da lukka117 | Feb 6, 2024 | Star Wars
Star Wars Jedi: Survivor has picked up a big win, as the game’s soundtrack was honored with a Grammy during this year’s music industry awards event. Recognized for Best Score Soundtrack for Video Games and Other Interactive Media category, the award went to composers Stephen Barton and Gordy Haab.
Developed by Respawn Interactive, the sequel to Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order faced stiff competition as it was nominated alongside Stray Gods: The Roleplaying Musical, God of War Ragnarok, and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II. According to the Recording Academy, this category “recognizes excellence in score soundtrack albums comprised predominately of original scores and created specifically for, or as a companion to, a current video game or other interactive media released within the qualification period.”
The Best Video Game Soundtrack Grammy is a new award, and Jedi: Survivor is only the second game to have won it. Introduced in 2022 alongside several other new categories, the first game to win the Grammy was Assassin’s Creed Valhalla. Beyond Star Wars Jedi: Survivor, Stray Gods, and Call of Duty, you can check out GameSpot’s feature on the best video game soundtracks of 2023 in case you’re looking for a few albums to make your day better. Star Wars and Stray Gods made the cut, as did other rousing scores from Final Fantasy 16, Hi-Fi Rush, and Chants of Sennaar.
da lukka117 | Feb 6, 2024 | Star Wars
So many things come in threes, even Star Wars trilogies. Three sets of three sequential space science fiction films:
- The original trilogy, Star Wars: A New Hope (1977), The Empire Strikes Back (1980), and “Return of the Jedi” (1983)
- The prequel trilogy, The Phantom Menace (1999), Attack of the Clones (2002), and Revenge of the Sith (2005)
- The newest trilogy, The Force Awakens (2015), Star Wars: The Last Jedi (2017), and Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker
So in honor of all of those threes, here are three ways that Star Wars changed the entertainment business.
First, in the late 1970s, Star Wars revived the marketplace for space science fiction as a genre. Space adventures had found wide audiences in the 1930s through characters such as Buck Rogers and Flash Gordon that began in short stories or comic strips and developed through movie serials and radio programs. The toys from Buck Rogers even have a holiday story of their own. But by the 1950s, space science fiction appeared mostly in alien monster movies or as children’s television programming that was cheaply produced and melodramatic. The unexpected success of the first Star Wars movie in 1977 inspired other production houses to rediscover space adventures as a bankable genre. For instance, the planned television series Star Trek: Phase II was revamped and greenlit as Star Trek: The Motion Picture (1979). The success of science fiction and fantasy movies in the 1980s and beyond owes much to Star Wars.
Second, in addition to reviving the genre, Star Wars fundamentally changed how licensed toys and memorabilia were created and marketed. After Star Wars creator George Lucas initially had trouble finding a manufacturer for toys associated with the movie, the Kenner Products toy company signed on. Their 3 ¾-inch action figures, created to be small and affordable, became a runaway success. In fact, Kenner became overwhelmed by the demand. In a true story that has become legend in toy marketing, Kenner actually dealt with a Christmastime shortage of action figures in 1977 by selling “Early Bird Certificate Packages” through toy stores. The mail-in raincheck entitled the bearer to action figures that would not be available until the spring of 1978. The package also included a cardboard display for all twelve characters—encouraging buyers to order complete sets.
da lukka117 | Feb 6, 2024 | Branding
Contrary to popular belief, companies don’t sell products. They sell experiences, feelings, and ideologies. Businesses with amazing brands like Coca-Cola know exactly what experience they want customers to have when they make (or consider) a purchase. Being able to control the purchasing experience at this level is the power of branding at work.
In a nutshell, branding is the process of researching, developing, and applying a distinctive feature or set of features to your organization so that consumers can begin to associate your brand with your products or services.
Branding is in social media captions, billboard color palettes, and the materials brands use for their packaging. Companies that create strong brands know that their brand identity needs to live everywhere. They know their names extend far beyond the label and can entice consumers to choose their products out of a lineup of options.
da lukka117 | Feb 6, 2024 | Branding
Brand architecture defines the role of each brand and acts as a guideline for the interrelationship between the brands in your organization.
When thinking about adding a new brand or product, it is crucial to understand where it will sit within your organization. In other words, you will have to define what type of brand architecture you will choose for your portfolio of brands.
To simplify the concept, imagine that your organization is a house:
- Where will your brand be located within the architecture of that house?
- Which role will each brand play?
- What will be its relationship with other brands, if any?
The answers to these questions will guide you in choosing the adequate brand architecture framework for your organization.
da lukka117 | Feb 6, 2024 | Monster Energy
Monster Energy AMA Supercross opened up the eastern regional swing of its 2024 tour on Saturday, and it’d be Monster Energy/Pro Circuit/Kawasaki’s Austin Forkner who came away with the top prize, dominating the Round 5 250 ESX main event at Detroit’s Ford Field with a wire-to-wire 1st place run.
Forkner’s victory put an exclamation point on a difficult ’23 Monster Energy AMA Supercross season that saw the Missourian miss the entire season with a crash-related injury in the start of his very first contest at Anaheim (Calif.) 1.
“It’s just the first race, but I haven’t had the (leaders’) red plate since 2019 I think,” said an elated Forkner on the podium.
Joining Forkner on the 250 ESX Detroit podium was rookie racer Daxton Bennick (Monster Energy/Star Racing/Yamaha) in 3rd place – Bennick’s very first pro supercross race and podium finish.
In 450 class racing action Monster Energy was held off the box for the first time this season, though solid performances were put in by Cooper Webb (Monster Energy/Star Racing/Yamaha) in 4th and Jason Anderson (Monster Energy/Kawasaki) in 5th.
da lukka117 | Feb 6, 2024 | Monster Energy
Monster Energy congratulates its team of snow sports athletes on a strong performance in the 2024 Toyota U.S. Grand Prix, the iconic freeski and snowboard halfpipe and slopestyle FIS World Cup at Mammoth Mountain, California.
In the Men’s Snowboard Halfpipe contest, 22-year-old Yuto Totsuka from Yokohama, Japan, took the gold medal. The Men’s Freeski Slopestyle final saw 25-year-old Alex Hall from Park City, Utah, claim the victory.
From January 31 to February 3, the Toyota U.S. Grand Prix at Mammoth Mountain featured the world’s best winter sports athletes competing in both halfpipe and slopestyle competitions. The iconic venue in California has hosted the prestigious Grand Prix more than a dozen times. Sanctioned by the International Ski and Snowboard Federation (FIS), the contest awarded FIS World Cup points for the 2024 season.
