[ 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 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.

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.

PROPS, COSTUME AND

MAKEUP
The artist is shown to

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,
make-up, 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.

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 pop-up 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.