James Argent is a 55-year-old rock artist launching his first solo album "In the Wind" after previously being in the band Masonic Temple. The objectives for the album are to establish Argent as a solo artist with his own fanbase rather than being associated with his previous band, target both existing fans of Masonic Temple as well as new fans interested in soft rock/alternative genres, and sell over 200,000 copies of the album within 3 months. The key messages that will be communicated are that this album shows Argent's ability to adapt genres and should be viewed as the work of a solo artist rather than a continuation of Masonic Temple.

1. Marketing and PR Presentation
Patrick Gouldsbrough

2. Band Profile
Name: James Argent
Age: 55
Album: ‘In the Wind’
Previous releases: ‘On the run’, ‘Sacramento’, ‘Back from the edge’,
‘Bring the light’, ‘Turning point’ (with previous band, this is his first solo
venture)
Genre: Rock
Style: With his former band, Masonic temple, he was rock orientated,
however, he wants to show the consumer that he can adapt and play
other genres now, which is why he has gone into the soft rock/alternative
style.
Contemporaries: Robert Plant, Beck

3. Objectives
What are the objectives for this project?
To show that the artist, James Argent, can switch genres and be as successful as his former band that have recently split. He
realises that he can’t be as successful straight away, due to the fact that the other members of Masonic temple are absent but
he hopes to use this album as an experiment and a stepping stone to future albums. It’s all about raising James’s profile
because even though he was popular in the band, they might not have liked him, they may have liked the band as a collective
so trying to re-coup the audience of Masonic temple is key, as well as trying to find a new demographic.
Who do you want to target?
Try and regain some of the fans that like James’s former band Masonic Temple, despite the band splitting over a massive row,
therefore, some of the fans would have picked sides and refused to back the others on their future musical ventures. Due to the
genre change, some rock fans will not be happy with the restrained approach on the new album but for all those that are lost,
some softer rock fans will be gained with this new album, despite there been some out and out rock tunes on the album which
will please the mass market and a wide range of audience types.
How many records do you want to sell?
Due to Masonic temple selling out shows and selling 10 million copies for their 5 previous albums that they have had, I’m not
going to target too low; a rock star can’t go from selling 10 million copies to struggling to sell 1000, it doesn’t happen, even if
they do go solo. A target of around 200,000 is realistic because while it seems low compared to 10 million, I want to make sure I
reach or exceed the target and going lower than I think will ensure this and it’s relatively realistic.
What would make this a successful exercise?
If James Argent is recognised as a solo artist and not connected to Masonic temple and finds a new target audience, as well as
regaining a lot of the fans that listened to Masonic temple. The album target is another aim that I want to meet and selling
200,000 records will do this. I have also set myself a 3 month time frame of doing this so it will require a lot of publicity, a lot of
promotional and adverting and a few TV and Radio slots required.

4. Audience
Who is the audience for this band?
Like I’ve stated in the previous sections, I want to try and collect a large majority of the fans from previous band Masonic Temple. However,
factors, such as the fight that broke up the band didn’t just divide the band, it divided the fan base as well and this is why the album target might
have to be scaled back slightly. However, this isn't taking into account any new fans and with a new genre chosen for this album, James Argent
will be sure to make a large majority of fans who like the soft rock genre James is creating on ‘In the wind’. As well as this, dependant on the
advertising and promotional camping and the willingness to make James Argent a mass market star, doing things like giving songs away free is
a great way to make fans from people who don’t normally listen to that genre of music and therefore a more mass marketable star is born.
What age are they?
Stereotypically, you would say the target audience for a rock star who was previously in a band but is now a solo artist would attract fans similar
to their own age, due to the fact that this form of consumer grew up with Masonic Temple and are of a similar age to James Argent. However, if
the band managed to sell 10 million copies of previous albums, Masonic Temple managed to reach a wide audience spectrum and this might be
passed on to the solo artist as a result. On the other hand, the majority of the fan base will be made up of 50-55 year olds.
What do they look like?
Due to James trying to get some of the Masonic Temple fans back, they will look like the classic, stereotypical rock fan, while the more polished
riffs and softer nature to ‘in the wind’ will entice consumers from a wide range of genres, not just he rock genre. For this reason alone, James
Argent’s fans for this album could look like anyone because it should please a mass market demographic and encompass a lot of genres and
sub-genres along the way. While different genres have different styles and symbols to differentiate from another genre, I couldn’t pinpoint
specific features of the fans that James Argent would have for the reasons already specified.
Who else do they like?
Robert Plant – Like Robert plant, James Argent has come from a band and now has a point to prove, which normally means a switch of genres
and a mix of sub-genres is in order. While these two have similarities, they also have a lot of difference, including; the fact that Plant came from
a huge rock band, where as Argent was in a medium sized band and is less in demand, which is why Plant’s solo ventures haves always sold
gold or platinum certification, as well as always coming inside the top 20, since the first one in 1982. With a bit of careful management and
tactical adverting, James Argent might be able to climb into this bracket but the 200,000 album sales is a realistic target for his debut solo
album.
Bob Dylan – This comparison isn’t because they are similar career wise, it’s due to the fact that Argent’s new album will use a majority of skiffle
beats which is synonymous with Dylan and is the sort of music that some of Argent’s demographic will listen to, especially the newly acquired,
soft rock and blues fans.

5. Media
What magazines might they get in to?
I think as a general rule, NME magazine tend to use a majority of younger and new bands to sell their publications. They like to go for these kind of bands and
artists, due to the young demographic they are trying to target, which is backed up by the viewership figures for the media producer (70% of readers are aged
in the 15-34 age bracket, compared to the others). For this reason, I think a solo artist who has just left a classic rock band will not be the most in demand
main focus for the cover story in NME. Despite this snub by NME readers, James Argent would be the perfect age demographic for people who consume Q
and MOJO magazines. While the median age of consumers of these two magazines is 32, they are still nearer to the former Masonic Temple mans age
category and while NME don’t have a special section for classic bands and such, Q and MOJO have 20 pages dedicated to classic bands and artists in each
publication. Despite James Argent never been able to acquire the main story section of the magazine, he may be able to be the focus of the classic musician
section of the magazine or if not, a similar one.
What TV channels would they be on?
With the expansion of things like Satellite television in recent times, there are no shortages of television channels and with a big name like James Argent, the
rock star won’t have to reply on small television shows promoting his album, he is big enough and mainstream enough to be on the mainstream channels that
the majority of people watch. For this reason, I think programmes such as Jonathan Ross, Graham Norton and live with Jools Holland would house such a
rock star. With the mainstream nature of Graham Norton and Jonathan Ross, Argent might pick up a few extra fans from other genres and sub-genres and
due to his role with masonic temple, he won’t be the one on the chat show that many people don’t know, he is a household name. As for Jools Holland, he
helps new music get heard by a mainstream audience, due to the amount of variation and diversity on the show, it will be watched by a range of demographics
and fans of various genres, which is why it’s the perfect place to advertise and play a few songs from the record. As for Alan Carr, I feel the show play younger
bands and give Argent’s age, I feel it’s the wrong demographic to listen to his new songs and record. On the other hand, any publicity is good publicity but is
probably far down the priority list to get on this television show.
Which radio stations would play their music?
As for the radio stations, you would think there would be plenty of opportunities too but in terms of mainstream radio, there is BBC or Capital and Hallam,
which play only chart music, which is not where James Argent’s wants his music to be placed. For this reason, stations like capital, Hallam, Radio 1 and Heart
are all radio stations that will probably chose not to play his music, due to the fact that they didn’t play masonic temple on their station when they were still
together and the fact that they don’t tend to play soft rock or many forms of rock on their radio shows (of course there are exceptions but stereotypically, this is
the norm for those radio stations). Instead, James Argent might be played on Radio 2 and Radio 3 due to the toned back Rock element and the addition of a
more skiffle feel to the album, however, radio 4 might be a bit too formal to play ‘in the wind’.
Who would they give interviews to?
In the days of Masonic Temple, James wouldn’t have given interviews to many people, due to the fact that the band could sell records on hype alone. This will
be a new learning curve for Argent but if he wants become a mainstream rock star and gain lots of fans from lots of genres, he has do these interviews and
other PR events to get in the public eye (negative press isn’t the way to do this, despite many musicians thinking otherwise). While low end tabloid newspapers
would sell the publications with a shocking story on the break up of Masonic temple, Argent wants to try and sell the record and publicity on solely the music.
For this reason, I would say a media producer like The Times would be a goo piece of publicity for bot the publication and the musician. Due to the fact that
the times have a separate publication on a Saturday for entertainment, this furthers the times claim to get an interview from the former Masonic temples man.
As well s newspapers Argent would give interviews to some media companies I have already mentioned, such as radio 2 and 3, as well as MOJO and Q,
while avoiding publications like NME, due to the fact it doesn’t fir the correct demographic the rock star is trying to reach. However, if they want an interview, it
would be sill to reject this request. 5

6. Media
Which forms of social media would you use and how would you use social media?
As I have mentioned, the majority of the fans we hope to accumulate for James Argent has the median age category of 50-55, which shows
a clear barrier in terms of social media; there isn’t really a social media that specifically targets and caters for solely this age group. Despite
this issue, it can easily be resolved by the decision to promote the album and the musician to as many people as possible suing very big
mediums and social media sites, such as Facebook and YouTube.
Facebook – The majority of people these days have a Facebook account and using this type of social media to promote both musician and
products, ensures that it reaches a mass market and therefore, people from a wide spectrum of demographics and fans of different types of
music will see, which will hopefully lead to James Argent becoming a more well known star than he already is. Putting on things like
exclusive video pieces, photos, gig information and bios, you are giving the fans the sense of voyeurism into Argent’s life, something that us,
the members of the public, have become obsessed with in the last 5/10 years. As well as this information been communicated, Facebook
also allows people to follow and like these musicians pages which then creates a sort of fan following which could lead to things like fan
discussion and debate which is positive publicity as long as it remains positive comments and not negative or discriminatory ones (you don’t
want negative fans among your following, you want fans that lime you for the music and the fact that you’re a likeable character, not for nay
other reason).
YouTube – While this isn’t best known for a social networking tool, it still fulfills the purpose of getting an individuals message out and is a
good communicational tool that musicians can use to break down the barriers between themselves and their fans, which is a feature of all
social media sites, they help to share musicians thoughts, new works, pictures and videos with the world and inform fans of what they are up
to (the notion of voyeurism is evident again). YouTube can also aid the Facebook element by sharing content from it’s site to Facebook as a
sort of link. While you don’t have all the dynamic features that Facebook has, YouTube still fulfills it’s purpose and helps the musician put
songs and videos up on the site, which helps promote the record (the trick is to not put up all the tracks of the record because for some, you
can download these from YouTube without paying for them, which will reduce record sales and not give you an accurate measure of how the
album has done).
Twitter – I think for the demographic I am trying to communicate to in this promotional campaign wouldn’t use twitter and even if they did, it
would e a minority of fans, due to the age of them and the average age of users on twitter; it’s a younger persons social media site. While it's
a good way of getting fan discussion started through hash tags, it wouldn’t be targeting that mass market that I wanted if I used this feature
in my advertising campaign, it would target people who aren’t interested or are not fans of this form of music, therefore, it would be a waste
of time, resources and money to run a Twitter account for James Argent. The same can be said for Instagram, due to the median age of the
people who use this social media site. Even though it would be more simple to run than a Twitter account, an instagram account would still
be a bad promotional tool for the adverting campaign and would be a waste of resources. Plus, with a tool so mass market as Facebook,
James Argent will get the level of publicity he needs to shift the 200,000+ record sales he needs (this won’t be just from YouTube and
Facebook, the fact that he was already popular before will give him added fans.

7. Merchandise
What merchandise would you use to promote this band?
Merchandising makes up a large chunk of profit for a musician or band and can be made through lots of different products,
it can come from individual items or collectors editions. Both have lots of positives for each, for example: individual items will
please fans and give the suggestion that you’re not just in it to make lots of money, while it might not make much money. In
contrast, a range of collectors edition items will make lots of money but might get fans questioning the integrity of the
musician and the producers of these goods.
The sort of musician you want to start with is the cheaper things that will make quick sales but not a lot of money at once,
due to the new and fresh nature of James Argent’s solo career. While, due to the fact that Argent has just come out of a
band that had their own merchandise, he doesn’t want to bring out loads at the same time, ranking the Masonic temple
merchandise useless.
Things like posters, mugs, coasters, postcards and key rings are common items that fans can easily impulse buy without
thinking too much about them, where as if you had T-shirts and bags for £30-£50, you have to think about that more. You
also have to think about the fact that these items will be sold in a gig scenario and a quick sell should be optimised and the
aspect of carrying around this merchandise at a concert must be taken into account, a bag can’t be easily carried around.
On the other hand, outside a gig scenario, merchandise is sold differently and can be thought about more by the fans of the
musicians. In shops, t-shirts, bags and posters are big sellers, due to the ease of making them and the popularity and
demand of these items by the consumers. Therefore, when selling things at a gig, alter the things that are sold to cheaper
and easy to carry items and confine the bags and bigger merchandise to shops and other retailers, where consumers have
more time to think about buying bigger, more expensive band merchandise.
For now then, James Argent might want to put some merchandise out in conjunction with the album release but releasing
too much will make him look like a sell out, due to the fact that Masonic temple’s merchandise will still be on the market and
putting products out at an alarming rate will not gain the musician fans, it will lose him them.

8. Manage the message
What is the message you want to communicate about this band?
First and foremost, I want to communicate that this album is James Argent as a solo artist which includes the fact that Masonic Temple
aren’t connected to this album in any way. If fans think this is a new take on a Masonic Temple album, it might be more popular and
sell more copies but if I advertise it as such, it will count as false advertisement which would lead to lawsuits and such (Argent is
looking for a positive brand image, due to the fact that he didn’t exactly have a clear one in Masonic Temple, a lawsuit with band mates
and the adverting standards agency is not a great way to start solo career). Another key message that I have to convey to the
consumer is the fact that this is a change of genre from Masonic temple and is instead a soft rock album. This is an important feature
to include because if people are expecting an emulation of Masonic Temple and don’t get it, they may not buy future releases of James
Argent, as well as the ASA getting involved for not specifying the change in genre. These messages can either be put on the cover of
the album, either through an album review or a synopsis/bio piece can be added to the album to act as an explanatory piece for the
changes.
What is the main selling point of the band and the album?
The main selling point of James Argent is that he was the lead singer of Masonic Temple and therefore, he may have been more
likeable than the other band members. As well as this been a fact, it might be an idea to add this to the packaging or promotional
poster of the album, due to the consumer seeing it this way. As for the main selling point of the album; the change of genre from the
singer of Masonic Temple, which shows he has vocal range and a lot of character to be able to change genres just like that. Most
musicians stay in the same genre they were established in but Argent is widening the boundaries and experimenting with things that he
wouldn’t have done in Masonic temple, James Argent is just looking for the kind of solo artist he’ll be, he needs to get the correct genre
and following to make it big however. Using quotes from critics such as: “dynamic” and “groundbreaking” will also aid James on to
becoming successful. While people get into genre habits and only listen to that genre, others choose to listen to reviews and hype by
other listeners to choose what music they listen to. I understand that the former Masonic Temple front man might not become a popular
music figure but cult musicians and rock stars get similar, if not the same quantities following them.

9. Hyperbole
Every marketing and PR campaign uses hyperbole. Its role is to make things seem better than they really are by
using exaggeration and emotive words or imagery.
What are the words you will use? What words will help you sell and will appeal to your audience?
I think in most cases, consumers don’t want to read line after line of review for them to be told that the album is good, in
fact, people wouldn’t read it, due to the fact that they want to make their own minds up about the album. This however
doesn’t mean that there can’t be little buzzwords and positive reinforcements about the album on the cover and the advert
for the promotional campaign. Little buzzwords stick in the consumers head and allows them to have positive reactions to
the album before they’ve even heard it. Words like “dynamic”, “groundbreaking” and “breath taking” are successful ones that
have been used in lots of promotional campaigns in the past because they give the consumer such a positive thought of it,
they go about listening to the album in a positive nature before they’ve heard the opening track.
These buzzwords can also be joined by things like: “Genre change doesn’t compromise quality for Argent” and add a source
to it to make it more believable. Adding a source to an expert makes the advert/promotional more believable because the
consumers respond well to expert power and somehow listen to it.
On the other hand, due to Argent’s background, you can’t go too soft for the new album, due to to the review pieces that
Masonic Temple used to add to their albums and promotional pieces. Things such as: “crushing” and “powerful” is the lexis
that was used for Masonic Temple and while it's on the other end of the spectrum, I feel I have to meet in the middle of that
spectrum on this one to try and advertise it. If I choose to go back to a rock genre on the next album, the Masonic temple
buzzwords can be returned and if I stay in the same soft rock genre for the next one, words such as “dynamic” and
“groundbreaking” can be added.
For the reason stated above, I think I might go for a promotional line such as: “Argent has such vocal range and character”
which is universally transferable to any genre and sounds positive to anyone, while it can’t be twisted by any media
producer. After albums are released, journalists sometimes look at the things that have been quoted on the album and twist
it to be negative, which makes the album look bad, while making a mockery of the adverting campaign also.

10. Events
What events would you put on as part of the promotion of this band and album/What other events and happenings could you create to raise the public profile of
the band?
Things like interviews, television appearances and radio slots are normal to happen around the time of an album release by a musician. The only thing that varies is the size
of the slot and the magnitude of radio station that lays your song and chooses to interview you (A big star like Argent will be on prime time slots but due to him not been a
pop star and the state of the pop oriented music business at the moment, he might be pushed to the likes of BBC radio 2, instead of radio 1). An event that includes both a
press conference, a presentation into the album and plenty of promotional materials (hand-outs) for press and members of the public to take away will all be encompassed
into one event, both to save on costs and to ensure that it’s seen by a mass market. Invited to this event will be all the main broadcasters (BBC, ITV, C4, etc.) as well as
magazines (Q, NME and MOJO) as well as radio producers, music experts and to gain some fans and super fans, a select few members of the public (a competition could
be generated which will either gain Argent revenue on entry costs or if it’s a free competition, gain some popularity) I will probably go for a pay to enter competition, due to
the fact that some revenue will be generated, but mainly because fans of Argent or Masonic Temple will be coming along, not just anyone that saw the competition and
decided to enter.
Would they play small secret gigs or would they go on a huge arena tour?
After coming out of a huge band like Masonic temple, you would have probably guessed that Argent wouldn’t have to play the small, intimate gigs and would choose to
instead play stadiums. However, with a solo artist, it’s more difficult to adapt to a stadium because you haven’t got the sound or the backing of your band any more and it’s
just your voice you have to reply on to uplift the crowd. As a start, James should probably start off on the smaller tiers of gigs first, before deciding whether to make that step
up to stadiums. While Argent could easily play stadiums as a starting point, I think he has to find the right gig [persona first. It also comes down to Argent’s personal
preference; some musicians and bands prefer the intimate gig, due to the crowd interaction and the large quantity of fans that are there are actually fans of the band, not just
there for a freebie or attending with friends but don’t enjoy the band. The hiatus of Kaiser Chiefs in 2009, saw them re-emerge in 2011 and instead of picking up where they
left off, they started at the bottom tier of music again, playing to less than 1,000 people every night. This was both because of the Leeds bands preference but also because
they didn’t want to disappoint the fans when they got to the stadium level so decided to start out playing venues like the O2 academies around the country. The same can be
said for acts such as Johnny Marr and Robert Plant; they have both played the academy circuit last year and are, in their own right, two of the biggest rock musicians around
today. For this, as well as the points stated above, I believe Argent should play a mix of stadium and secret gigs, both to test the water and connect with fans properly (the
secret gigs should come first as a sort of warm up for the stadium dates)
Would they appear for a signing in a flagship record store?
Given the monumental success that Masonic Temple had when they were touring and releasing records, I would say that James Argent would be a big enough name to
appear at a flagship record store on release day. However, when it came to massive promotional tools, Masonic temple always went for posters and other still image
adverting tools because they shied away from the limelight and kept a relatively low profile. While this might not have been Argent’s idea to shy away from the media and the
big events, he is used to not releasing albums in flagship record stores so for the debut album, it might be best to come up with other events he could attend and then put
forward this idea for his second album’s promotional campaign. Argent needs the publicity and needs as many fans so these promotional events would be a good way of
interacting with fans but due to him not been used to this kind of publicity, the former front man is probably best sticking to promotional adverts, posters and television
broadcasts.
Would they play on TV chat shows?
Like I stated in the media section of the presentation, as long as that television show was positively portraying him, he would be on the television show. Argent has previously
received bad publicity for destroying a hotel room while on tour with Masonic temple, he needs to subvert these media representations of him, due to the fact that he’s losing
fans by having this ‘rebellious’ branding thrown on him an gain some more fans by doing this. TV chat shows like Later with Jools Holland, Graham Norton, Jonathan Ross
and even American chat shows, due to Masonic temple’s fan base in the US, Argent will be hoping to emulate this and be one of few solo artists to break into the American
market. Shows like Alan Carr however, may make Jams look a bit of a silly character and he is trying to portray himself as a serious musician, with this sort of publicity been
negative and aimed at a completely different audience that Argent is trying to target.

11. Internal motivation
What is the motivation behind this project?
After a career in Masonic temple that was recently brought to an end, James Argent feels as if he still has some form of role
to play in rock music and wants to prove to the music world that he is more than just a band member, he is also a solo artist.
Argent thought about collaborating with a range of musicians, like Johnny Marr did, would be a good idea but he didn’t enjoy
the collaborations he did with other musicians when he was in the bad so has decided to go on solo venture. He didn’t want
to leave it too long and wanted to stay relevant and current and not get forgotten about, while ensuring that he doesn’t
become a novelty act that only appears every so often for secret gigs and you get the feeling that they’re only in it for the
money. While it is a bit soon to return to music, Argent had many ideas for songs and had a plan to be a solo artist after his
career with Masonic Temple came to a natural end but using these songs and using some of the best musicians as guest
members, he was able to create the sound he wanted. As many people do it for the money, argent is doing this because he
enjoys music and will miss making it if he were to retire from music all-together.
Why is it an important project for you?
Managing a big rock star like this, it’s a big break that could lead me onto the top of my profession. Even though I’ve done
promotional stuff for relatively big bands before, I’ve never acquired a job on this scale before. While it’s not a make or
break job, it is important to do a good job because like any job field, in PR, if you get one job wrong, it’s difficult to acquire
another promotional campaign for musicians, you have to be the best at what you do if you want to be approached by the
best in the music industry. I’m been realistic with record sales and not getting up hopes about selling millions and getting
platinum certification, I don’t want to be over confident, which is why I’ve set the 200,000 sales target on this project.
Why is it an important project for the band?
Parting company with Masonic temple was a big step for James and trying to reproduce the same intensity and level that
they produced was difficult which is why Argent wants to show the music world that he can change his genre and show
consumers his vocal range and spectrum with a multi-genre album. I also know how important this album is for Argent, if
this album proves a big success, he can carry on with this genre change and have a great solo career but if it doesn’t work,
he’s looking for a new genre and back to the experimental stage which is not what I want (for reasons stated in the above
section) and especially for him. He just wants find his perfect genre and intensity and make a career out of it, he doesn’t
want to mess around with the album every time he comes to make a different album.

12. Motivation of media
Why would the media be interested in this project?
Whether it’s Kate Bush, Aphex Twin, pop, rock, rap or jazz, a comeback story in the music industry is treated as a big deal
and gets a lot of media coverage. This is no exception for James Argent, he should get big interest from the media, which is
no change from his days in Masonic Temple, apart from the fact that this will be positive publicity, not negative. Q magazine
in particular enjoy reporting on classic bands and comebacks, as well as MOJO. As for NME, they like covering new and
upcoming artist instead which wouldn’t be highly interested in James Argent’s story, but as long as the large majority of the
music section of media are interested in the story, that is enough to keep Argent current and relevant for the near future.
Not only will the media enjoy hearing about the heated split of Masonic Temple, which will initially sell the publication on it’s
own, due to the sensational nature. However, magazines that rely on selling media products on quality alone, such as Q, will
also focus on the genre change and the vocal range of James Argent, as well as the fact that he’s brought in guest
musicians for certain songs on ‘In the wind’.
As well as print platform journalist reporting on it ad interviewing James argent, media companies that I have mentioned in
the previous media section of the presentation will also be interested in Argent’s new project. As well as reporting the same
facts as the print medium producers, broadcasters can give you an audio taste of the music too, which can easily sway the
consumer. Radio 2 and 3, as well as BBC 1, BBC 2 and ITV would generate a slot for your music, interviews and live
performances because this gives you a chance to raise your profile bit it also gives the media a chance to get their
questions answered and it also generates more listeners and viewers, die to your presence on the show.