Ch 8- Segmenting and Targeting Markets

Geographic segmentation is segmenting markets by a region of a country or the world, market size, market density, or climate.  One Direction have two major labels Syco Music which takes care of the European side of their music and Columbia Records which takes care of North America.  One Direction know that the demographics of their fans ranges from 10 year olds to even mothers of the 10 year olds.  One Direction have a variety of products to fit the varied ages.  A 12-year-old girl would like the merchandise they have while a more mature audience would more likely just want the music they make.  The positioning of the brand is that they stay out of trouble and are viewed to be regular guys, which is what they are.  After the ex-member of the band, Zayn Malik, left the band was left to reposition.  They had to come back stronger and they did.  They give a vibe that they are much closer now and that is what people want to see.

Ch. 15- Marketing Communications

One Direction at a BBC Radio 1 Interview.

According to the textbook it says that promotion is the communication by marketers that informs, persuades, and reminds potential buyers of a product in order to influence an opinion or elicit a response.  Promotion seasons is in full swing for One Direction right now.  They just released their 5^th studio album and are spending a few weeks doing promotion for it.  For example, they’ve doing interviews and special events for the new album.  

One Direction at the BBC Radio 1 Live Lounge

They did their first ever BBC Radio 1 Live Lounge and performed some acoustic songs from the new album.

The different editions of Made in the A.M

They released special edition covers of the album, this is to make fans buy more copies.  They did a very risky move releasing the album the same day as Justin Bieber’s album, Purpose, comes out.  According to statistics the One Direction albums are leading with physical album sales, while the Justin Bieber album has an advantage in streams.  

madeintheam.com

Their promotional strategy is to connect with fans via social media and creating a special website that unlocked different items a day which included exclusive videos, photos, and audio messages.  Some videos were snippets of songs in the album as teasers.  

They have a lot of events such as the 1D London Session, Ellen, Jimmy Kimmel, and a performance for Good Morning America.  November 13^th they performed at the Royal Variety in London.  The feedback that the band has been receiving towards the album has been really good.  Multiple people taking pictures with albums they have bought ranging from 1 to 6 albums per person.

Ch. 10 - Product Concepts

According to the textbook a product is everything, both favorable and unfavorable, that a person receives in an exchange.  One Direction have many a product mix apart from their music.  They range from perfumes, t-shirts, book bags, shoes, sweatshirts and more.  A product item that One Direction have are limited edition vinyl of each of their albums.  Over the years they have done a lot of product modification to satisfy the fans that have been growing.  One Direction are indeed a global brand being successful in over 90 countries.

One Direction Perfume range.

Evolution of One Direction merchandise.  Top picture is the most recent while the bottom is what was sold at first.