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Marketing lessons of Queen

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There was no shortage of good musicians in Britain back in 1971, when Freddie Mercury co-founded the rock group Queen. But what shy, naïve young Zanzibar-born Fred (birth name Farrokh Bulsara) had in spades was talent as a showman. He got a laugh out of his classmates at Ealing Art College when he announced he was dropping out to become a rock star.

But he quickly found a band that needed him. It had already gone through several name changes (Smile, 1984, Free Ibex, Wreckage, Sour Milk Sea) in three unsuccessful years. Three years later Mercury had renamed and reinvented himself and the band, turning those also-rans into Queen, which became one of the world’s most successful groups ever.

Such inborn marketing nous has inspired Aubrey Malden, a schoolboy contemporary of Mercury’s all those years ago, to put together a multi-media presentation called Mercury Rising, in collaboration with business partner John Griffin, about the marketing lessons of Queen. Malden is a marketing man who’s lived in Johannesburg for 20 years, working for some of the top agencies as creative director and CEO, and now operates a strategic brand consultancy – forensic marketing.

 “The band’s success was built on superb marketing – and Fred was the brand director,” adds Malden, who remained in touch until the performer’s death in 1991. “He treated everything as a campaign. He understood key marketing principles and how to implement them. With incredible attention to detail he identified the target audience then controlled positioning, brand name, brand promise – every aspect of brand management. Fred was an instinctive marketer. He even designed Queen’s logo, something few bands have.”

The band’s name had more to do with the eponymous fashion magazine than any sexual orientation. “It’s not just the name,” said Mercury. “It’s the pictures, the articles, the whole thing. This is how we want to behave. This is what we’re about. We want to shock and be outrageous.”

Changing his name was “part of assuming a new skin,” said lead guitarist Brian May. “For the public he’d become a god.” 
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