Branding - Lil Wayne

Lil Wayne is a successful artist known for his unique rapping style and voice. He is referred to by two different names 'Lil Wayne' & 'Weezy' but still maintains a high brand identity. With over 30 million Facebook friends it is clear that he is a well known artist and has used branding to its advantages to gain so much publicity.

First of all, the artist used his tracks through his lyrics to set a brand identity, by introducing himself in the track 'Weezy F Baby' this occurs in predominantly all his tracks. The impact this has on the audience is that his unique voice in his music is linked to his name, so when someone puts on one of Lil Wayne's tracks and recognize the unique voice they will link it with the artists name 'Weezy' as it is a constant name used throughout his material.

Another method used by Lil Wayne to establish his brand identity is the exploitation of the online revolution, This was extremely necessary measurement taken by Lil Wayne whilst he was in jail, to keep his audience upto date and occupied with the his life. Whilst in Jail the artist created his own website called 'Weezy thankx you', this website offered a range of different services including; behind the scenes recording, which has close-ups of Lil Wayne, which invokes the audience to remember his face and be able to recognize it anywhere. Also available on the website for downloading is desktop backgrounds which have images of Lil Wayne with his name creating a brand identity, as the audience will remember his face and link it to his name, so when they hear someone speaking about Lil wayne, their initially thought would be link the name to the picture of the artist thats on their computer desktop.

Facebook has also had a continued effect on the brand identity of Lil wayne, allowing fans to get as close as they can to Lil Waynes life, the impact this has is that millions of the artists fans look at his images and link it to his name, so wherever an image of the artist or his name appears, the audience know who its linked to. The fact that Lil Wayne has a distinct voice, look and style, helps emphasize and expand the reach of his brand identity to the fans and audience.

Consistency is also another factor which has established a brand identity, The idea that Lil Wayne has released 9 solo studio albums, 5 collaborative albums, and 11 mix-tapes, proves to the audience he is consistent in producing material, so his name is always heard in regards to mainstream music. Also if the audience like Weezys albums and believe the material is good, they are more likely to prefer to purchase Lil Waynes new album instead of a different artist because they know from experience that Lil Waynes material is consistent and so the new album would follow the same path.

Finally other business ventures such as branded clothing has helped Lil Wayne establish his brand identity, by selling clothes with his image on them, so that when the audience see the image of him they will link it to the artists name. Also the benefit with this venture is that it also works as a form of publicity, as the fans will wear the clothing when out, so others members of the public will see the image and may consider looking up the artist, helping expand Lil Waynes customer base.

With this artist I explored the nature in which the artist establishes himself to the global market. I explored how he uses different promotional techniques to help get across his brand identity as i have explained above. He refers to him part of a large well know group called Young Money, which is a record lable that appears as a logo with material assosiated with the artist, this too is a image motif for the artist.