Numerous Market Segments, Multiple Segments

During this brand reformulation, John traded in his feathers for designer Versace duds (although sequins still appear from time to time as part of the image). But he got back to the core of his brand- great piano based rock and roll, entrenched in his understanding of the musical masters. “I stress (to young musicians) to listen to the great masters who came before us,” he said at the 2003 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremonies. He did just that, and in the process figured out how to manipulate the peripheral cues (from personality to staging and dress) to present his core strengths best, rather than use them to cover up and distract from what really makes him great-his music.

Reaching Multiple Segments with One Underlying Theme One secret behind Elton John’s abundant success and mass appeal is good old market segmentation strategy. Over the years, he has reached a number of audience types, spanning beyond traditional age, income, and gender boundaries. In the past decade, he has attracted kindergarten age fans and their grandparents with “Can You Feel the Love Tonight” and “Circle of Life” from Disney’s megahit, The Lion King. After conquering Hollywood by winning an Academy Award for his work on The Lion King, he took on Broadway, collaborating with Tim Rice on Aida. “I was scared to do Aida because I hadn’t done anything like that before,” recalls John, “but the scary things are the most enjoyable, and you need the scary; you can’t be complacent.” He has been anything but complacent over the years. He has stayed fresh and relevant to numerous market segments with intense cobranding efforts. Not only did he tour with Billy Joel to offer audiences around the globe a piano recital like none had ever seen; he released duets with LeAnn Rimes (hitting country audiences), Moby (reaching dance music audiences), Miss Piggy (connecting with the kid in all of us), Janet Jackson (hitting R&B audiences), and Luciano Pavarotti (finding classical music lovers), to name a few. His Duets album teamed him up with everyone from k.d. lang and Little Richard to Bonnie Raitt and Don Henley.