![]() Trey is younger than most ACs and right around the hip hop audience age.Marketing/positioning strategy: Keep the soulful singing that hooked them on "I Gotta Make It." Ditch the braids for a more mature look. Trey is an R&B artist, which is an AC-driven musical genre.With the success of "Can't Help But Wait" and a growing following of younger ACs and hip hop music lovers, Trey's team took off with their new positioning and marketing strategy, which I believe goes something like this: The success of "Can't Help But Wait" and a new positioning strategy helped catapult Trey's career into what it has become. The song peaked within the Top 20 of the Hot 100 at #14 and was nominated for Best Male R&B Vocal Performance at the 51st Annual Grammy Awards. "Can't Help But Wait" was a commercial success. This strategy allowed him to cater to the younger AC audience from "I Gotta Make It" and helped him continue to build his hip hop audience. The failure of "Wonder Woman" to impact radio forced a later release of Trey's album and his second single, "Can't Help But Wait," was released to AC and hip hop stations alike. The album - and Trey - were now being marketed and promoted on urban radio stations (aka hip hop stations). The song, like many on the album, had a more hip hop feel. Trey's first single of the album, "Wonder Woman," featured a braided and cool Trey rapping and singing. His second album, "Trey Day," was still a commercial flop (becoming his second album to not be certified by the RIAA) but the album was the start of Trey's transition to fit his age and find a new audience. Trey's older sound and mature song lyrics didn't change the fact that he had a babyface and donned braids, both making him look young, inexperienced and a little thuggish. ACs respect and are loyal to polished, older artist (and I use the term loyal with this group loosely because they are rarely loyal to new artists). What they didn't take into account when they started the positioning and promotion of the album is this: The AC demographic the look of an artist is everything. In PR terms, they failed at positioning Trey for success. They just forgot to make his appearance match the needs of the target audience. ![]() Trey's first album, "Gotta Make It," was designed to feature Trey as a young adult contemporary (AC) artist. Trey's failure was due in large part to the failure of his team to recognize that his look and sound didn't match his age or the audience they were targeting. ![]() It however is not surprising - at least for those of us in the PR, marketing and advertising industry. A bit disconcerting considering he had the stamp of approval from the Queen of Soul herself, Ms. ![]() Tremaine Aldon Neverson's (bka Trey Songz) first album was a commercial flop, selling a mere 40,000 albums its first week and never being certified by the RIAA (for the record, I was in the number. ![]()
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