Ancillary Task: Lana Del Rey Synergy

To help me realise the importance of synergy across the two products I will be creating, I have decided to look at how Lana Del Rey utilised synergy throughout her advertising campaign for her album ‘Born to Die’.

The digipak and magazine cover:

The key image and font for both the magazine poster and the digipack cover is the exact same creating synergy across the two platforms. The overall simplicity of both products allows the audience’s attention to be undirected away from her as the ‘star’ as she is centre frame. The bold body language and high key lighting used to create her perfect skin makes her desirable to au audience, both male (male gaze) and females audiences. The bold simplistic style helps to create a memorable image, strengthening her brand identity and allowing her audience to recognise her products that conform to this style instantly.

The red white and blue theme used across the digipack (the back cover is red) along with the front cover can also have connotations to America. This is continued by the haristyle which has symbolism of Hollywood actresses. The fact Lana Del Rey is a typically American artist and the rooftop in the background can also conform to a typical American house creates an almost utopian environment; this being a subject she has discussed and sang about in previous albums.

Therefore, this American theme creates synergy with the music video for the ‘Lust for Life’ music video. The establishing shot features Lana stood in centre frame in front of an American flag assisted by the lyrics ‘climb up the H of the Hollywood sign’. This is a reference to the story of Peg Entwistle who committed suicide by throwing herself off the ‘H’ in the Hollywood sign. The music video draws a lot of similarities to Peg’s story and myth and the cultural reference can appeal to the indie audience who enjoy intellectual stimulation that this reference can provide.

Also throughout the music video, the red white and blue theme can again be continued through her costume of the blue flower crown (flowers are commonly used amongst her iconography) and the bold red lipstick and nail polish. This creates synergy to the way she was dressed in the cover for the ‘Born to Die’ digipack.

Overall how has this helped me?
This has helped me as I have realised the importance to not only create consistency throughout the digipack or the magazine poster as one product, but to make consistency throughout the whole campaign and therefore synergy. This helps to strengthen the brand image for the particular campaign but also allows the audience to establish the style and hence recognise further iconography of this style.

Furthermore, the use of symbolic and semantic codes that I have seen utilised in previous research is utilised especially well in this circumstance. As Lana Del Rey is known to be quite a controversial speaker and to discuss topics that are meaningful in her life, the use of the symbolic codes relating to the Peg Entwistle’s allows the audience to feel as if they are emphasising with her more as a character. This strengthens their relationship with her as an artist.