The article is written by Sean Richardson,
Head of Media at Penistone Grammar School and was published in Media Magazine
Issue 36 in April 2011.
The article’s main argument is that music
artist and pop culture icon Lady Gaga has mastered the art of convergence.
The article describes convergence simply as
‘essentially the technology-driven unification of different media channels.’ It
then explains the idea in more depth by describing it as unification and
identity consolidation of a brand: ‘Convergence unifies a message across
broadcast TV, broadcast radio, newspapers, books, video and film, recorded
music etc. so can be immensely powerful. These platforms can come together in
new ways to promote a single message or brand, driven by digital communication
and technology.’
The article also relates the
media/business-economics term synergy, to convergence, describing synergy as ‘the
promotion and sale of a product (and all its versions) throughout the various
subsidiaries of a media conglomerate e.g. films, soundtracks or video games.’
It states the two terms (synergy and convergence) together to show they are
related terms and that one will exist with the other. So the cross-media
unification of convergence reflects the integrated promotion of like products
(such as a film and it’s merchandise, promoting one another).
The article also reflects how the Internet
and digitalisation in the modern world has had an impact on synergy and
convergence, ‘the technological digital explosion has allowed some ‘stars’ to
create enormously successful convergent global presences.’ So the reach of
brands and their projected identity has expanded due to technological
globalisation.
After defining convergence, synergy and
their purpose, he relates this back to Gaga’s mastering of it, stating ‘this
mastery of social media has been a feature of her career since she emerged from
the New York underground dance scene’
A video summarising these points comes in
the form of an interview with Gaga’s (now former) manager, Troy Carter for news
broadcaster, The Economist.
Within the interview video, Troy discusses
his and Gaga’s creation of a fan-site social network hybrid,
LittleMonsters.com, which allowed fans to see, share, comment etc. media presented
by Gaga, her team and other branding sources. However, the site also allows the
fans/users of the social network to post, share etc. their own media texts,
creating promotion (synergy).
The article explains Gaga’s mastering of
convergence by stating ‘Lady Gaga has clearly mastered the new social network
phenomenon that drives global consumerism. Her brand is accessible, yet stylish
and aspirational.
The collaborative nature of her image and
branding, involving the fans in producing texts themselves, is a masterstroke
of marketing.’
No comments:
Post a Comment
What do you think?
Note: only a member of this blog may post a comment.