Month: October 2011

You-Tube has proved itself countless times to be a solid companion for musicians attempting to get their songs out to the Public. However, with the recent release of its album, Mylo Xyloto, Coldplay has gone even further on this video-sharing site. It has launched two different You-Tube videos with several songs from the album on each one.  It is a fantastic way to publicize the album since with one click fans can preview the whole album with thirty second audio clips from each song.  Who doesn’t love convenience? And while each song is playing, the song name is actually highlighted on the video window as well.  This You-Tube technique serves a dual purpose:

1. Conveniently allows consumers and fans to preview the whole album

AND

2.  Highlighting the song name allows fans to search it up themselves seconds later.

The album cover is also very noticeable with its bright explosion of colour and unusual graphics.  Overall, Coldplay has just done a fabulous job of marketing this latest album.  In visiting its website, fans are dazzled by all the neon fonts and bold colours that promote Mylo Xyloto.  I feel that this advertising illustrates a concept we discussed in class.  Consumers buy items from certain brands as a form of self-expression. Coldplay fans purchasing the latest CD are an example of this concept as they view the spirit and vitality of Coldplay’s music and the bold neon colours of the CD art as fitting with their self-image. Therefore, by choosing to support Coldplay, fans are, in a way, choosing how they define themselves.

http://www.coldplay.com/

Several days ago our Comm 290 professor was in the middle of a lecture, when suddenly one of the students put up his hand and informed us all of the death of Apple’s visionary leader, Steve Jobs.  There was a gasp of breath as the 200 students in the room collectively stifled their exclamations.  I found the news of this man’s demise quite startling and almost tragic; I’m sure many others in the class shared my sense of loss.  The general sense of loss stemmed from the fact that the creative force behind Apple is no longer here to provide inspiration or to talk about his new Apple gadgets on technology debuts.  Sure he wasn’t as involved with the company in the last little while due to his increasing illness. However, when consumers think of Apple they often associate it with the innovative genius of Steve Jobs.  This would explain why soon after the news of Jobs’ death the stocks of Apple experienced a temporary decrease in price.

For the days following Jobs’ death, each Mac laptop owner could expect to open their Safari browser to find the face of Steve Jobs staring back at them from the home page of the Apple website.  This was a great tribute to Steve Jobs by Apple.  But according to the marketing site, BrandChannel, http://www.brandchannel.com/home/, Apple even had an actual event to celebrate the life of Jobs, during which it closed all its Apple stores. These actions demonstrate that the company recognizes the large role that Jobs had had in Apple from the very beginning.  By commemorating Jobs’ death, Apple has displayed to its customers that Jobs’ innovation and ideals will still remain an integral part of the company.