Music Video Branding – Spice Girls

Taju J Deen

Purpose of Pop Videos

• Markets an image• Tells a story• Illustrates the song• For advertisement• Appeals to a visual audience• Expresses an individuals emotions

Formation of the “Spice Girls”

• In the mid-1990s, family management team 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 placd an advertisement in The Stage trade magazine.

Introducing The Brand• After the girls were put together, they quickly begged for a

showcase. At the showcase, they were noticed by Simon Fuller. He then became their manager, but the girls had only written 6 songs. One of which was “Wannabe” which was written in 30 minutes, mainly due tohe fact the band had written parts of it beforehand.

• The song was a real contrast to anything out in the harts. It went straight to number three and within a couple of days went to number one.

• The branding of The Spice Girls was instant. Each group member was given a brand image.

Wannabe

Image of The Spice Girls

• As the branding was innovative for a girl group, it became their image and was incorporated within each music video.

• Their clothes were carefully chosen for their first appearance on American TV:

• Victoria in a sophisticated slinky black number• Emma in a bunchies• Mel B in her leopard skin trousers• Geri in tight dress• Mel C in her favourite Liverpool shirt and bottoms.

Selling the Spice Girls• The Spice Girls were sold to us as a group of good friends, having fun and

making top-selling singles. They were actually a carefully selected group of strangers chosen from hundreds of girls. Everything about them was under control of men or corporations.

• ‘Ginger Spice’ almost didn’t make it to the group because she looked older than the other girls and had ginger hair. She became a role model for the stereotyped ginger hair girls.

• Spice World (1997) “Why do people stereotype us all the time?”• Target audience were young girls. The band were relatable to this audience

and introduced ‘girl power’.• They quickly appealed to the male market by introducing sex appeal. “Say

You’ll Be There”• Marketing brand was referred to a ‘phenomenon’ on the news and made

£100 million in less than a year.

Creating a Band• Often artists or 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 brand”.

• For some artists the ‘image’ is of greater importance than the quality of the product. The Spice Girls and JLS are a good example of this. The Spice Girls had endless merchandising and sponsorship deals. They were involved with Pepsi and Walkers adverts and even Barbie-style Spice Girl dolls.

• 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. Ed Sheeran and Adele are good examples of this.

Selling The Brand on TV

Spice Girl Documentary

• Spice Girls: Giving You Everything Documentary - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-c2y2xEZjUs

• Piers Morgan interview with Geri Halliwell - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s1g-49itJBE