4 things that brand people can learn from Charli XCX

When I listen to Charli XCX interview with Zane Lowe, I was amazed at how marketing- and self-aware Ms. Brat is. Unexpectedly there are a lot of marketing and brand lessons to be learnt from her in this conversation about her first Brat album and the Brat remix album which she releases on October 11th.

And Charli says it best herself “I talk about music in terms of marketing and campaigns more than I do music”

There are the 4 themes that stuck with me:

1. (Music) branding lessons
2. Go niche to go mainstream
3. Go-to market strategy: create supply and demand
4. Telling an authentic story

1. (Music) branding lessons

Let’s start with one of the most important assets and which ironically – and this will hurt many art, creative and design directors – the most: the album cover art was created in a very rudimentary way to save money. Charli didn’t believe that this album was going to be big, so she didn’t bother spending a lot of money on a shoot.?

Plus “it very much embodies the word brat. [...] the pixelation makes it look like it has been done in a rush”. She even says that she ended up making mock ups on her phone.?

The way the color was chosen is even more interesting and intentional at the same time:??

“We really wanted to go for the one that the most people in our core group had the most adverse reaction to. Brandon was like “this is really hard to look at” and I was like “this is perfect” Because I knew that it would generate this conversation. I knew that a lot of people would be sort of frustrated or disappointed by it. And I rather have those conversations, which actually, in some cases, became quite explosive.”?

In the end, that’s exactly what happened. Many fans (me included) ended up writing essays about the cover art and marketing approach, because they were really blown away by the impact and conversation around it.?

2. Go niche to go mainstream

Given her previous commercially successful, yet stylistically different albums, Charli XCX didn’t expect for this album to catch on beyond her core fan base:

You [the label] should recognize that this fanbase that I have built is so hungry for me and my peers to succeed. And that doesn't mean that we have to do any pandering to any other side of the industry. We just have to do it for them – we have to make them feel so special because they are. They've championed me and us for so long, and that's all we need to do to light a fire.??

Brands and marketers often also get distracted by the bigger piece of the cake. But we like to say that if you go after everyone, essentially, you go after no-one. To be really relevant, authentic and engaging, you need a certain level of specificity.?

And I think that now, niche is rewarded so much more than it ever has been. [...] By serving the niche actually a kind of monoculture moment happened, which we don't see a lot of in this day and age.

3. G2M strategy: create supply and demand (by starving your audience)

Selling music or selling a product might not be so different after all. As Charli says herself:?

“You have to create some kind of supply and demand, especially when it comes to pop. The aim is to sell as much as possible and go on tour and be everywhere. But to get to that in an interesting way, you kind of have to starve the audience, like drip feed the tap to get the viewer into this feverish state where they actually want more, rather than you' just superserving them an endless buffet.”?

She then goes on to compare to compare the album to a Supreme drop, where there are always long lines outside of the stores or even the very popular tactic to create private Instagrams – as Lana Del Rey did with her honeymoon account – which will “creating this club that feels in some way special or exclusive, but actually when you're in it, it's very open and fun”?

4. Telling an authentic story

The first point might have disappointed creatives from our industry – so rejoice when I tell you that it turns out that Charli XCX wrote “sort of a manifesto” for the album to explain the intention of it to her label.?

“It has been very rewarding that I've really, truly just been myself.”?

While this album had the potential to be equally as successful as her previous one, she wanted to tell the story in a different way and knew she had to present it in a different way. She focused on her hardcore fanbase, who were engaging in the conversations and culture around her work. This kind of conversation was generating a small level of hype, buzz and pretty much internet core.

_____?

One last interesting point I garnered from the conversation was that the music industry might be in the same creative (marketing) excellence crisis as the marketing industry is. As Zane Lowe says:?

“It feels like you reinstalled this confidence that marketing is creative. I think that marketing has had its wings clipped in a lot of ways lately, because of the way social media works, and the way people just talk and put things out so fast. I have friends of mine – who are really good at that job – and they say it's been hard to get really high quality, great work over the line, because clients just want fast, punchy sh!t that they know it's gonna last five minutes – and onto the next thing. And that's not rewarding for some of these people”?

Whatever Charli XCX will do next, she knows that she will be compared to this iconic album. Even if the the music is completely different –? the scale, the way it's rolled out, the level of conversation, (the Kamala brat moment) will never be the same.?

But I, for one, can’t wait to see and hear it regardless. And first I’ll go listen to “brat and it’s completely different but also still brat”. And you can watch the whole interview here:?https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LgBMFg7ZgJw ?