The Blueprint for Building Brand Equity as a Musician

Brand Equity for All Musicians
My topic will use Keller’s 2002 Model of Customer-Based-Brand Equity ('CBBE') to provide the blueprint for how musicians of all genres & budget levels can build CBBE whilst staying true to their artistic visions. The goal of this blueprint is to go from being unknown, to having a strong and active relationships with a fan-base. I hope that this provides clarity to artists struggling in all levels of the marketing process, from artists who simply want to build their brand’s awareness, to artists who are already well known but want to create a cult-like consumer-base. Additionally, I will integrate other theories introduced in the course, along with practical examples, to support my blueprint.

Why Did I Choose This Topic?
My motivation for picking this topic is personal. I am in the process of finalising my first release as an musician and wanted to create a cohesive plan for myself to follow. I thought that the exercise of considering a global blueprint for musicians to build CBBE would allow me to consider new elements of personal marketing. Whilst this blueprint does not cover every step of the marketing plan (such as album cover’s and distribution details) it provides a list of actionable goals which, when applied consistently across the entirety of the marketing mix, provides a guide to where an artist might have gone wrong in the past.  I thought choosing this topic would be a compelling way to display my knowledge of the course, through applying everything learnt to create a plan for a specific industry.

Summary of the Blueprint

Brand Identity: Create a Story

The strategy

Creating a cohesive, compelling, honest, and consistent brand story that identifies how the characteristics of the sound was formed, and reflects the consumption scenarios of sound is an essential component of brand salience (Keller, 2002). The story must be cohesive because it most allow for the linking of the brand name, logo, symbol as associations in memory, and must make sure music consumers understand the genre in which the sound competes. 

Making it compelling and unique

The story must be compelling because it supports the customers’ ability to recall the brand under a specific situation or circumstance. The honesty and consistency of the brand story positively supports the identifiability of the brand and ensures that customers know which of their needs are satisfied by the artist’s music. 

Identifying characteristics

By identifying the formation of the artist’s sonic characteristics, and the consumption scenarios in the brand story, the brand builds awareness through depth; as storytelling creates cues which make it easier for customers to recognise, and distinguish between other brands (which is particularly important in the music industry). Additionally, a compelling story that incorporates the consumption scenarios of the artist builds brand breadth, as links between the artist and consumption situations are created.   

How Drexciya created the perfect brand story

An example of an artist that has build brand identity through storytelling well is Drexciya, a Detroit Electro duo. The storytelling used by Drexciya is unique because it is entirely fictional, yet it perfectly describes the artists. The duo told the story that the name ‘Drexciya’ refers to an underwater country populated by the unborn children of pregnant African slaves thrown overboard during transportation from Africa to the United States of America. The children of these women were said to have adapted to breath underwater in their mother’s wombs and built a technologically advanced civilisation underwater.  

This story is cohesive because it links the brand’s logo; a dark blue silhouette resembling the Greek God Triton. Additionally, I think this story is also compelling because it is unique and supports the consumer’s ability to recall the brand.

Importantly, this story also strongly identifies the sonic characterisations of their sound to those familiar with electro and ambient genres. Drexciya shifted away from the robotic sonics of other electro artists at the time and incorporated the use of warm, deep pads in combination with bubbly percussive and melodic elements. This sound is commonly described as ‘underwater ambience’ and was the first memorable use of these techniques in combination with electro drum lines. 

Brand Meaning: Use the 'Celebrity' and 'Origin' Strategy to Create Secondary Associations 

The strategy

Building secondary brand associations are an effective way to build all levels of CBBE, however, in the context of music marketing, secondary brand associations are particularly effective at building brand meaning. Artists should seek to build meaning through collaboration with other artists within their genre (‘the celebrity strategy’), and through association with geographic location (‘origin strategy’).  

The celebrity method (collaboration method)

The celebrity strategy is effective at building brand meaning because it contributes to brand performance and brand imagery. Brand performance is so important in the music industry because consumers must actively enjoy an artist’s music in order to reach the later stages of Keller’s pyramid. Collaboration through ‘features’ is an excellent way to control quality of performance.This is a great way to draw attention to the brand and shape perceptions about what user profiles, usage situations, and personality and values are characteristic of the artist. 

The origin method

The origin strategy is effective at building brand meaning because it can draw links between the history and heritage of the geographic location, and the artist. This contributes to the brand imagery of the artist, and when done well, reinforces the story told by the artist. 

How Snoop Dogg built brand equity before releasing a single album

An example of an artist who used secondary brand associations well at the beginning of his career was Snoop Dogg. Prior to the release his debut album, Snoop Dogg had already built significant brand equity through his work on Dr Dre’s album ‘The Chronic’, and his inseparable link to Compton in Los Angeles. By the Snoop Dogg released his first album, he was already a well-known figure in Hip Hop. 

Brand Responses: Consolidate Story, Performance, and Secondary Brand Associations Together

The strategy

A combination of storytelling, brand performance, and secondary brand associations can be used as a strategy to build brand responses within Keller’s CBBE. Artist’s should seek to use storytelling to highlight brand credibility and excitement.  Finally, secondary brand associations are used to create social approval, self-respect, and brand credibility. 

Brand story: provide a reason your success

A good brand story transcends brand identity, when used properly, a brand story provides credibility to the artist and supports a positive customer response if the story provides a unique and compelling explanation for why the artist’s music is of a excellent standard. 

Ensuring performance quality

Additionally, I believe that a professional sound engineer responsible for ensuring the releases are of a commercial volume and quality are a simple way to ensure that brand judgements are favourable, and that consumers are more likely to have positive responses when they encounter the brand. By handing over responsibility to a professional mastering engineer, who dictates whether a project will be released, an artist optimises brand performance, which is used to create brand quality, credibility, superiority, and consideration.

How DJ Khaled has perfected Brand Responses

Whilst almost all professional artists use professional sound engineers, DJ Khaled has distinguished himself by creating a brand story which provides an explanation for his credibility, additionally DJ Khaled’s career model has been built using secondary brand associations to add to brand performance, social approval, and credibility.

Brand Resonance: Create Rewards for Deep Engagement

The strategy
I believe brand resonance can be built through two main strategies. Firstly; creating intense, interactive, and unique live performances are an effective way for artists to create active engagement with their fan-base, which fosters a sense of community.  Secondly; artists who create a method of rewarding customers for deeply engaging with the artist create attitudinal attachment and an increased sense of community. This is particularly true when the pursuit of reward for customers becomes a hobby in itself.

Interactive and unique live shows
Creating an interactive and unique live experience represents the pinnacle of brand resonance, as customers are willing to invest time, energy, and money into the brand. Creating a live experience that rewards the customer for their engagement beyond the price which they pay for consumption is an effective way of fostering repeated active engagement in the future. Partiboi69 is an example of an artist who does this well, he is regularly known for sticking suction dildos onto patrons foreheads to engage in unicorn-dildo-sword fights with them. His live performances are intense, unique, vivid, and thoroughly engaging.

Rewarding customers for active engagement
Secondly, by rewarding customers who deeply engage with an artist, a brand can create attitudinal attachment, behavioural loyalty, and a very strong sense of community. Aphex Twin is an artist who has done this incredibly well, by intentionally a vast volume of work obscured and hidden behind multiple different monikers, and random places on the internet which he provides clues on how to find. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EOt909X3RdQ 1:30 – 2:15) His fan-base is generally considered to be obsessed with his music, and he has an incredibly active fan-made sub-reddit dedicated to discussing the mysteries behind his music.

Conclusion: Final Thoughts on the Blueprint
This blog post demonstrates how Keller’s CBBE is a highly practical model that can be used as an extremely easy and accessible tool for making strategic marketing decisions in a range of industries. Ultimately, this model demonstrates the importance of a compelling and creative story which is unique and capable of identifying an artist and separating them from others. The story must provide credibility to the artist and contain a reason for customers to actively engage with their work.