Love her. Hate her. And learn from her. Miley Cyrus has learned how to engage and hold fan interest in a society that suffers from mass ADD. All that twerking, smirking, tongue wagging, and singing attracts our attention -- and her music keeps us listening. This presentation discusses five reasons why her brand is getting bigger, including her ability to collaborate with others, her mastery of social media, her strength as a visual artist, and the enduring appeal of her pop music. This presentation contains detailed speaker notes.
‘I Kissed a Girl’, ‘California Girls’, ‘Last Friday Night’, ‘Part of Me’ and what many more. These are a few songs that have given Katy Perry a popular image among people. This American singer, producer, songwriter, and musician enjoys a net worth of about $330 million.
‘I Kissed a Girl’, ‘California Girls’, ‘Last Friday Night’, ‘Part of Me’ and what many more. These are a few songs that have given Katy Perry a popular image among people. This American singer, producer, songwriter, and musician enjoys a net worth of about $330 million.
Five Lessons Musicians Can Learn from BeatlemaniaDavid Deal
Was Beatlemania simply a product of its time, or can artists today learn anything from the meteoric rise of the Fab Four 50 years ago? My new presentation shares five lessons artists and marketers can learn from Beatlemania, such as the importance of courting influencers and rising above the critics. This presentation contains speaker notes.
This presentation was developed in 2009 in order to show how agency Razorfish was not only helping clients embrace social media but also live the social values itself. The presentation is a snapshot at how a leading agency embraced social.
The NFL needs brash personalities such as Richard Sherman to keep fans engaged. This presentation discusses the outspoken Seattle Seahawks cornerback in context of the rise of the modern-day NFL player/brand. The presentation asserts that the NFL should be thankful for Sherman: no doubt he will be good for Super Bowl XLVIII ratings. The presentation contains speaker notes.
In November 2012, I delivered this presentation with Jermaine Dupri, CEO of So So Def Recordings, to show how Dupri's Global 14 website is injecting community back into social media. The venue was the PSFK San Francisco conference.
Within the first four months of 2015, musicians ranging from Bjork to Father John Misty have provided ample evidence that album cover art retains its power to provoke and inspire. This presentation contains 10 examples to get your design juices flowing.
Memorable Album Covers of 2014: The Self-PortraitsDavid Deal
The album cover remains a powerful way for artists to visualize their music and their personalities, even as album sales continue to drop. In 2014, we witnessed a plethora of artists using album covers to sell their own images as well as their music to potential music buyers. "Memorable Album Covers of 2014: The Self-Portraits," provides compelling examples of how artists revaled their faces to the world via pictures that ranged from the surreal to the sensual. The presentation contains speaker notes.
Kiss is both a memorable band and an enduring brand. This presentation -- which contains detailed speaker notes -- shares how Kiss combined visual storytelling, theater, community, merchandising, and compelling music to influence the way musicians build their own brands today. This presentation will appeal to any marketer who seeks a fresh perspective on branding. The presentation discusses how present-day stars such as Lady Gaga and Kanye West have applied ideas Kiss pioneered 40 years ago. My special thanks to John Hensler of Sunken Anchor Media for applying your design expertise on this presentation.
Take 2 minutes out of your day and enjoy a quick overview of some of the most memorable album cover art of 2015. The first few slides contain speaker notes.
The popularity of vinyl reminds us that analog and digital coexist comfortably amid ongoing hype over VR and the metaverse. Record album covers continue to endure as a cross-channel expression of a musician’s art, arguably even better than they did in analog age. In the pre-digital days of yore, album covers flourished in record stores and perhaps on billboards and merchandise depending on how popular a musician was. But now, album cover art creates a visual touchstone that carries over on websites, social media, and everywhere else a fan and artist find each other. Artists can re-interpret themselves with multiple versions of the same cover (as Olivia Rodrigo did with “GUTS” and Lana Del Rey with “Did You Know That There’s a Tunnel Under Ocean Blvd”) and drop album cover art as its own event in advance of the actual album. In 2023, the most memorable album covers were compelling expressions of the human condition. Kara Jackson pierces the viewer with her observant gaze, hinting at the heart-rending melancholia that suffuses the music inside her debut album “Why Does the Earth Give Us People to Love?” Olivia Rodrigo’s coy expression speaks of the confident self-assurance of an artist coming into her own on her sophomore album. The striking cover of Caroline Polachek’s “Desire, I Want to Turn into You” focuses on her powerful, ravenous gaze as she crawls on the floor of a subway. At a time when the emergence of generative AI is reshaping the landscape of entertainment, 2023’s most memorable covers collectively assert that although AI can do many things, art is a distinctly human expression of the soul.
Check out this overview of the most memorable album cover art of 2022. The first three slides contain speaker notes. Album covers played an important role creating a foundation for major music events in 2022, such as the launch of Taylor Swift's "Midnights." My overview shares some of those notable creative moments.
The resurgence of vinyl has cast a spotlight on album cover art. Album sleeve design plays an important role in expressing the musician’s vision and creating a visual impression. Album sleeves sometimes make the artist more culturally relevant. The memorable covers of 2020 expressed the times we live in. The album sleeve for Taylor Swift’s "Folklore" captured the essence of social distancing and a newfound longing for nature that led to skyrocketing visits to national parks during the pandemic. SAULT’s "Untitled (Black Is)," with its simple upraised fist, symbolized Black empowerment during a time of social upheaval. But there was plenty of room for artistic expression on its own terms. The goofy design of Fiona Apple’s "Fetch the Bolt Cutters" reflected a bit of whimsy, mystery, and arch sense of humor that has defined her work for years. For more memorable album covers of 2020, check out my presentation. I hope you like it.
The memorable album covers of 2019 consist of fierce, uncompromising self-portraits. On "Cuz I Love You," Lizzo presents her nude self as a fully realized woman exuding power and grace. "Cuz I Love You" is an important statement of body positivity, and one that Lizzo made often throughout 2019. On the other hand, the striking close-up of Jenny Lewis’s torso on the cover of "On the Line" invites curiosity by what it reveals and does not reveal – her bare arms and cleavage complementing a glitzy dress that evokes vintage Las Vegas (in fact, the dress is an homage to one that her mother wore when she performed in 1970s Las Vegas). Both Lizzo and Jenny Lewis capture images of artists in control of their own bodies, sharing what they want on her own terms. For more memorable album covers from 2019, check out my presentation.
2018 witnessed a bumper crop of works created by LGBTQ musicians, perhaps most notably by Janelle Monáe, whose Grammy-nominated Dirty Computer created a public forum for Monáe to announce her pansexuality. The album cover art of LGBTQ artists was as intensely personal as their music. This SlideShare showcases some memorable examples.
Don’t let anyone tell you album covers are dead. Album artwork continues to express the personal visions of artists and the musical content of the albums themselves as powerfully as covers did in the era of album oriented rock. My round-up of memorable album covers of 2017 reflects a year in which artists made compelling political and personal statements. The presentation contains detailed speaker notes. Check it out and let me know about your favorites.
Visual storytelling through album cover art is alive and well. The best album covers of 2016 act as visual touch points across the online and offline worlds, creating powerful statements about musicians and their visions. The enclosed deck contains detailed speaker notes explaining what makes each selected cover memorable. In 2016, an album cover can do more for an artist than it could in the days of album-oriented rock because there are so many channels and devices where the cover can capture our attention. Enjoy these selections and tell me about yours.
How Coachella Makes an Exclusive Brand More AccessibleDavid Deal
How do you make an exclusive brand a bit more accessible without damaging your mystique? Luxury brands such as Louis Vuitton wrestle with this issue all the time especially as they court younger audiences who are on the cusp of being affluent. The Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival offers an approach by using digital to open up an elite experience to a broader audience. This presentation -- which contains detailed speaker notes -- discusses how Coachella creates a digital community (especially via a YouTube livestream) without compromising the appeal in-person event. As it turns out, digital creates a powerful network of brand ambassadors for Coachella.
Visual Storytelling through Memorable Album CoversDavid Deal
"Visual Storytelling through Memorable Album Covers" shares best practices for creating striking cover designs that visualize music, express an artist's personality, and grab your attention. In the digital era, album design is alive and well. Album cover art forms the basis of artists' identities, permeating all the ways artists express their brands, ranging from tour merchandise to their social spaces. "Visual Storytelling through Memorable Album Covers" provides examples from classic rock musicians such as the Beatles, Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, and contemporary bands such as Goldfrapp and the National.
In April 2013, I created this presentation to show how I devised a visual storytelling strategy for agency iCrossing. The strategy focused on bringing to life the iCrossing culture through visual stories on platforms such as Instagram and Pinterest. Visual storytelling has helped iCrossing become a more engaging and visible brand.
How to Run Landing Page Tests On and Off Paid Social PlatformsVWO
Join us for an exclusive webinar featuring Mariate, Alexandra and Nima where we will unveil a comprehensive blueprint for crafting a successful paid media strategy focused on landing page testing.With escalating costs in paid advertising, understanding how to maximize each visitor’s experience is crucial for retention and conversion.
This session will dive into the methodologies for executing and analyzing landing page tests within paid social channels, offering a blend of theoretical knowledge and practical insights.
The Pearmill team will guide you through the nuances of setting up and managing landing page experiments on paid social platforms. You will learn about the critical rules to follow, the structure of effective tests, optimal conversion duration and budget allocation.
The session will also cover data analysis techniques and criteria for graduating landing pages.
In the second part of the webinar, Pearmill will explore the use of A/B testing platforms. Discover common pitfalls to avoid in A/B testing and gain insights into analyzing A/B tests results effectively.
Mastering Local SEO for Service Businesses in the AI Era is tailored specifically for local service providers like plumbers, dentists, and others seeking to dominate their local search landscape. This session delves into leveraging AI advancements to enhance your online visibility and search rankings through the Content Factory model, designed for creating high-impact, SEO-driven content. Discover the Dollar-a-Day advertising strategy, a cost-effective approach to boost your local SEO efforts and attract more customers with minimal investment. Gain practical insights on optimizing your online presence to meet the specific needs of local service seekers, ensuring your business not only appears but stands out in local searches. This concise, action-oriented workshop is your roadmap to navigating the complexities of digital marketing in the AI age, driving more leads, conversions, and ultimately, success for your local service business.
Key Takeaways:
Embrace AI for Local SEO: Learn to harness the power of AI technologies to optimize your website and content for local search. Understand the pivotal role AI plays in analyzing search trends and consumer behavior, enabling you to tailor your SEO strategies to meet the specific demands of your target local audience. Leverage the Content Factory Model: Discover the step-by-step process of creating SEO-optimized content at scale. This approach ensures a steady stream of high-quality content that engages local customers and boosts your search rankings. Get an action guide on implementing this model, complete with templates and scheduling strategies to maintain a consistent online presence. Maximize ROI with Dollar-a-Day Advertising: Dive into the cost-effective Dollar-a-Day advertising strategy that amplifies your visibility in local searches without breaking the bank. Learn how to strategically allocate your budget across platforms to target potential local customers effectively. The session includes an action guide on setting up, monitoring, and optimizing your ad campaigns to ensure maximum impact with minimal investment.
When most people in the industry talk about online or digital reputation management, what they're really saying is Google search and PPC. And it's usually reactive, left dealing with the aftermath of negative information published somewhere online. That's outdated. It leaves executives, organizations and other high-profile individuals at a high risk of a digital reputation attack that spans channels and tactics. But the tools needed to safeguard against an attack are more cybersecurity-oriented than most marketing and communications professionals can manage. Business leaders Leaders grasp the importance; 83% of executives place reputation in their top five areas of risk, yet only 23% are confident in their ability to address it. To succeed in 2024 and beyond, you need to turn online reputation on its axis and think like an attacker.\
Key Takeaways:
- New framework for examining and safeguarding an online reputation
- Tools and techniques to keep you a step ahead
- Practical examples that demonstrate when to act, how to act and how to recover
5 big bets to drive growth in 2024 without one additional marketing dollar AND how to adapt to the biggest shifting eCommerce trend- AI.
1) Romance Your Customers - Retention
2) ‘Alternative’ Lead Gen - Advocacy
3) The Beautiful Basics - Conversion Rate Optimization
4) Land that Bottom Line - Profitability
5) Roll the Dice - New Business Models
Most small businesses struggle to see marketing results. In this session, we will eliminate any confusion about what to do next, solving your marketing problems so your business can thrive. You’ll learn how to create a foundational marketing OS (operating system) based on neuroscience and backed by real-world results. You’ll be taught how to develop deep customer connections, and how to have your CRM dynamically segment and sell at any stage in the customer’s journey. By the end of the session, you’ll remove confusion and chaos and replace it with clarity and confidence for long-term marketing success.
Key Takeaways:
• Uncover the power of a foundational marketing system that dynamically communicates with prospects and customers on autopilot.
• Harness neuroscience and Tribal Alignment to transform your communication strategies, turning potential clients into fans and those fans into loyal customers.
• Discover the art of automated segmentation, pinpointing your most lucrative customers and identifying the optimal moments for successful conversions.
• Streamline your business with a content production plan that eliminates guesswork, wasted time, and money.
Mastering Local SEO for Service Businesses in the AI Era is tailored specifically for local service providers like plumbers, dentists, and others seeking to dominate their local search landscape. This session delves into leveraging AI advancements to enhance your online visibility and search rankings through the Content Factory model, designed for creating high-impact, SEO-driven content. Discover the Dollar-a-Day advertising strategy, a cost-effective approach to boost your local SEO efforts and attract more customers with minimal investment. Gain practical insights on optimizing your online presence to meet the specific needs of local service seekers, ensuring your business not only appears but stands out in local searches. This concise, action-oriented workshop is your roadmap to navigating the complexities of digital marketing in the AI age, driving more leads, conversions, and ultimately, success for your local service business.
Key Takeaways:
Embrace AI for Local SEO: Learn to harness the power of AI technologies to optimize your website and content for local search. Understand the pivotal role AI plays in analyzing search trends and consumer behavior, enabling you to tailor your SEO strategies to meet the specific demands of your target local audience. Leverage the Content Factory Model: Discover the step-by-step process of creating SEO-optimized content at scale. This approach ensures a steady stream of high-quality content that engages local customers and boosts your search rankings. Get an action guide on implementing this model, complete with templates and scheduling strategies to maintain a consistent online presence. Maximize ROI with Dollar-a-Day Advertising: Dive into the cost-effective Dollar-a-Day advertising strategy that amplifies your visibility in local searches without breaking the bank. Learn how to strategically allocate your budget across platforms to target potential local customers effectively. The session includes an action guide on setting up, monitoring, and optimizing your ad campaigns to ensure maximum impact with minimal investment.
AI-Powered Personalization: Principles, Use Cases, and Its Impact on CROVWO
In today’s era of AI, personalization is more than just a trend—it’s a fundamental strategy that unlocks numerous opportunities.
When done effectively, personalization builds trust, loyalty, and satisfaction among your users—key factors for business success. However, relying solely on AI capabilities isn’t enough. You need to anchor your approach in solid principles, understand your users’ context, and master the art of persuasion.
Join us as Sarjak Patel and Naitry Saggu from 3rd Eye Consulting unveil a transformative framework. This approach seamlessly integrates your unique context, consumer insights, and conversion goals, paving the way for unparalleled success in personalization.
Financial curveballs sent many American families reeling in 2023. Household budgets were squeezed by rising interest rates, surging prices on everyday goods, and a stagnating housing market. Consumers were feeling strapped. That sentiment, however, appears to be waning. The question is, to what extent?
To take the pulse of consumers’ feelings about their financial well-being ahead of a highly anticipated election, ThinkNow conducted a nationally representative quantitative survey. The survey highlights consumers’ hopes and anxieties as we move into 2024. Let's unpack the key findings to gain insights about where we stand.
Is AI-Generated Content the Future of Content Creation?Cut-the-SaaS
Discover the transformative power of AI in content creation with our presentation, "Is AI-Generated Content the Future of Content Creation?" by Puran Parsani, CEO & Editor of Cut-The-SaaS. Learn how AI-generated content is revolutionizing marketing, publishing, education, healthcare, and finance by offering unprecedented efficiency, creativity, and scalability.
Understanding
AI-Generated Content:
AI-generated content includes text, images, videos, and audio produced by AI without direct human involvement. This technology leverages large datasets to create contextually relevant and coherent material, streamlining content production.
Key Benefits:
Content Creation: Rapidly generate high-quality content for blogs, articles, and social media.
Brainstorming: AI simulates conversations to inspire creative ideas.
Research Assistance: Efficiently summarize and research information.
Market Insights:
The content marketing industry is projected to grow to $17.6 billion by 2032, with AI-generated content expected to dominate over 55% of the market.
Case Study: CNET’s AI Content Controversy:
CNET’s use of AI for news articles led to public scrutiny due to factual inaccuracies, highlighting the need for transparency and human oversight.
Benefits Across Industries:
Marketing: Personalize content at scale and optimize engagement with predictive analytics.
Publishing: Automate content creation for faster publication cycles.
Education: Efficiently generate educational materials.
Healthcare: Create accurate content for patients and professionals.
Finance: Produce timely financial content for decision-making.
Challenges and Ethical Considerations:
Transparency: Disclose AI use to maintain trust.
Bias: Address potential AI biases with diverse datasets.
SEO: Ensure AI content meets SEO standards.
Quality: Maintain high standards to prevent misinformation.
Conclusion:
AI-generated content offers significant benefits in efficiency, personalization, and scalability. However, ethical considerations and quality assurance are crucial for responsible use. Explore the future of content creation with us and see how AI is transforming various industries.
Connect with Us:
Follow Cut-The-SaaS on LinkedIn, Instagram, YouTube, Twitter, and Medium. Visit cut-the-saas.com for more insights and resources.
A.I. (artificial intelligence) platforms are popping up all the time, and many of them can and should be used to help grow your brand, increase your sales and decrease your marketing costs.In this presentation:We will review some of the best AI platforms that are available for you to use.We will interact with some of the platforms in real-time, so attendees can see how they work.We will also look at some current brands that are using AI to help them create marketing messages, saving them time and money in the process. Lastly, we will discuss the pros and cons of using AI in marketing & branding and have a lively conversation that includes comments from the audience.
Key Takeaways:
Attendees will learn about LLM platforms, like ChatGPT, and how they work, with preset examples and real time interactions with the platform. Attendees will learn about other AI platforms that are creating graphic design elements at the push of a button...pre-set examples and real-time interactions.Attendees will discuss the pros & cons of AI in marketing + branding and share their perspectives with one another. Attendees will learn about the cost savings and the time savings associated with using AI, should they choose to.
Core Web Vitals SEO Workshop - improve your performance [pdf]Peter Mead
Core Web Vitals to improve your website performance for better SEO results with CWV.
CWV Topics include:
- Understanding the latest Core Web Vitals including the significance of LCP, INP and CLS + their impact on SEO
- Optimisation techniques from our experts on how to improve your CWV on platforms like WordPress and WP Engine
- The impact of user experience and SEO
How to Use AI to Write a High-Quality Article that Ranksminatamang0021
In the world of content creation, many AI bloggers have drifted away from their original vision, resulting in low-quality articles that search engines overlook. Don't let that happen to you! Join us to discover how to leverage AI tools effectively to craft high-quality content that not only captures your audience's attention but also ranks well on search engines.
Disclaimer: Some of the prompts mentioned here are the examples of Matt Diggity. Please use it as reference and make your own custom prompts.
First Things First: Building and Effective Marketing Strategy
Too many companies (and marketers) jump straight into activation planning without formalizing a marketing strategy. It may seem tedious, but analyzing the mindset of your targeted audiences and identifying the messaging points most likely to resonate with them is time well spent. That process is also a great opportunity for marketers to collaborate with sales leaders and account managers on a galvanized go-to-market approach. I’ll walk you through the methods and tools we use with our clients to ensure campaign success.
Key Takeaways:
-Recognize the critical role of strategy in marketing
-Learn our approach for building an actionable, effective marketing strategy
-Receive templates and guides for developing a marketing strategy
When most people in the industry talk about online or digital reputation management, what they're really saying is Google search and PPC. And it's usually reactive, left dealing with the aftermath of negative information published somewhere online. That's outdated. It leaves executives, organizations and other high-profile individuals at a high risk of a digital reputation attack that spans channels and tactics. But the tools needed to safeguard against an attack are more cybersecurity-oriented than most marketing and communications professionals can manage. Business leaders Leaders grasp the importance; 83% of executives place reputation in their top five areas of risk, yet only 23% are confident in their ability to address it. To succeed in 2024 and beyond, you need to turn online reputation on its axis and think like an attacker.
Key Takeaways:
- New framework for examining and safeguarding an online reputation
- Tools and techniques to keep you a step ahead
- Practical examples that demonstrate when to act, how to act and how to recover
The Forgotten Secret Weapon of Digital Marketing: Email
Digital marketing is a rapidly changing, ever evolving industry--Influencers, Threads, X, AI, etc. But one of the most effective digital marketing tools is also one of the oldest: Email. Find out from two Houston-based digital experts how to maximize your results from email.
Key Takeaways:
Email has the best ROI of any digital tactic
It can be used at any stage of the customer journey
It is increasingly important as the cookie-less future gets closer and closer
It’s time for the Miley Cyrus bashers to wake up to a stark reality: Miley Cyrus ain’t going away. Not in 2014. Not anytime soon. Why? Because when you peel away the layers of twerk-inspired controversy, Miley Cyrus is creating good pop music. And with a major tour in full swing, Miley Cyrus is in our faces even more than she was in 2013.
As we all know, Miley Cyrus had a very big year in 2013. After all, she was a Time Person of the Year finalist for 2013, giving Pope Francis a run for his money by igniting a passionate debate about sexuality, race, and cultural values. Yeah, she annoyed the hell out of a lot of people with her blatantly calculated campaign to destroy the innocent Hannah Montana character she had carefully cultivated for years. She introduced many of us to twerking. She made a public display of lighting up a joint onstage in Amsterdam. She basically made a public display of herself. Resident grumpy rock authority Bob Lefsetz spoke for many when he wrote,“Let’s ignore Miley Cyrus. Let’s ignore Kim Kardashian. If we stop paying attention to these no-talents there will be a better chance of true talents emerging."
Well, Bob Lefsetz, we're not ignoring Miley Cyrus. As 2013 becomes a distant memory, Miley Cyrus is in our faces and her brand is just getting bigger and bigger. She consistently ranks very high in the weekly Billboard ranking of the most talked about artists on social. She has a net worth of $150 million and is launching a high-profile tour to promote her successful Bangerz album. She's making headlines once again with her recently published stunning, provocative photo shoots for W and German Vogue.
Miley Cyrus is dominating once again for five very important reasons that other artists would do well to take to heart . . .
First, and most importantly, she has talent. When you peel away the layers of twerk-inspired controversy, Miley Cyrus is creating good pop music. After listening to the latest edition of her constantly reinventing sound, I have to say, yeah, she delivers some fun, engaging pop on her first non-Disney album — the kind of pop that will endure if she plays her cards right.
You already know about the big moments from Bangerz — how could anyone escape the much discussed and spoofed video for “Wrecking Ball?” Miley Cyrus swinging around naked on a wrecking ball got tongues wagging. But the video is just a way (and an effective one at that) to get attention amid the white noise flooding our multi-tasking lives. On the song itself, she reveals the kind of talent that will sustain her. Her vocals soar with the kind of epic style that Alicia Keys attempted with “Girl on Fire,” but without any of Keys’s self-conscious posing. The rest of Bangerz delivers, well crafted, sultry, and downright fun R&B, ranging from the sultry “Adore You” to the sassy “SMS (Bangerz),” which features a guest vocal from Britney Spears.
She would become a fly-by-night fad except for one important factor: there is a foundation of talent beneath the marketing hype. Although Bangerz has its detractors, the album has also earned favorable reviews from influencers such as Allmusic, Entertainment Weekly, Los Angeles Times, and Rolling Stone providing favorable reviews. According to Allmusic, "Brassy empowerment jams like "Maybe You're Right," "Do My Thang," and "FU" sell Cyrus as an independent woman, and the album accomplishes that mission: Bangerz transforms Miley into a pop star who won't -- and can't -- be ignored as she rings in her twenties."(Here is a link to the positives and negative reviews aggregated on Metacritic.)
As if to prove herself as a talented singer, Cyrus of late has sprinkled into her music more subdued moments that draw attention to her voice -- including appearances on Saturday Night Live and MTV, where her voice was allowed to shine beyond the theatrics. Entertainment Weekly reacted to her SNL appearance by saying, "Say what you will about Miley Cyrus, but you’ve got to admit a few things: One, the girl clearly has a healthy sense of humor. And two, when she’s not distracting you with foam fingers and errant tongues and several square inches of bare skin, it’s a lot easier to appreciate how good her singing voice really is.
Her approach is working. Bangerz debuted at Number One on the Billboard charts (her fifth Number One) and has so far outsold Lady Gaga’s much-ballyhooed ARTPOP.
Cyrus also knows how to collaborate with high-profile artists to complement her talent and also build her brand by association with names who are as big or bigger than she is. For instance, on Bangerz is that Cyrus collaborates with musicians such as Spears and Nelly without being overpowered by them. And bringing in the red hot Pharrell to produce a handful of the album’s songs is a masterstroke. Madonna joined her for a duet on Cyrus's recent appearance on MTV Unplugged. "Ever the trooper, Madge tongued it out right along with her," reported Rolling Stone. "Two tongues, two great artists, one magical night." Too often, collaborations with multiple artists and producers result in a disjointed, forced listening experience, which is thankfully not the case with Bangerz. Miley Cyrus holds her own quite well.
Like Lady Gaga, she is the perfect artist for the visual age. We live at a time when more than half of adult Internet users post photos online, and five tweets per second contain a Vine link. Miley Cyrus is twerking and smirking in public for a reason: she understands that now, more than ever, being visual makes you stand apart and make a statement, which is absolutely necessary for her to break away from the innocent brand she created with Disney for many years. It's no accident that her entire personal on digital relies heavily on visuals, including her website and social spaces. You explore her website by clicking on a nonstop collage of Miley images, each leading you down another path to see more of her, whether on Instagram or on Facebook. And her Bangerz tour, launched on February 14, is a visual feast, full of props ranging from a flying hot dog to a huge blow-up of her face (from which she emerges to sing her opening song). As Rolling Stone reported of the opening night, "When the house lights dimmed, all eyes were focused at the back of the stage where a massive 50-foot screen projected a pre-made video of Miley's head, her eyes rolling and her mouth opening and closing, robot-style. Suddenly, out of that video "mouth" fell a massive, inflatable tongue. The actual Miley then emerged from between her own tonsils, and she took a ride to the stage floor via her pink slippery slope, while the audience screams filled the stadium."
Especially when performing in large auditoriums that generate the major touring revenue, artists need to be as visual as they are musical. So far, Cyrus is delivering.
Miley Cyrus is not the only high-profile musician on social media. But she's one of the few who really get it. She is known for having used Twitter to build grassroots support for her new music. She uses social as an extension of her provocative persona as effectively as the most adroit brands. She cross-pollinates her social spaces with a steady stream of provocative visual content, such as the photos from her MTV Unplugged appearance she recently posted on her Facebook wall and Instagram. She also gives fans a peak inside her world, such as the behind-the-scenes diary of the rehearsals for her Bangerz tour. She cross-promotes her content on Twitter and shares fairly random observations about life in the process, but the visually oriented platforms are really where she excels. Oh, and she engages with fans, such as inviting one Matt Peterson to hang with her in concert after Peterson launched a campaign to get her to go the prom with him. If she wanted to, she could probably launch her own social site like Lady Gaga has. But for now, she's doing what artists need to do in order to succeed in the digital era: share with their fans 24/7 instead of hiding behind a veil of secrecy. It's no wonder she has racked up 42.7 million Facebook Likes (more than Starbucks has) and 17.1 Twitter followers (roughly the same as Eminem). For 94 weeks, she's been on the Billboard Social 50, usually ranking quite high. (The Billboard Social 50 is a ranking of the most active artists on the world's leading social networking sites. Artists' popularity is determined by a formula blending their weekly additions of friends/fans/followers along with artist page views and weekly song plays, as measured by Next Big Sound.)
Her music, collaborative approach, visual storytelling skills, and social media mastery are converging on her Bangerz tour, which kicked off February 14. She collaborated with several designers on costumes, including Roberto Cavalli, Jeremy Scott, the Blonds, and Marc Jacobs. Ren & Stimpy creator John Kricfalusi has created visual props, including "imaginative animals he's made on his own." The concerts have have no time limit, and she's enlisted strong opening acts in Icona Pop and Sky Ferrera.
The tour was making headlines before it even launched, especially after Cyrus announced that the tour would be educational for kids. As she told Fuse News, " "Even though parents probably won't think this, I think my show is educational for kids. They're going to be exposed to art most people don't know about." But she also relied on her own media platforms to build buzz for her tour. A photo of herself riding a giant hot dog in rehearsal was re-tweeted 17,000 times in five days.
The tour was gaining positive reviews after Cyrus descending on Vancouver for opening night. Reviewing the opening-night concert, Rolling Stone wrote, "Cyrus delivered on the campy, the vampy and an assortment of other cheeky behaviors with a clear aim to distance herself ever further from the land of Hannah Montana. That said, looking past the shock and awe, Cyrus delivered fantastic vocals all evening long." According to Billboard, "Vancouver residents were treated to hot, steamy Valentine's Day evening, courtesy of Miley Cyrus' long-anticipated Bangerz Tour." As USA Today noted, ". . . she belted out the songs like a diva with a grudge. She might not have the most distinctive voice, but she can hit those notes and hold them, and many of the songs showcase this brilliantly."
One cautionary note: as Forbes and USA Today note, there is a risk that a combination of high ticket prices and media saturation could hamper tour sales. None of her shows has sold out yet. But ticket sales are strong, and she's targeted to gross $100 million. International dates have been added beyond the initial North American run. To date, the tour is acting as a strong statement about all aspects of her brand; I predict that when the ticket and merchandise sales are tallied, Bangerz will be a triumph, especially as more concert goers on the fence read reviews such as this one from the Examiner, which calls her "outrageously entertaining."
Love her. Hate her. Despise her. And learn from her. Miley Cyrus has learned how to engage and hold fan interest in a society that suffers from mass ADD. All that twerking, smirking, tongue wagging, and singing attracts our attention -- and her music keeps us listening.
Miley Cyrus will keep us watching and listening by cranking out good pop, collaborating with superstar brands, being visual, and being social – both onstage and offstage.