 Bah, what's up everybody once again, it's Brand Man Sean, and today we're going over the branding and evolution of Nicki Minaj. And first I want to start off by reading a quote. You can't come into this business thinking it's all about music. I just have to take control of my brand because longevity is very important to me. Everything I do, I do with business in my head. If you're not savvy, this business will eat you alive. I think that's an extremely important quote, especially coming from Nicki Minaj and especially because her brand is probably the primary reason for her success. Not to say that she's not talented as an artist or anything like that, but her branding moves have been so powerful that if you wanted to break it down, which we're about to, you'll see how her brand took her places that a regular rap skill set could not. So we're going to go over three strategies Nicki has used. But first I want to go over the three brand images that she's had throughout her career. When Nicki first started off, a lot of people didn't really know her like that. Her style was a lot more street around the way girl. As you could expect for a lot of early age up and coming young rappers from the streets. But then when she got signed to Young Money and she really started to get some traction, she went into this cocoon and rebranded as this ultimate pop princess hero. Anime, Barbie, and bright colors was a huge part of that inspiration. And this was important to her, particularly for that long term play. Particularly because you don't see a lot of rappers make it into the pop world. She's definitely the first woman to go as far as she has, primarily as a rapper. All of that had to do with that Barbie image and that entire phase where she created that character. Think about a song like Starships. It's the least street song that she's probably ever done. As a matter of fact, they have a kids bop version of Starships. Near the end of this second phase, she also even pushed into American Idol, just constantly being positioned in front of the other side of the industry. And what's so important about that phase is getting out there and getting that awareness from people who normally aren't really looking and checking for hip-hop artists to get a look at you and then bring them back into your world. Allowed her to have a lot more stability because we already know the hip-hop world is fickle. And especially when it comes to women, it seems like it could only be one at a time. That solidified her fan base because she's so far and beyond where any other women has achieved. Even with Rimi Ma going up against her and kind of threatening her hip-hop stance, if she lost their main hip-hop fans, she would have a lot of fans left who don't even really care about the nuances and aggression and what goes on at the core of the hip-hop world and community. This is that longevity that she mentioned in that quote earlier. And her third phase is pretty simple. Third phase represented more of her mature, evolved, and sexy woman. Timing was perfect because she was getting out of a long-term relationship and that's always a great time, it seems, for women to reinvent themselves. Society understands it. Media loves it for a great narrative. And that kind of gets us to where we are today. And now with three strategies that has helped her out in her career. Number one is brand association slash partnerships. Signing the Young Money was great for her, especially the amount of effort and energy Lil Wayne was giving her and Drake at the time. Being aligned with them basically allowed her to have cool points. Same that it did for Drake. When you'd have brand association, you are basically borrowing someone's fan base, someone's perception. It's basically like if this person approves, then they must be cool. That's why companies do partnerships. That's why certain stars take pictures together, even though they know they aren't friends. It's just a part of the game. And that brand association is very important for her second strategy, which was a unique brand identity. And the reason I say that is because the most powerful part of Nicki Minaj's brand is hands down her voice and the creation of the Roman character. All these crazy voices she was doing, nothing like it comparable in hip hop that has been done, especially not on her level. As far as the unique delivery is more powerful than amigos and futures. As a matter of fact, it's so powerful and it's so out there that you don't really see anybody else doing it like that. And the reason why is because it sounds crazy. Just point blank. A lot of people's first time hearing that, you're going to think, it sounded crazy. But that's what got people's attention. And then when you add the brand association that she had with Young Money, it allowed people to at least say, okay, there has to be something here. But at the same time, you're getting into Mahatma Gandhi situation where I basically always think back to one of my favorite quotes of is, first they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win. That was basically the process Nicki Minaj went through in terms of that flow. People were definitely laughing at making fun of it, but it also helped her get more and more attention, helped to get out there, helped more people find out about her. I'm just waiting to find out how she came up with the idea to really stay consistent with that flow and take it seriously. Because in my mind, back when there was nothing like this before for her to come out into the world seriously doing this, that took a lot of courage. And then the rest of the unique brand identity things I kind of alluded to when I was talking about the second phase of her rebranding. But number three, cultivating a strong core fan base by branding her followers, the barbs. It was already perfect because she was walking around looking like a real life Barbie. It allowed her fans to not only just watch the world she created, but feel a part of the world she created. And as she continuously cultivated that fan base, that allowed her to go from fans to actually having ambassadors. And this is why when people come for Nikki with that negativity or Rihanna or Beyonce with the beehive, their ambassadors, they ain't having it. Because you're no longer threatening just Nikki at this point. You're threatening the entire world that they created together. I could go on about Nikki for days, but I won't. If you guys feel like I miss anything, definitely put it in the comments below. Other than that, that's it. Y'all know what to do. 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