Like JLS, the Spice Girls, and many before them, the band had their own calendars, Christmas cards, beach towels, and much, much more. By Christmas 2011, One Direction had branded, well, everything, with their trademark. Nothing was more evident of this than the fact that their mentor, Simon Cowell, offered the five-some a £2million recording deal, double what they would have received had they won.
With 2010 X-Factor winner Matt Cardle's career self-imploding before it began due to his publicly declared negative perceptions of the show, and runner-up Rebecca Ferguson's career taking a softer, more critically acclaimed route, it was third-place band One Direction who became the true winners of the 2010 series of the show, commercially speaking.
