Fitzgerald, Dillon S


Project 2 rough draft - Still needs last body paragraphs and conclusion..

 

Project 3 Draft

 

Project 4 Paragraphs 

 

Project One Draft: Music Branding

 

 

Life is tough, and no one wants to deal with the troubles of their surroundings, which is why they invented soundproof headphones. When I am having a below average day, there is no better way to wipe the slate clean then to drown my ears in beautiful music. Being lost in a song is almost like being in somewhat of a euphoric state, and I for one hate being interrupted by advertisements every time I click on a new song on YouTube. The world of advertisements is taking over once again, and with there being so many different types of music with different followings, it is yet another way to reach a large audience. The music industry is becoming more and more intertwined with the advertisement media; from popular songs being used in ads, advertisement videos shot with artists, and even interjecting advertisements into songs. Numerous artists are teaming up with big brands to boost sales both ways, such as Blackberry and U2, Snoop Dogg and Adidas, and all of the artists that put together the Coca Cola Theme song “Around the World”; this trend is rapidly growing in popularity.

The idea of famous artists teaming up with brands is called “music branding”. It just makes sense, a mutual partnership helping both parties. The company supporting the artist can help hugely in funding, as well as promoting the band to all of the consumers loyal to that company. At the same time the musical group or artist is constantly promoting and spreading the message of the company, resulting in an increase in sales. This is a perfect example of how companies use Ethos in their advertisements, or getting approval of their product from somebody famous, so that other people will want to go out and buy that product too. This technique is constantly used, for example you will see Ethos in pretty much every make up ad, many clothing ads, and even ads for drinks such as Gatorade. The idea is to make people think that purchasing a companies product will make them “cool” like the famous person they saw do it on television. Practically everyone likes music, and respects the artists that make that music. Who wouldn’t want to be like the rock star using a Blackberry phone? Or the hottest pop artist rocking the Adidas kicks? Music Branding simply works, and it works well, explaining its rapid growth in popularity.

Famous rock band “U2” has done a lot with music branding over the past ten years. U2 is an ideal target for companies seeing as how they have one of the biggest if not the biggest followings of all bands in the world. They have teamed up with two massive companies in the past decade including Apple, and Blackberry. Their newest album was sponsored by Blackberry and the campaign included the release of the commercial featuring their new song “I’ll Go Crazy If I Don’t Go Crazy Tonight”. This was a very largely popular commercial viewed by millions of people, and with a band like U2 sponsoring a product, it will appeal to a huge audience. Not just because of the music, but the ad itself featured brilliant luminescent visuals, and complex cinematography to keep the viewer alert for the end of the commercial. The ad closes out with the Blackberry logo, and the slogan “Blackberry loves U2”. Such a simple message, but all of the people that love U2 can relate to this message, and in turn relate to Blackberry. Music is such a powerful element in the way people view things, therefore nothing more is needed but a message as simple as this. This commercial relies solely on Ethos to get there message across to the viewers, I mean of course it is a very cool commercial, but without the support of U2 it is nothing. It is the scene of a perfect rock concert where everyone is happy and jumping around, capturing complete euphoria and appealing pleasantly to all of the senses, and lets be honest, who wouldn’t want to be a part of this? Everyone likes a good rock concert, or at least some kind of concert with the lights flashing in your face; which is why it appeals to a much larger group then just fans of U2. This is a perfect example of how music branding works, and is only the latest work of music branding done by U2. Back in 2004, U2 was teamed up with Apple for the release of their last album “How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb”. It actually came as a huge surprise to everyone when U2 switched to team up with Blackberry, considering how well their campaign with Apple went. This was back when Bono had his whole “Red” campaign going to help the people of Africa. They released numerous items that were red, and much of the profit from these items went towards helping the people of Africa. This included a red IPod that came out with the release of U2’s album. All the buzz that the “Red” campaign had created showed in the sales of the album and in turn, Apple products. Teaming up with Apple also allowed U2 to release an exclusive historical digital catalog along with their album, which meant more profit. Not only this, but it allowed U2 to release a commercial with their single “Vertigo” to promote their new album before it’s release. This commercial was nothing but brilliant, the idea behind it was very clever. Each of the members of the band looked like the dancing people you see on the ITunes cards. The timing of the music and filming fit together excellently, and it ended on a very good note, giving the viewer the ultimate experience. Seeing everyone dancing around and jamming with a solid color in the background looking like the figures on the ITunes’s cards would have the viewer immediately relate this to Apple. Causing Apple fans to gain respect for U2, and U2 fans to gain respect for Apple. Once again, a perfect example of music branding helping both parties, it is a win, win situation.

 

Intro...

 

Hello friends, my name is the button that you just clicked on. I am a freshman this year at Wayne State, and am looking forward to my future years here.

 

Background Info...

 

Birthplace: Mesa, AZ

 

Family: mother, father, brother, sister... the whole shibang.

 

Interests: MUSIC... listening and playing.

I like all kinds of music, especially good guitar/ prog bands, and house music.

 

Hobbies: Playing guitar, making beats, chilling with friends, stargazing, and doing random spontaneous stuff.

 

Major: Music Technology

 

High School: Lake Orion High School

 

I've moved around a lot, and want to travel the world... Because who doesn't.

 

 

 

Hmmm....

 

Fusion!!!


 


Peer Review:

 

Toma' Blue

 

 

1. Is there a clear argument/thesis to the paper? Identify the thesis directly in the text or paraphrase it in your own words.

 

Yes there is a clear argument, basically music is what helps an ad become successful in pursuaing it's audience.

 

2. Does the paper have a clear exigence and purpose? Do you have a solid idea of why this argument is an important one and/or why it is or should be interesting to an audience made up of people such as yourself? What is the exigence?

 

The paper does have a clear exigence and purpose. This argument is important because it helps explain why people or (even I myself) can fall for many things that a ad has to offer. It gives reasoning on why artists may team up with Blackberry Ads, or in this case any ad. The exigence of the annalyzation is to help the reader understand why many ads team up with music or an artist in oreder to promote their ad.

 

 

3. Does the paper follow a clear structure or does it read more like a disconnected series of observations? I.e., do the different paragraphs or sections of the piece seem to follow from one another? Are there appropriate transitions between different sections and ideas? Is there any part of the paper that seems unnecessary - "beside the point" or unrelated to the overall argument of the project as a whole?

 

Overall from my reading and understanding of this paper I see that theres nothing wrong with it. Everything was connected and ran smoothly, although the writer could maybe use some more details and go a little bit deeper into the analysis. For example maybe try to find some satistics which stat if people are more likely to purchase a product if a certain musician is present during the viewing of the ad.

 

 

 

4. Did any argument or analysis in this paper seem unwarranted or exaggerated (in other words, did you think the writer was "jumping to conclusions" at times or being unfairly judgmental or dismissive)?

 

 

No, I didnt think not once that the paper exaggerated or anything like that mainly because I see where the writter is coming from. I often wonder why certain songs are being played in ads and why ceratin stars have teamed up with the ads as well. The writer was simply going off of what he viewed as the audience and I think alot of people would feel either the same way or similar.

 

5. What, in your opinion, is the strongest part of this paper?

 

 

The strongest part of this paper is at the end of the paper. The writer implies that after an ad the audience then gains respect for the brand or company. He went into detailing to explain why the audience would feel this way too!

 

6. What, in your opinion, is the weakest part of this paper?

 

 

I feel the weakest part of the paper was in the beginning of the paper. I felt like when the writer talked about his experience with music that he didnt link it to the ads or say how that had anything to do with the rhetoric of the situation.

 

7. If you were presenting a counter-argument to the paper (i.e., an attempt to argue against the thesis or central argument of the paper), what would it be? E.g., if you were asked to provide a counter-argument to the example paper we read on "Advergaming," you might argue that advertising in gaming is either not as widespread or not as problematic as the authors suggests (and provided reasons).

 

 

I could maybe argue that ads have the right to do whatever they feel is right for them when trying to get an audience. I could also say that they writers have no proper documentation on why they feel the way that they do.

 

 

8. On the sentence-level, did you find the paper to be well written? Does it contain poor grammmar or sentence-fragments? Is it unnecessarily wordy at times?

 

The only probelm I had with this paper was the very beginning, I was a littlew. The wording is good and I understood where the paper was going.

 

9. Finally, what grade would you give this paper if you were evaluating it as it is now?

 

 

If I were to evaluate this paper I would give it a C+ mainly because I feel that more information and statistics could be involved. With revision this paper will be an A because overall it has a good base and I know that the writer knows what he is talking about. I can see that he can relate to the topic and maybe he can put more of his personal experience in the paper, which actually can fit well with the paper as a whole. Just don’t get off topic. This paper will be great!

 

Paul's review:

 

 

1. Your thesis is clearly defined in the last two intro sentences, basically stating that “Music branding allows musicians and companies to boost sales by working together.”  

 

2. This paper shows music branding as a large trend across advertisement, and provides examples like Snoop Dogg and Adidas, and U2 and Blackberry. 

 

3. The paper has a structure, with fairly good idea transitions, though there needs to be more paragraphs (which we talked about). 

 

4. This argument is not jumping to conclusions at all. It is only stating fact. 

 

5. The second “paragraph” is the strongest because of the detail and many examples you provide. 

 

6. The second paragraph is also the weakest part, due to its lack of separation. As I said before, it needs to be separated into clearly defined thoughts. 

 

7. An argument I would use is that there are few examples at the moment of music branding, so it may not be as important or common as you say. 

 

8. There were a few grammatical errors, such as confusing “there” with “their,” but otherwise it’s good. 

 

9. B-