Sabrina Carpenter changed one thing about her branding. Right after, she became a household name 🚀

What can we learn about branding from one of the pop girls who had the biggest growth to stardom this year after over a decade of hard work?

Oct 10, 2024

Sabrina Carpenter first dipped her toes into entertainment when she submitted a YouTube video to Miley Cyrus’ talent search called “Miley’s World: Be A Star”. One of her videos for the competition lives on the official Miley Cyrus YouTube channel with 7.5 million views.

While she didn’t win, it was from this competition that Sabrina Carpenter caught the attention of Disney who would then put her in their new show “Girl Meets World”, which aired from 2014-2017.

As her acting career took off, she signed a deal with Disney’s Hollywood Records at 14-years-old and would remain in that deal from 2014 to 2021.

She did not have an overnight hit like Olivia Rodrigo with her debut album, “SOUR”. Instead, Sabrina Carpenter had a slow burn. She described herself as “the turtle” when accepting the “Rising Star” award at Variety’s Hitmaker event in 2023.

I am paraphrasing, but she spoke about her frustrations with seeing those around her have overnight success. For her, it took 6 albums before she finally broke mainstream. I personally think that a slow burn is sometimes better because it prevents you from being a one-hit wonder since it forces you to develop the skills necessary to hold the weight of a million eyes, once you do strike gold.

But what exactly changed between her two recent albums, “emails i can’t send” and “Short ‘n Sweet”?

“emails i can’t send” was a slow burn success and had a few hit songs, like “Feather”s and “Nonsense”. She began going viral for her alternating outros during the “Nonsense” song at her concerts. This was the first time she jumped on my radar as an artist and not just a former Disney actress.

She began building a brand with her tour for “emails i can’t send” with her girly corsets with the iconic go-go boots and heart cut-out corset.

You know that you have an iconic look if someone can dress like you for Halloween and it is immediately identifiable. I call this the “Halloween Costume Theory” in marketing and have made a few videos about it.

But the biggest difference between her heart cut-out corsets and the “Short ‘n Sweet” branding that sky rocketed her to household-name fame would be the repetition and world-building.

“Branding is a promise,” as some marketers say. If you are advertising a movie as a comedy, you better make people laugh. If you advertise a movie as a comedy and then they show up and it’s “Marley and Me” then you broke that promise.

I personally think of branding as 1. repetition, then 2. world-building. Some artists or creators do this by wearing a specific outfit or color over and over again. An artist who comes to mind would be “The Dare” and his suit and tie.

Sabrina Carpenter locked down the “repetition” part of branding when she wore her heart corsets and go-go boots, over and over again. But she took it up a notch with the world-building when she released “Short ‘n Sweet”.

She created a world that is set in the 60’s. Her album roll-out was a master class in branding. She leaned into a jaded Stepford wives aesthetic. She refused to break that fourth wall.

What inspired this post was that I was playing her CD on my CD player today and was scrolling through her booklet of lyrics. They created it to look like a magazine from the 60’s. With each page looking like an editorial spread or print ad, right out of a “Mad Men” episode.

She organically went viral on all platforms with her new album but did not push a TikTok dance, like most artists might. If she did, that would be a break of the promise. TikTok didn’t exist in the 60’s. Instead she focused on creating visuals, outfits and an arena tour that makes you feel like you just stepped into an episode of
”Bewitched” or “The Brady Bunch”.

Even the opening of her tour is her running out in a shower towel with her famous Brigitte Bardot curls. It is like a scene out of a 60’s sitcom.

While she picked up momentum with her “emails i can’t send” album and tour, she really broke into mainstream fame when audiences understood the world she had built.

Even her VMA’s performance was based in a 60’s world. She danced alongside an astronaut and made out with an alien. It was campy. But guess when America put man on the moon? In 1969. Her performance was an homage to the 60’s.

She made a promise through repetition. And she has lived up to that promise with every step of her highly-acclaimed album roll out.

If you are an artist, creator or brand then think about what you can repeat over-and-over again. Is it a look, an outfit or a haircut? Is it a setting that you film in or a phrase that you say?
Once you figure that out, then decide how to expand on that? What world does that repetition exist in? Can you build this brand without breaking the fourth wall?

Sabrina Carpenter mastered repetition in branding when she found her iconic hair and heart cut-out corsets. But she built the world around it with her 60’s “Short ‘N Sweet” roll-out. She promised her audience something and she has lived up to it.

That is the difference between repetition and branding. Repetition is the first step to being memorable but the brand happens when you create a world that your work or persona exists in, and don’t stray away.

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