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.