Ch. 4 - The Marketing Environment

Budget: $10 Million

Box Office: $68,532,898

There is a specific target market that One Direction has aimed to, which is teenage girls.  The external environment would be that their fans are growing and if they didn’t mature their music they’d lose fans.  There is no doubt that One Direction has completion all around them, whether they are in their label or rose to stardom because of the “British invasion.”  Most of their competition would be bands that have formed in Britain.  The band know that the fans are growing along with them, hence them maturing along the sound of their music.  When thy first started they began with pop music reaching out to a bunch of teens or even tweens.  As the years have gone by they have matured the music using more electric guitars and beats that aren’t considered pop.  They have their demographic factors down to a T.  They know for who they are making their products and music for.  Along with this they have made sure that they try and tend ethnic markets.  They’ve ensured this by going to different countries and performing for them.  They had a whole leg of a tour for their South American fans.  In their most recent tour they visited another place they’ve never gone to before, South Africa, selling out a bunch of stadiums there.  They have a budget for most of the projects they do knowing that their earnings will surpass what they had lost in production.

One Direction at Wembley Stadium.

Ch. 18- Social Media and Marketing

Twitter, Facebook, Official Website

Social media has been a major part in the quick rise to fame of One Direction.  They do what they do for the fans, always thanking them via twitter and other social media sites.  They use twitter to constantly remind their fans about the products that they have out such as music, merchandise, and tour announcements.  When competing in the x-factor social media was used to spread the word about the band and therefore making them a world phenomenon being compared to The Beatles.  The image that has been set about One Direction is a goodie two shoes band which has accompanied them throughout their five years in the industry making them want to break apart from that image to adapt to the newest music they make.  Social media monitoring is an essential part to make sure to keep their good image up.  Maintaining a website is crucial to anyone who is selling items, One Direction’s website maintains an easy interface that can be used by anyone in the world adapting to anybody’s language.  In an interview with an ex Sony worker they expressed how important it was for each band member to know how to handle themselves and connect with the fans. 

Ch. 2 - Strategic Planning for Competitive Advantage

One Direction at their 4th fragrance "Between Us" launch.

One Direction have been in business for 5 years and have achieved an astounding amount of accomplishments and support all over the world.  All of this is due to their Marketing Plan.  Former marketing director for Sony discussed that the marketing strategy for One Direction is “Media-first,” meaning that they would be social media trained and they wanted to make them seem as “accessible young guys.”  One Direction had a strategic 3-year plan that included all the single and album releases right until the premiere of their movie which was titled “This is Us.”

SWOT Analysis

One Direction at the Brit Awards 2014

S(trengths): One Direction have a very strong fan base that they have made connections with, which therefore keeps them as supporters.  The band have accomplished a tremendous amount in only 5 years such as being musical guests in Saturday Night Live and winning a few Brit awards, to doing sold out stadiums around the globe, and selling out Madison Square Garden in only a couple of minutes.  They are also very involved with charities, one year having gone to Ghana to help out and bring awareness to how bad conditions are there.

W(eaknesses): All of the accomplishments can also be a weakness, they’ve done so much in such little time.  In 5 years One Direction have done 325 shows in the span of 4 tours.  Due do this endless amount of work, they’re taking a hiatus after they release their 5^th studio album to work on solo projects.  They’ve been on a non-stop daily job releasing albums every year since they’ve been out of x-factor.  Album leaking’s are always a problem for the band as well because they always occur right before the album is about to release affecting album sales.

O(pportunities): One Direction are no longer the kids they were when they entered the music business.  This means that their fans aren’t either, this gives them the opportunity to always switch up their music style.  They say “we’re older now and our music matures as well.”  This gives them the opportunities to appeal to different aged people and even males.  In the current tour ‘On the Road Again,’ Rolling Stone magazine attended the sold out MetLife Stadium show and pointed out how there were more guys whether they are there for their girlfriends, daughters or just there to have a night with their friends.  They’ve been given the opportunity to have their music appeal to people other than just teenage girls.

T(hreats): As musicians One Direction always have the threat of having someone taking spot for biggest band in the world.  Which is why they wanted to really establish themselves in the industry before retracting a bit to take some time to themselves.  Hopefully no one comes and swipes their title from them.