Researching Brand identity, synergy and cross media convergence

One Direction

One Direction are a British and Irish pop boy band. They are based in London England and became famous through the X Factor in 2010. They are signed by Simon Cowell.There were originally five members. Harry Styles, Niall Horan, Liam Payne, Louis Tomlinson and Zayn Malik. In 2015 Zayn sadly departed from the band. They all now are taking a break from the band and have solo careers.

One Direction create synergy by using the same font on all of here CD covers. Throughout all of their CD covers I can see that One Direction use all of the same font style for the bands name. In the image below you can see that they use the same right between both album name and band name.

As I look at other albums, the band have used red and white on all of the CD covers. I have also noticed that they have used black. This could be in an image or background or even in their costuming.

 They even make synergy between the merchandise. There is an unchangeable font style. In most of their merchandise the returning theme of red and white is used although to appeal to all audiences they have used bright colours. For example on the hoodies and wrist bands below they have used colours like mint green ans yellow. Personally, I think this is a good idea because I like to have something of my favourite band in my favourite colour. This also appeals to fans because it gives them something to relate to.

One Direction have there own brand identity. This is created due to them music the same font syle and colours. They also create a brand identity by using the same 1D logo. This is their thing and no other artist or band does this. 

Another way that that separates 1D from other bands is that they have there own star image. In the 90's a lot of boy bands were styled similar if not the same, whereas One Direction where there own style of clothing so it gives each of the boys there own identity and they are styled to suit there own personality. This makes them different and make them have there own star image. For example, Zayn wears T-Shirts with writing and carton images on. He is good at art and this reflects his hobbies and interests. 

Left image Zayn Malik, Right Image Backstreet boys.

On iTunes and Spotify artists can have images with there album. These usually include colour scheme, font and an image from the latest album. Using streaming services and iTunes allows the audience to access the bands. Artists also make special DVD's to show the daily life of the band. This is all cross media convergence.

This music video from one direction was the last music video they shot before they took a break. The video creates brand identity as it is all about where they started to where they are now. It shows how the band has developed over the years which shows how there identity has changed and how they have grown as artists.

How this research has influenced my creativity

• This has helped me to start to think about my promotional package for my music video and how I am going to create my brand identity. 
• This has also helped me understand how I can create synergy between my promotion package and other merchandise.