Ed Sheeran is a successful British singer-songwriter known for his blend of folk, indie pop, and acoustic music. His debut album '+' released in 2011 included hit singles like 'The A Team', while his sophomore album 'x' released in 2014 achieved international acclaim, topping charts in multiple countries. Sheeran's branding and promotional strategies, including consistent iconography and strategic social media engagement, have contributed to his growing popularity.

1. Case Study
By Tara Leggett
Ed Sheeran

2. Fact profile
 Ed Sheeran is a 25 year old British singer/song
writer, born on 17th February 1991
 Sheeran combines folk, indie pop and acoustic
into his music
 He began recording in 2005, which led to the
release of his EP ‘The Orange Room’ in March
 He was signed by Atlantic Records in January
2011

3. Sheeran’s target audience
 60% female compared to 40% male audience
 Millennials varying from ages 18-34
 An audience with a heavy consumption of
entertainment
 Audience engages in social media heavily
 Utilizes numerous digital devices (i.e. smart
phones, iPads etc.) and platforms.

4. First official song release
 The song "The A Team" was his first song
released commercially. This entered the UK
charts at number 3, selling 57,607 copies in its
first week. It was the highest selling, and highest
charting debut single of 2011

5. ‘The A Team’ Music Video
 The video portrays a narrative of a prostitute who
takes class A drugs and is found dead, showing
how she ended up there. The narrative style
video fits with lyrics and genre. The music video
is in black an white and time lapsing is used -
these techniques help express to the audience
how the character would be feeling. The
character is dressed in revealing clothes this is
stereotypical of what a prostitute would wear.

6. ‘The A Team’ music video cont.
 The music video for ‘The A team’ was directed
and shot by Ruskin Kyle. This cost only £20 to
make. However due to the low budget it doesn’t
look as professional as bigger budget music
videos such as ‘Lego House’ from the same
album or ‘Sing’ from his later album ‘X’. The
camera is shaky and the lighting is sometimes too
light or dark for the setting. This doesn’t create
verisimilitude for the audience, however the
guerrilla style contributes to the feeling of the
narrative.

7. Iconography
 Ed Sheeran uses continuity throughout his
websites with using the same background colours
and fonts. He has a signature paw print that is
featured on some of his products and website,
mostly from his first album release of ‘+’. This is
instantly recognisable and an example of
successful iconography

8. ‘+’
 ‘+’ was Ed Sheeran’s first official
album, released in 2011. The
album cover is stark orange. This
is quite clever as Sheeran, from
his increasing popularity, has
played on the fact in the media
that he had bright ginger hair. This
hair became almost an icon in
itself, and was instantly
recognisable in the media. The
design of the album therefore
contributed cleverly to Sheeran’s
growing success in the music
industry, allowing his ginger hair
to blend in entirely with the orange
back drop of the album. The title
of the album is stated simply in
the corner as ‘+’ – it is not
purposefully overdressed, quite
the opposite in fact. I believe the
simplicity of the cover art is a
contributing factor to the album’s

9. First official album release
 Sheeran’s first album, ‘+’ was released in
September 2011. It features songs written and
recorded from January 2011.
 Singles from the album such as ‘The A Team’,
‘You Need Me I Don’t Need You’ and ‘Lego house’
reached number 3, 4 and 5 on the UK Singles
Chart.
 Three further singles—“Drunk", “Small Bump",
and “Give Me Love"—were released throughout
the year, all charting within the top 25 of the UK

10. Second album release
 Ed Sheeran released his second album, ‘X’ in
June 2014 after recording all of it’s songs from
2013/2014
 It has become an international success, peaking
at No. 1 in fifteen countries, while topping both
the UK Singles Chart and the US Billboard 200.
‘X’ also reached the top 5 in seven other
countries and was the best selling album of 2014
in Australia, New Zealand, Ireland, and the United
Kingdom.

11. ‘X’
 Sheeran’s 2nd album
 Followed Sheeran’s album title theme – his first
album was called +, and speculation thought his
2nd would be called = due to him tweeting this
prior to the album release
 Controversy over how to pronounce the album
title came to a head after the MTV music awards
in 2015, when people realised that the correct
way was not in fact ‘x’ but ‘multiply’

12. Album design
 Much like his previous album
design, Sheeran’s second was
simple yet effective. It uses a
block colour background with
a large black seemingly
handwritten ‘X’ stood out from
it. The black writing contrasts
heaving with the stark green
backdrop, a clever way to
make sure that the image of
the album sticks in his
audience’s mind. Ed has not
included his name on the front
of his album. This may at first
come across as strange,
however the album’s success
ensured that the audience
didn’t need to be reassured
who they were listening to, the
image became prominent and

13. Magazine advert
 As his popularity began to grow,
Sheeran was featured in many
adverts in order to promote his
work. What can be seen is one of
his first magazine adverts,
promoting his album ‘+’. The
aesthetic of the advert can be seen
as quite clever. It promotes his
image well, firstly, by featuring a
picture of the artist himself as a
backdrop. However, this is
purposefully imposed with a dull,
almost sepia hue, in order to make
the writing promoting Sheeran as
an artist stand out. Ed’s reoccurring
aesthetic of bright orange font and
paw print iconography is featured.
Cleverly, the album title and the
strapline ‘The No.1 album’ is in
bright orange writing, contrasting
with the rest of the font which is
bright white, and allowing it to stand
out and present itself as one of the
first things the audience sees. The

14. Magazine advert progression
 Unlike the magazine advert
promoting Ed’s first album, the one
promoting his second includes tour
dates which stand out in a bright
green similar to that used for the
album cover itself. The unique layout
of the writing sees it placed over
Sheeran himself, with no tour name
included, something which tour
posters are often expected to
feature in their promotional
packages. This poster, unlike the
previous one, features social media
information – however, this is only
his Instagram name
‘@teddysphotos’, suggesting that he
either does not own another social
media account or that he is not
interested on being followed on
them. The bottom of the poster
features information on where to buy
tickets for the tour. This magazine
advert, unlike the previous one, is
clearly more or a promotional tour

15. Celebrity Links
 Ed Sheeran has worked with many other
successful international artists, including:
- Taylor Swift (whom he has formed a good
friendship with)
- Pharrell Williams (with whom he shared a UK
number 1 single)
- Rudimental (whom accompanied him on one of
the 3 nights that Sheeran performed solo at
Wembley Stadium)