going to say for each slide, but we could not find a way to present our ideas without struggling to think of what to say in the moment. Even with the words in front of us, it was hard to have a quiet environment, a loud voice, and preventing from stuttering or having a monotone, robotic voice. We tried different methods, but each came with different problems. For example, for me, bullet points made it hard not to stutter, while a word-for-word paragraph made the presentation sound monotone. However, with practice and patience, We were able to record the presentation.

    Overall, the project was a great experience to learn how important marketing techniques are for brands, especially for music bands and artists. Not only do you need a variety of techniques, but you also need to consider which forms are most effective for the specific target audience you are going for. Using research from case studies was helpful, especially because the music artists' audiences had similar common interests, therefore making them a great inspiration for our own marketing techniques. You also have to consider the same for distribution - difference ages and enjoyers of different genres may listen to music in different ways. For the Cambridge portfolio project, setting a target audience and considering what they would or would not enjoy would be significant. It would help with planning the story and brainstorming shots to use.

Link to presentation