It’s April. Spring. Renewal, growth, and fresh beginnings. Marketers up & down the country are tending the buds of 2025 brand plans. Data is being nurtured into insights, insights into breakthrough innovations. New growth opportunities are being unlocked.
And if you’re looking for inspiration…
Beyoncé’s move into Country confirmed it for me. I don’t think there’s another artist today that understands the commercial power of innovation – and the nuts & bolts of how to execute well – quite like her. Well, maybe Taylor Swift, but let’s focus on Beyoncé for now.
Her decades-long career has been an expert masterclass in long-term brand building and Act II: Cow Boy is just the next step on that journey.
Here’s why. Marketers take note…
How to innovate like Beyoncé
Consumer understanding
Market opportunity
Beyoncé knows a market opportunity when she sees one. Taylor Swift’s Eras tour suggests the Country scene is not what it was back in 2016, when Beyoncé was ridiculed for her involvement in the Country Music Awards. Country music has since welcomed a new generation of younger fans whose views aren’t blinkered like the traditional fanbase. Yet representation for women of colour in country is lagging behind. That’s the market opportunity.
Insight
Beyoncé understood Country music is growing in popularity and attracting new fans. But where to start? Now, I usually don’t like insights that include the brand. But if the brand is world famous, I’m ok with it. Familiarity sells. Beyoncé knew she could leverage the popularity of brand Beyoncé & her musical style to make the switch to Country easier.
Strategy
Recruitment
By moving into an adjacent and fast-growing category, Beyoncé is opening a whole new revenue stream. This is a perfect Recruitment strategy, appealing to a huge new audience, while staying true to her existing brand. You can easily see how this innovation makes sense for the Beyoncé brand. Beyoncé already has the elements of a great country star. She is an incredible performer. A master storyteller & songwriter, She’s from Texas. She’s polite, genuine & down-to-earth. She’s not jumping on a bandwagon; she got every right to move into Country – and to tap into her global audience to grow the category.
Revenue Growth Management
The move is also a great Revenue Growth Management strategy. Usually done to tidy up problems in the product portfolio where the price pack architecture isn’t working, Revenue Growth Management is a long-term brand-building play. It works by increasing the base appeal of a business, bringing in new customers who haven’t bought into it before, on the assumption that if they like the product then they will buy more.
Country music is a great incremental revenue stream for Beyoncé. Die-hard fans always buy her album. Country fans will now buy her album. And the coverage it is getting will bring back lapsed Pop fans.
Execution
Category Entry Points
Her strong use of Category Entry Points has helped Beyoncé execute this move seamlessly. Her album art appropriates immediately relevant Country imagery. Her heavy use of Country covers will help her appeal immediately to existing Country fans & media channels, with well-known material getting more single airplay.
Key Brand Assets
She introduces these new Country assets whilst keeping up her Key Brand Assets – her own image, catchy Pop tracks, and her signature values of empowerment and social impact.
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