Media Framing as Brand Positioning: Analysis of Coverage Linking Phish to the Grateful Dead

Abstract

This dissertation uses mass communication research about framing and positioning to explore media framing as brand positioning and analyze coverage that links the band Phish to the Grateful Dead. Based on content analysis, textual analysis, and interviews, this dissertation explores the framing of Phish--formed in Vermont in 1983 and often compared or connected to the Grateful Dead, a band formed in California in 1965-- in a popular mainstream music magazine and beyond, placing particular interest in how this framing intersects with positioning the band vis-à-vis the Grateful Dead. By exploring framing of a commercially-oriented subject that media coverage regularly constructs in terms of or in relation to another more recognizable subject, this project aims to contribute to mass communication theory and our understanding of media in society. Through comprehension of media about Phish and Phish/Grateful Dead connections, this dissertation studies how, why, and with what result stories are told through such associative coverage. After reviewing previous works regarding Phish, positioning, and framing, media content is closely examined and discussed. A case study of Phish coverage employed a three-pronged multi-method approach focusing on content (Part A) and context (Part B). Part A1 is a content analysis of all Phish album reviews from Rolling Stone. This included 12 album reviews spanning from 1995-2009 and written by eight authors. Findings showed that the majority of reviews connected Phish to the Grateful Dead, that the connections were constructed through various link forms, and that Phish were connected most to the Grateful Dead. Part A2 is a textual analysis of all Rolling Stone coverage of Phish. This included coverage from 1992-2010 and 305 items such as magazine covers, articles, and letters to the editor. Findings identified five frames and four subframes used to portray Phish. Part B is a series of interviews involving a primary group of 19 individuals who have significantly written, edited, and/or published content about Phish; and a secondary group of five individuals who added valuable context for understanding the issues. Findings included discussion of media conventions in general (journalistic) and specific (Phish) terms, and interpretation of the Phish/Grateful Dead link as a powerful, oversimplified reference point. About Phish, the project found they are an entity that innately defies standard molds and thus makes for an extraordinary and fruitful case study. Their naturally complex nature and paradoxical success makes them a potentially perplexing challenge for people in media to understand and address. Media often use the Grateful Dead motif in Phish coverage as a potent method of information assimilation to reconceive simply Phish's unusual combination of characteristics via something more familiar and accessible. In terms of the literature, the collection of media content illustrates framing of the band via socially shared and persistent organizing principles that symbolically structure Phish's character (Reese, 2003). The collection of content also illustrates positioning of Phish through portrayals that are often oversimplified and relate new information to familiar knowledge. The combination of literature on framing and positioning offers a productive explanation of media coverage about Phish, since both processes overlap in their tendency to oversimplistically relate X to Y. Thus, this dissertation's findings suggest a new way of thinking about cumulative media framing's ability to result in and serve as brand positioning, which may happen out of a brand's design.