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Let’s dive into today’s topic:
Branding by contradiction
Five extremes make a brand.
Why it matters
Artist branding can take time: Read interviews with artists and books on branding, hire an artist-branding consultant, attend workshops, create mood boards, and put together a 50-slide brand deck.
Today, I present a version that takes five minutes.
How it works
This approach’s strength is its simplicity, but don’t underestimate its effectiveness:
Pick two extreme opposites.
Decide which one you are.
Repeat this at least four times.
The result is a branding guidelines document in its simplest form.
Some pairs worth deciding on:
Are you a happy or a sad act?
Mysterious or approachable?
Outspoken or private?
Polished or unpolished?
Artist or musician?
Serious or playful?
Nostalgic or futuristic?
Maximalist or minimalist?
Local or global?
“I” or “we”?
Rave or deep listening?
Chaos or control?
Improvised or engineered?
Warm or cold?
Inviting or detached?
Traditional or experimental?
Glamorous or grounded?
Romantic or cynical?
Quality or quantity?
Political or apolitical?
Vulnerable or armoured?
Fast or slow?
An extreme, even a slightly inaccurate one, gives fans, curators, and journalists exactly one thing to remember.
Brand positioning is about being difficult to confuse with anyone else. That’s called brand differentiation, but using branding theory makes it no longer simple, so let’s save that for another edition.
Yes, but..
This lacks nuance. Deliberately, because that’s the whole mechanism, and also the risk. An artist who commits hard to happy can end up performing happiness on days they don’t feel it.
And brands evolve, especially early in a career. Extremes might not hold once the music, the audience, or the artist themselves has changed. Revisit the list annually rather than treating it as permanent.
Take action now
Pick two extremes right now and write down which side you are, not which side sounds better.
Your thoughts
Further reading
Simplify your marketing strategy (The Fanbase Builder)
The strategic choice between raw and polished content (The Fanbase Builder)
Positioning artists as heroes, outlaws, jesters, and magicians (The Fanbase Builder)
Quality versus Quantity: Two content strategies for artists (The Fanbase Builder)
A simple trick to create content that doesn’t feel cringe (The Fanbase Builder)