Sunday 25 November 2018
Monday 25 April 2016
Evaluation Question 4
How did you use new media technologies in the construction, research and planning and evaluation stages?
Saturday 16 April 2016
Thursday 17 March 2016
Branding- Spice Girls
THE SPICE GIRLS
Who were the Spice Girls?
The spice girls were an English pop gril group formed in 1994. The group consisted of Melanie Brown (named 'Scary Spice'), Melanie Chisholm (named 'Sporty Spice'), Emma Bunton (named 'Baby Spice'), Geri Halliwell (named 'Ginger Spice') and Victoria Beckham nee Adams(named 'Posh Spice').
They were signed to Virgin Records and released their debut single "Wannabe" in 1996 which hit number one in 37 countries and established them as a global phenomenon.
Their debut album Spice sold more than 30 million copies worldwide, becoming the best selling album by a female group in history.
Some documentaries on the Spice Girls include ; <iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/-c2y2xEZjUs" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
The Formation of the "Spice Girls"
In the mid 1990's, a family management team named Bob Herbert, Chris Herbert and Lindsey Casbon set about creating a girl group to compete with popular boy bands that dominated the pop music scene in the mid to late 1990s.
In February 1994, Heart management placed an advertisement in The Stage trade magazine stating; "WANTED: R.U. 18-23 with the ability to sing/dance? R.U streetwise, outgoing, ambitious and dedicated?"
They then held an open audition, where 400 women entered to make the try outs. They were all put into groups of 10 and had to dance a routine to 'Stay' by Eternal. After this took place, the selecetion continued and the girls had to sing solo songs.
The Spice Breakthrough
On the 7th July 1996, the Spice Girls released their debut single "Wannabe" in the United Kingdom. The video was an instant hit and was aired up to seventy times in one weak at it;s peak.
After the video was released, the Spice Girls had their first live TV slot on the LWT's Surprise Surprise.
The clothing of the Spice Girls
Their clothes were carefully chosen for their first appearance on American TV.
Victoria wore sophisticated slinky black number, Emma was a in baby pink dress, Mel B was in her leopard skin trousers, Geri was in red hot pants, top and bra and Mel C was in her favourite Liverpool Shirt and tracksuit bottoms.
Selling the Spice Girls
The spice girls were sold to us a group of friends, just goofing off and making top-selling singles together. However, they were actually a carefully selected group of strangers chosen, aftern hundreds of auditions.
They had endless merchandising and sponsorship deals, and were involved with everything from Pepsi ads to Polarod ads to Barbie-style Spice dolls.
Everything about them, including their Scary/Posh/Sporty etc. nicknames were under the control of the men or corporations. Geri Halliwell ("Ginger Spice") almost didn't make it into the group as she looked older than the other girls, when they asked for her age, she reportedly said "I'm as old as you want me to be. I'll be 10 with big boobs if you want"
Creating the brand
Often artists/groups are sold as a brand and the music video acts as a product of the brand, in the hope that the audience will be inspired to "buy into the band". For some artists the 'image' is of greater importance than the quality of the product. The spice girls are a good example of this.
Other times it is the song and the meaning of the song that is sold, and the artists 'image' has little to do with the sale of the song. E.g. Ed Sheeran.
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