Brand Image and Identity.

Many bands have a band identity or image that they follow. For bands and artists to be noticed and recognised by the public and audience, record labels usually create a band image/identity to create more sales and public appeal. This is why it is important, it makes band more popular among a wider range of audiences and brings in a lot more sales for the record labels. In some situations, brand imaging is sometimes stuck with the band, so whenever a logo or certain object is brought it, it instantly creates the image of the band or artist.

I am going to analyse Natasha Bedingfield for my brand imaging. Natasha Bedingfield is an English pop sing/ songwriter who first released her first album 'Unwritten' in 2004. When released it was famous for the lyrics being about Independence, opportunism and female empowerment. The songs 'These Words' and 'Single' were the first songs to be released of the album and were a great success, becoming number one in the UK charts. For this album, she was nominated four awards but unfortunately did not succeed. However, she performed on daytime television shows such as GMTV, Top of the Pops and CD:UK to promote her new album. Natasha hit the UK music scene with a bang, the album hit number one within two weeks of it's release. Critics said 'Natasha seems to have inherited the ridiculously catchy pop gene, and with her confident album Unwritten, she's sure not to go unnoticed.'

Her first album cover, as seen below, was the first album to be released. It's simple, yet bold. The creative font used stands out bold and portrays that this artist isn't your usual artist, that she is a bit quirky and different. The bronze, gold  and cream colours show that yes it is simple and plain, yet it portray the songs in the album as they stand out, some are slow while some are more upbeat and popular amongst an audience. 

Meanwhile, Natasha's videos are quirky and fast pace, while other happen to be slow, faded and romantic. Such as 'These Words' which is a fast pace, upbeat song with a bright, quirky video to fit the music. With plenty of editing and over exaggerated bright colours the video stands out from other pop videos released at the times. The funny imagery of Natasha scribbling on a piece of paper with black marker and the black marker to start dragging her boyfriend around the city to lead him to her was most memorable in the video. The quirky imagery such as the chairs flipping over and back and the bright quirky outfits she wears show the video connecting to the upbeat song and showing her image.

However, in the music video 'Soulmate' is a slow, romantic song. The video is faded, grey with many low key lighting creating shadows  This is creating the sad romantic imagery. The close ups and images of couples portrays the words of the song. Occasionally through the video certain things are more emphasized through colour, such as red hearts, wedding rings and certain words like 'partners'. At the end of the video a more high key lighting is shone on her face to show that maybe there is hope for love after such dark, low key images that portray the emotions of the song. This is completely the opposite of the other video which is more bright.

Natasha Bedingfield is known for her funny videos such as 'These words' and 'I wanna have your babies' which open her to a more wider audience. She is also known for her exaggerated bright colours and her quirky style in her videos. With an audience from 20 - 27, the audience is always in her next video and quirky fashion.

Jessica