How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary text?

Synergy is the combination of different products to help promote each other; the process of promoting is very important for producers. They create an album and then to put it out to the market (for consumers to buy). All the media products have a connection; they are recognised by audiences as all the media texts are associated with each other: There is a correlation between Drake’s song ‘Take Care’ and his album; the relation that both products hold is sharing the same name- audiences can find it easier to recognise both media products as they are similar and they share the same name.

Album Cover

Music video

There is a connection between my main media product(music video) and my ancillary text(my music poster and digipak): they all have a correlation as they are quite familiar in the sense that I have kept the colour scheme consistent as well as the outfit that my artist wears (in the video and ancillary text). Although, there are differences: the style of my digipak is different as I created a ‘fuzzy’ type of effect for the front cover; this makes it look like and ‘old’ type of image and it also looks like a wanted sign with the artist looking like a criminal. I also took inspirations from the Weeknd whose image shares the same concept. I’ve also taken inspirations from Drake who has kept his digipak and music video (Take care) simple yet creative at the same time. He did not keep the styles of his product the same- the album cover had similar colour schemes but he had a tone to the video but they both share the same name ‘Take Care’; this is important as the audience would still be able to recognise and acknowledge his music video and album.

They both look like a wanted sign and most Hip Hop artists are associated as a criminal which gives them an image of looking intimidating and it also makes them look serious.

Ancillary texts- music poster For the music poster, the colour scheme was kept the same as well as the red & black layout- the layout goes well with the black and white image of my artist as well as the white text. The music poster was not filled with many designs as I wanted it keep it simple so when my audiences buy the album, it will be more detailed and more appealing. This will keep the buzz going and people will expect to see a good album cover. The main focus is my artist and I used the same image and the outfit is similar to what my artist wears in the music video; his name is next to the image which allows him to stand out more. I took inspirations from Tory Lanez’ album cover for both my ancillary texts: he uses an image of himself as the main focus; it is in black and white which captures every detail of the artist from his appearance to his emotions; this is important when creating that star persona for my artist; this will also be recognised in the music video as the image is iconic. I included many types of social media apps to help my artist to get noticed by a wider demographic but it is also a way for my artists to interact with his loyal fans and to talk about upcoming things like events and other important information; the music poster already includes the release date but I also included a QR code as this is a very popular marketing strategy which people can use to find out about more information- it also shows that my artists is up to date with different technology that the audience would appeal to-allowing them to engage in different ways.

I made sure that the clothing is not too similar but the tone and effect is similar in order for my audience to associate each product with each other.

Similar type of images in the sense that they both use the same type of effect- which is black and white but they also have similar facial expressions; on the left is Tory Lanez who I’ve taken inspiration from,to help me construct my music poster

For my digipak, I wanted that to stand out more than the music poster and I included many designs which convey strong meaning- they are associated with the Hip Hop genre. My artist is the centre of attention; I kept the colours consistent but the tone of the cover was different and I used a effect called ‘film grain’ which made my cover look a old/classic type of image. I wanted to convey different meaning so I included many designs for the insides: for the first side of the cover, I included a gun and rose;I took the inspiration from the music group ‘Guns and Roses’ as their iconic image is an image of a gun and rose: I included a gun to convey a meaning of war and crime which my artist raps about and the rose conveys a meaning of peace and love which my artist wants in society, these convention of Hip Hop gives my audiences a sense of understanding what his music is about. This is also shown by my disc which include bullet holes and this shows that many people are victims to crime and war- the music is about the struggles of being treated unfairly and I believe that the digipak can be associated with that more than my music poster but my music video gives them a clear visual which portrays many conventions in more detail. My audience will recognise that the music may not be innapropriate to a younger audience so I include a parental advisory sticker as well as my record label which audiences can associate with rap music and Hip hop; hey will recognise what company my artist belongs to. In addition, I included a QR code to give my audience additional information about other music which are included and who is featured in it- I gave general information about the different music but the code will allow them to know more like their origins as well as the record label origin (the code would be linked in with the official website).

The inside of my digipak: Guns N Roses cover:

I placed the rose on top of the gun to make it look like a trail of smoke: instead of shooting out bullets, the gun ‘shoots’ out peace and love. Hiding the fact that guns can kill but love is also a form of a weapon which counterattacks war and tragedy.

Where the disc will be inserted:

The CD: The Back cover with all the needed information:

The colour is consistent and it is far more detailed than the music poster; my audiences would prefer to buy this and listen to the music on a CD format.

I believe that I was successful in synergising my media products as well as making them more appealing to a wider demographic- allowing my artists to be more noticeable and popular. All my media products are similar and have a correlation which is useful for promoting each other as people will associate the products with each other but most importantly, they will recognise them and distinguish what type of genre my artist is associated with. Especially with my digipak and music video- this would allow me to generate more audiences.

The music poster is the starting point for my artist to be successful and to become a popstar but the other products like the digipak and music video will give him a further push as many people will acknowledge his work.