Prior to its demise, Tower Records pioneered the music industry’s retail business in 1960 starting with vinyl records. Fast expansion paired with an emerging music scene made Tower Records $1 billion in annual sales. However, as technology advanced, online piracy took over and wiped out Tower Records by 2006.
Redevelop, rebrand, and reimagine Tower Records as the powerhouse it once was in the music industry, while staying true to the brand equity that brings nostalgia to its core audience.
Inclusively exclusive in music, and art. Dabbling in every aspect of the entertainment industry for our community, except the bull.
A venue inclusive of everyone giving a voice to the people and an opportunity for those who dare. An exclusive regional location dedicated to the culture of our community and celebrating the differences that built it.
Brand Strategy, Copywriting & Editing, Video Editing
September 2019 / 3.5 Months
Brand review, history, direction, promise, re-branding objective, soul, mission, personality, personas, market analysis, competitive analysis, brand extensions, & 30-second ad spot
To futureproof our concept, we aimed to revamp Tower with all things music. Keeping true to their original colors and slogan helped maintain brand equity, but dropping ‘Records’ opened new avenues into other markets.
We discovered our concept by breaking down music itself and how we communicate sound. Through exploring ideas for what our vision of the brand was— and after hundreds of iterations— we fell in love with the visual language of one specific design.
Quinn provided the vision for the project and kept the team on track with all deadlines. He understood the strengths of each member and delegated the work accordingly.
With a strong background in visual design, Emily contributed brilliantly to the art direction and overall design of the project.
“More logos, more iterations... Rivers, rivers, and rivers!” Roger oversaw the project from start to finish and encouraged us to explore more ideas and even more ideas after that.
This class offered exceptional insights into the world of branding and proved very beneficial to my design skills and mindset. It was, by far, one of my favorite experiences at AAU because of the camaraderie between the teams and Roger. I learned a lot about teamwork and delegation, visual design with different mediums, and made some really good friends along the way. I’m grateful for the ethos Roger instilled in us early on from his experience in advertising.
