The Drum Awards for Marketing - Extended Deadline

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By The Drum Team, Editorial

September 6, 2011 | 2 min read

Manchester agency Love has created an international marketing campaign to promote Simon Cowell's boyband One Direction.

The Drum first revealed that Love had been hired by Cowell's record label, Syco, back in June. The music industry giant briefed the agency to position its artists as recognisable household brands, starting with One Direction.

Love's first step was to develop brand guidelines for the group, which rose to prominence during the last series of the X Factor.

The guidelines include typographic and logo treatment and the use of assets in all merchandise and photographic direction. They will act as a point of reference for all printed material, video and TV advertising.

Love was also tasked with designed and building a campaign site - 'Bring 1D to Me' - and providing creative concepts for the band's main music site.

It has worked alongside Syco's social media agency, Essence, to design all social media pages and banners for the band's new single, which will be released on 11 September. Love has also designed, edited and animated five teaser videos (you can see one below).

Rupinder Ashworth, head of planning at Love, said: "The One Direction brand steers away from the stereotypical boy band image providing instead, a spontaneous and fresh take on the traditional music formula.

“Unlike traditional campaigns to promote up and coming bands, One Direction are now being launched simultaneously in the UK and internationally, reflecting the strength of the Syco label and the growing global popularity of the group on social media networks. Fans now have real content that helps bring their ‘fan-dom’ to life, providing them with online interaction with their idols.”

Mark Hardy, Syco’s recently appointed marketing director, previously worked with Love when he was European marketing director at Sony Playstation.

Hardy said: “My brief to Love was to help set a framework for the band’s communication approach, the brand identity and how each of these translates into the wider connection possibilities with fans across all media.”

Syco One Direction

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