Rock Brands

Rock Brands: Selling Sound in a Media Saturated Culture, edited by Elizabeth Barfoot Christian, is an edited collection that explores how different genres of popular music are branded and marketed today. The book's core objectives are addressed over three sections. In the first part of Rock Brands, the authors examine how established mainstream artists/bands are continuing to market themselves in an ever-changing technological world, and how bands can use integrated marketing communication to effectively 'brand' themselves. This branding is intended as a protection so that technology and delivery changes don't stifle the bands' success. KISS, AC/DC, Ozzy Osbourne, Phish, and Miley Cyrus are all popular musical influences considered in this part of the analysis. In the second section, the authors explore how some musicians effectively use attention-grabbing issues such as politics (for example, Kanye West and countless country musicians) and religion (such as with Christian heavy metal bands and Bon Jovi) in their lyrics, and also how imagery is utilized by artists such as Marilyn Manson to gain a fan base. Finally, the book will explore specific changes in the media available to market music today (see M.I.A. and her use of new media) and, similarly, how these resources can benefit music icons even after they are long gone, as with Elvis and Michael Jackson. Rock Brands further examines gaming, reality television, and social networking sites as new outlets for marketing and otherwise experiencing popular music. What makes some bands stand out and succeed when so many fail? How does one find a niche that isn't just kitsch and can stand the test of time, allowing the musician to grow as an artist as well as grow a substantial fan base? Elizabeth Barfoot Christian and the book's contributors expertly navigate these questions and more in Rock Brands: Selling Sound in a Media Saturated Culture.

The unique ability of rock and roll to inspire fanatical support from its customers is undeniable; the loyalty showered upon the Rolling Stones, Elton John, Aerosmith, and others who create it, unmatched; and the lessons for corporate America, endless. In the past, business leaders have looked to the successes of other firms to guide their own strategies for increasing market share and capturing more consumer attention, spending, and loyalty. However, in today’s hyper-competitive marketplace, managers are looking for ways to shake, rattle, and roll corporate America’s traditional marketing and branding mindset. In Brands That Rock, Roger Blackwell and Tina Stephan, co-authors of best-selling Customers Rule! and From Mind To Market, take readers behind the music to uncover how businesses can create brands that become adopted by culture and capture a long-term position in the marketplace. Brands That Rock takes a unique, behind-the-music look at how businesses can increase brand awareness, customer loyalty, and profits by implementing some of the same strategies that legendary bands have used to transform customers into fan and create deep, emotional connections with them. Aerosmith and Madonna offer insight into how to evolve a brand to remain relevant in the marketplace without alienating current fans, while the Rolling Stones and KISS prove that successful execution at all levels of the brand experience are key to capturing long-term loyalty. Stephan and Blackwell also examine how businesses, from Victoria’s Secret and Wal-Mart to Cadillac and Kraft, have implemented ‘rock and roll strategies’ to become adopted by culture and secure fans in their own right. Filled with fun anecdotes and interviews from industry insiders, Brands That Rock will relate to managers who grew up with classic rock, showing them how build iconic brands, and delight fans decade after decade. Roger D. Blackwell (Columbus, OH) is President of Roger Blackwell Associates, a consulting firm that works with Fortune 500 companies in the areas of consumer trends, strategy, e-commerce, and global business. A highly sought-after speaker, he is also Professor of Marketing at the Fisher College of Business at The Ohio State University. Tina Stephan (Columbus, OH and New York, NY) is Vice President of Roger Blackwell Associates. Together, they have collaborated on eight books, including Customers Rule! and From Mind to Market, and numerous articles and research projects.

Starting as a single congregation in Australia, Hillsong Church now has campuses worldwide, releases worship music that sells millions of albums and its ministers regularly appear in mainstream media. So, how has a single church gained such international prominence? This book offers an ethnographic exploration of the ways in which music and marketing have been utilised in the pursuit and production of spiritual experience for members of Hillsong Church. An experience that has proven to be incredibly popular. The main theme of this book is that marketing, specifically branding, is not just a way to "sell" religion, but rather an integral part of spiritual experience in consumer society. Focussing on the London Hillsong church as a case study, the use of its own music in tandem with strong branding is shown to be a co- and re-productive method of organizing, patterning, and communicating information. The church provides the branded material and cultural context in which participants’ sacred experience of self unfolds. However, this requires participants to "do the work" to properly understand, and ultimately embody, the values associated with the brand. This book raises important questions about the role of branding and music in forming modern scared identities. As such, it will be of great interest to scholars of Religious Studies, Ethnomusicology and Media Studies.

How Cool Brands Stay Hot reveals what drives Generation Y, the most marketing savvy and advertising-critical generation, and how you can develop the right brand strategies to reach this group which, at three times the size of Generation X, has a big impact on society and business. Packed with qualitative and quantitative research plus creative ideas on how to position, develop and promote brands to the new consumer generation, it explains the five crucial steps or dimensions on how to stay a cool youngster brand. The first edition of How Cool Brands Stay Hot won the prestigious 2012 Berry-AMA Book Prize for the best book in marketing and Expert Marketer's Marketing Book of the Year 2011. This fully updated second edition incorporates additional years of extensive research and includes new case studies and 18 interviews with global brand and marketing executives of successful brands such as Converse, Heineken, Diesel, Coca-Cola, MasterCard, eBay, and the BBC.

Here's the new and updated edition of the bestselling guide to �Pennsylvania's 73 breweries and brewpubs. Beer writer and connoisseur Lew Bryson takes readers across the Keystone State to new breweries and old favorites, recounting the history of brewing and providing full information for travelers. Each brewery entry includes types of beer brewed at the site, available tours, food served, area lodging, nearby points of interest, and the author's 'Pick' of the best beer to try.