The Campaign

The bands logo

Lets begin by looking at Coldplay, a British indie/alternative rock band formed in 1996 by lead vocalist, Chris Martin and lead guitarist Johnny Buckland, with bassit Guy Berryman and drummer, back-up vocalist and multi-instrumentalist, Will Champion joining later. To begin with the band was called 'Pectoralz', later changed to 'Starfish' at the time of the addition of Berryman, however it wasn't until 1998 that the final name, 'Coldplay' was decided.

The band achieved world wide success and fame in 2000, with the hit single 'Yellow', followed by the release of their debut single 'Parachutes' that same year. This booted the band into further stardom, as it not only won the mercury prize, but remained in the chart's top ten for 32 weeks.

Album cover for Parachutes

The album artwork here is of a simple design using minimalistic font, however this works well with the bright, glowing light of the globe as it highlights the simple text. This in turn, makes it absolutely clear to the audience who this band is, and what their new album is. The simplistic style of the cover connects to the genre of the band, who are simple, using their vocal and instrumental skills to sell their products for them, instead of relying on complex art work. Overall, Coldplay seemed to have followed the saying 'Less is More' with this album cover. 

Coldplay's music videos tend to fall into two main catagories, one that see's the band performing live, which is a typical convention of indie rock as it focuses on the passion of the artists' rather than the content of the video. Alternatively, some of their videos see Chris Martin on some sort of journey, usually at the the forefront of the shot. In a general sense, the band's music videos have little or no story line, as this way it focuses on the talent and on the lyrics, which is more difficult to achieve in a high tech and complex video.

The music video from the single 'Clocks', falls into the former catagory.

The video for the video 'The Scientist' falls in the latter catagory.

'Clocks' was from the 2002 album, 'A Rush of Blood to the Head', which had its own Digipak.

Album cover for A Rush of Blood to the Head'

Digipak

A Rush of Blood to the Head was the second studio album that Coldplay released. It came out on 26th August 2002 through the record label, Parlophone. In 2003, the album won the grammy for the Best Alternative Album, and the single, 'Clocks' won the 2004 grammy for Record of the Year. 

Coldplay also have their own website, www.coldplay.com/ 

It shows recent promotional activity by the band. For example, they recently did a sketch for Red Nose Day, 'Game of Thrones- The Musical', which shows off their charitable aspects and in media terms, their synergistic forms.

There is also a side bar on the right titled, 'Jump to Era', which allows fans to follow Coldplay's timeline of work, as they have been big and popular artists for so many years. On the left there is another interactive button that you can click, and this causes a side screen to appear where you can filter the different catagories such as, 

All of this allows the band to look good for their fans, and on the whole works to promote their 

products.

A seperate website, http://coldplay.fanfire.com/cgi-bin/WebObjects/Store.woa/wa/artist?artistName=Coldplay&sourceCode=COLWEBUKWGBP&utm_source=coldplayff&utm_medium=link&utm_campaign=colff sells Coldplay merchandise

A$AP Rocky

Now lets look at the heavily contrasting artist Rakim Mayers or as he is better known, A$AP Rocky. He is an American rapper from Harlem, in New York City and is also a member of the A$AP Mob, where he subsequently gained his moniker. Rocky released his debut mixtape 'Long.Live.A$AP' in 2011 to critical acclaim and due to the success of this mixtape he was given record deals with Polo Grounds Music, RCA Records, and Sony Music Entertainment. Following this he released his debut album, also titled 'Long.Live.A$AP', which was debuted at number one on the Billboard 200. 

He has also directed music videos for himself and other A$AP Mob members. He is also a noted record producer, working under the pseudonym, Lord Flacko.

Just five days ago on 26th May 2015, Mayers released his second studio album, 'At.Long.Last.A$AP'

The album artwork here focuses on the artist in the main. The text is small and simplistic but clearly advertises Mayers' nickname, A$AP Rocky, and along the side reads the name of the album, with a small American flag alongside it, which appeals to the patriotism of the average American citizen. The picture is eye catching, showing big clunky jewlery on his hand, which is a 'look' often associate with hip-hop artists. This works well to quickly establish Mayers' image. We also see a tattoo of a cross just below the right eye, which further establishes his image as rappers often have many tattoo's. The majority of the picture is in black and white, however there is a splash of colour below the left eye featuring pinks, reds, purples and blues. This draws the attention to his eye which is in focus and looking straight at the camera, which contrasts to the other eye which is out of focus and shut. This suggests an intimitading presense but one that is interacting with its fans.

Mayers music videos follow conventions typical of the hip-hop music scene and the video for 'F**kin' Problems' Ft. Drake, 2 Chainz, Kendrick Lamar is a good example of his type of music video.

This video features girls, sexual themes, and lots of gold jewelry. Along with the lyrics, the video symbolise wealth and a gangster lifestyle.

The music video from L$D (Love x $ex x Dreams), a single from his most recent album introduces even more conventions of the hip-hop music scene; drugs, bright, flourescent lights and more girls. The video has a slight psychedelic tone to it, which is prodominently shown through the lighting. The idea of this tone is supported by the title of the song, 'L$D', which is the same name as a psychedelic drug.

The albums digipak

Here is a screengrab of A$AP Rocky's website, which is strongly advertising his knew album from the moment the you open the site. It also tells you what platforms that you can download the album from, which is made easier with each logo of these platforms acting as a link the place you can buy it. 

Once you enter the main sight, you are presented with a list of news regarding A$AP Rocky, which is predominently interviews. One of which shows him discusing his opinions on fellow artists in the music industry and even his 'prefered drugs'.

On the right hand side of the page there are scroll down side screens showing his own, and others latest tweets, and his tour dates:

At the top of the page there are links taking you to different areas of the website: 

If you follow the link to the online webstore there are a number of items of clothing available for purchase, as well as A$AP Rocky's new album. However, the merchandise doesn't appear to specifically appear to promote Mayers' as an artist, but more the A$AP Mob as a collective. 

As you can see, the website has adjusted it's currency as it can see that I am browsing from the United Kingdom, rather than the United States or else where in the world.