Creating A Brand: Spice Girls

     In the music industry, brands can be created of an artist or band through music videos.

     The main purposes of pop videos are:

     •Advertisement

     •Illustrates the song

     •Appeals to a visual audience

     •Expresses an individual’s emotions

     •Tells a story

     •Markets an image

     All of these purposes would in the end create a brand. 

     A great example of a popular music band that has created a brand throughout their career are the Spice Girls. In the mid 1990s, family management team Bob, Herbert, Chris Herbert and Lindsey Casbon thought 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 places an advertisement in The Stage trade magazine asking for "WANTED: 18-23 with the ability to sing/dance, streetwise, outgoing, ambitious and dedicated. In which hundreds of strangers auditioned for the upcoming girl band, however only 5 members made the band. Victoria, Emma, Mel B, Geri and Mel C were the lucky five members to make the girl band in which they were named The Spice Girls. They were sold to the audience that they were a group of friends, that loved what they do, having fun and making top-selling, singles together. 

     All members of the Spice Girls had a specific characteristic to them in which gave them a particular nickname for the music industry. These nicknames have been so popular for many of years that they are still remembered to this day. Victoria was given the nickname " Posh Spice", Emma "Baby Spice" , Mel B "Scary Spice" , Mel C " Sporty Spice" and finally Geri "Ginger Spice". They all had clothes that were "carefully chosen for their first appearance on American TV. Victoria in a sophisticate slinky black number, Emma in a baby-pink dress, Mel B in leopard skin trousers, Geri in red hot pants, top and bra and Mel C in her favourite Liverpool shirt and tracksuit bottoms. 

     They became one of the biggest girl bands in the charts all over the world. Sponsership deals and endless merchandising were made, they were also involved with everything from Pepsi adverts to Polaroid ads to Barbie-style Spice Girls dolls.

      Many artists/groups are sold as a brand and the music videos act as a product of the        brand, in the hope that the audience will be inspired to "buy into the brand". For some      artists the 'image' is greater importance than the quality of the product. The Spice Girls    are a great example of this. The 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.


      In this music video, the Spice Girls have their own unique clothing range, due to their personalities and their nicknames. They have been made in a way of branding, so their fans would be able to copy them and advertise them more. In the music video, many dance routines that are iconic to them are included within this which also brands them as fans would want to learn the dance and perform wherever possible. The Spice Girls have things about them that make them unique, which is why they branded them anywhere possible, including the pepsi advert. The more they were branded, the more fame and popularity they had.