This
time last week we spotted One Direction filming their new video right outside
the W+K office. Here are the boys kicking
a ball about behind Hanbury Street. 

With
the launch of their own movie and the recent Channel 4 documentary “Crazy about
One Direction”, these guys are one of the biggest brands in the country. The
idolatry surrounding the following is obsessive, even parasitic.

But
how have they done it? In short: access.

The
boys were set up with individual Twitter accounts way back during the final
rounds of The X Factor. Today each has over ten million followers. Most of
these are the self-christened “Directioners”. Twitter is their temple and they
are willing to make sacrifices for their worship, spending all their savings on
concert tickets and waiting hours outside a hotel just in the hope of a five second
glimpse of the 1D demi-gods. This is no exaggeration. These girls openly use
religious terms to articulate their adoration. To quote one dedicated
“Directioner”: “Twitter is like a prayer place. When you go to a prayer place
you feel connected to God. On Twitter you feel connected to 1D.” 

This
is their way of getting behind the blacked out windows of the tour van. The
narratives of 1D's lives are recorded for the immediate gratification of the
following. The girls wake up, find out what Harry Styles is having for breakfast,
and get an instant fix. As another Directioner admits: “Twitter feeds your
addiction constantly…it just means they know you exist.” The second part of
this statement is the most revealing. Can Niall really remember @jodie97?
Probably not. Unless she’s yelled in his face at the front of every concert,
but then even a full arm tattoo probably wouldn’t be enough to stand out. Lots
of the Directioners have 1D tattoos. 
Nonetheless, Twitter makes them feel acknowledged by the band, and this
in turn is a marketing triumph for the brand.

For
now at least there doesn’t seem to be an end point. They have their own dolls,
their own make-up line. Make-up and boy bands? Another clever example of
catering to the audience. Boys may not be into make-up but the Directioners
sure are, and any merchandise is another gift from heaven. 

Interestingly
it’s more creative and interactive than just buying the products and tweeting
text. Fans create both artwork and vocabulary around the cult. Looking at the
documentary I learned a new word: “Shipping”. According to Urban Dictionary shipping
is:  a term used to describe fan fictions
that take previously created characters and put them as a pair. It usually
refers to romantic relationships, but it can refer platonic ones as well. (Just
think of "shipping" as short for "relationSHIP"). Some
Directioners are ‘shipping’ Louis and Harry into a gay item: Larry Stylinson. They
draw intimate pictures of the boys as a couple and post them on the 1D Tumblr
page. They even write erotic narratives à la E.L James to caption
artwork. Fifty years ago this would have been illegal. It’s maybe a nice
example of the acceptance of homosexuality, even if these girls only want them
to be gay to lessen the pain of the boys getting real life girlfriends.  

I
suppose the brand success of One Direction might actually be down to doing
simple stuff well, really well. Letting the fans in, creating genuine stories
to increase involvement and never fully shutting the gate behind them. It’s a
huge contrast to the old days where stars were governed by strict PR control
and wouldn’t give an interview without a script. Maybe the sentiment behind it
is the same as Beatlemania, but it is so much more intense due to Twitter’s
opportunity for transparency.

[Thoughts
from Planning newbie Alexa]