Branding Research

One Direction
One Direction have become a brand within themselves as their abbreviated name "1D" is on many products such as clothes, dental hygiene, bed sheets and stationary. They have become internationally recognised not only for their music but now for the vast range of products they offer. Because there are a vast number of products they now have to house and sell these in their own "1D stores". By becoming a branded pop band they have commercialised themselves and some would criticise them not being "true" to the music industry. This is very typical for a boy band as seen previously with Take That and Boyzone where bands are heavily influenced by major record labels and the pressure of demands.


Beyonce
Beyonce's merchandise differs from One Direction despite them being in the same genre. Beyonce puts input into her merchandise unlike One Direction, however Beyonce has some fan-made merchandise that she has no input into yet her lyrics are on the jumpers. For her perfumes Beyonce tries to portray female power within the products name such as "Heat" and "Pulse" to show that they are powerful. She also puts her face on Pepsi which is very controversial as she is promoting unhealthy products to her fans increasing obesity. Beyonce is under Jay-Z's record label which would be beneficial for Jay-Z as it would be promoting his company.