Music is a powerful tool and marketers are aware that it can be used to capture ones attention through utilizing it in their marketing and communication strategies. Especially to create a hype on multiple media platforms. In today’s digital era that means music can be used for TV, Radio, internet and social media campaigns. Many companies tend to integrate famous artists and their music into their brands commercial to promote a company’s product or service. Some are effective in doing so and others are not so effective. According to Dever (2018), “Memory is just one of the many benefits music offers to advertisers. From creating moving messages to sending out calls-of-action, music has the ability to dramatically change the way you experience an ad.” The main goal of a company is to use music that will catch the consumer’s attention to give their brand the visibility it needs.” Music can be used in many different ways to promote a brand, it all depends on the needs of a product or service. An organizations marketing department can use a song, a jingle, or have an artist create a song just for the product or service. Below are some examples of how music is used create marketing ads that get used in all marketing and communication platforms. Using an artist’s music gives the artist an incentive to promote themselves, their music and a brand which in return increases sales for both parties. “Music is able to reach its fans through different channels: digital platforms including all online service (social media sites, blogs, and online music platforms), and event platforms.” (Jentetics, 2012).
An great example when music was used to promote a product and its artist is when Apple successfully utilized the song by the JET’s called “Are you gonna be my girl” in their commercial to sell their iPod. The JETS are a group from Australia and were not known to U.S consumers at the time. Apple was able to promote their IPod and the Jets received visibility worldwide. Steve jobs is credited to make bands and their songs famous like “The Black Eyed Peas: “Hey Mama”, U2: “Vertigo”, The Casers: “Jerk it Out”, Daft Punk: “Technologic, Feist: “1234”, Ting Ting’s: Shut up and Let Me Go”, Yael Naiml:”New Soul”, Chairlift: “Bruises” and Chilly Gonzales: “Never Stop”. (Andrew, 2011).
In 2017 Android use John Parr’s song “St. Elmo’s Fire” to promote its brand in one of their commercials which many thought was clever. It made consumer want to go out and buy an Android phone. People were actually tweeting about how the commercial wants them to ditch their IPhone and buy an Android. (Jerry, 2016). It’s not just tech companies that are using music in their commercials. Estee Lauder used Bruno Mars song “Just the way you are” for their women’s perfume called Modern Muse. The commercial was dubbed in different languages across the globe. These are just a few that I have named but there are a list of companies that incorporate music into their commercials and consumers are able to connect to these brands because of music. All the commercials that have been mentioned thus far can be found on YouTube.
Do other organizations from other countries use music in their commercials to conect with consumers, and how? Here are a couple of examples. Most recently a company named Vogue Jewelers in Sri Lanka used an famous Indian playback singer named Sonu Nigam in their commercial to promote their jewelry. The singer didn’t use any of his music famous songs in the commercial. It is a song that was specifically created for the company. This company had the right idea to connect the brand with a song. This ad was posted on YouTube on Oct 21, 2018 and has received 458,665 views in just 22 days. The brand was successful in receiving viability for their products.
The ad below creates an emotional connection by using a serious issue of Alzheimer, a product, and playing an emotional tune in the background. The ad flawlessly combines the three things: the brand, the consumer and music. Although there are no famous artists utilized in this video, the music is beautifully composed and sends a heartfelt message. Thanks to Ehsaan Noorani for the link to this video. This commercial was posted on February 2017 and has 3,495,134 views to date. (Subtitles on this YouTube video)
Can consumer be connected to a brand through the use of music? As stated by Byerly, 2017, this can be accomplished, “A brand and an artist need to have a mutual relationship, each giving value to the other in order to make a truly holistic campaign.” Organizations that utilize the use of music across their marketing channels are more likely to see an increase in engagement of their commercials on all platforms because consumers are likely to connect to the song playing on the commercial. The key here is for an organization to know its “marketing goals, potential, define a target audience, create a SWOT Analysis, know your competition, identify your competitive edge, get creative, check your big idea, and communicate your message through different platforms.” (Kareh, 2017) It’s not advisable for all organizations to use music in their media platforms. Music should be used as long the marketing department of an organization is able make a connection between the brand and the music and the consumer only then it is a smart move for an organizations marketing department to use music to promote their products or services. Apple and other companies have proved how music can be used as a tool to sell products and services to its consumers. At the end, it all adds up. Music is an emotional connection between consumers and their brands which gets utilized in integrated marketing strategies and campaigns.
1. What do you think, should organizations be using music and artists in commercials to promote their brand? If yes why? If not why?
2. Would you feel closer to a brand if a brand used one of your favorite songs in their commercials on all media platforms? If yes, why would you feel a connection between the brand and music? If not, what do your think brands should do to get that connection with you?
3. Do you feel Apple and other companies use of music has helped their brand image or not?
4. Are you someone whose more likely to stop and pay attention to a commercial that incorporates your favorite song or artist in their advertisements?
5. Do you think its important for a brand to connect its product/service to a song that is written especially for that items being advertised? Should a company ask an artist to write a song especially for their product and service as they do in other countries?
6. Do you think you would connect to a brand if they used a famous celebrity and created a song or took a serious issue and played a heart touching tune in the background? Which product are you more likely to buy and which commercial are you more likely to watch?
References:
Agarwal, A. (2018) How digital marketing is changing the music industry. Inc. Retrieved from: https://www.inc.com/aj-agrawal/how-digital-marketing-is-changing-the-music-industry.html
Byerly, W. (2017).The music bridge – effectively connecting to consumers. Flytevu. Retrieved from https://www.flytevu.com/blog-post/connecting-customers-to-brand-through-music/
Dever, S. (2018). The relationship between music and advertising. Blog. Retrieved from https://www.chatterbuzzmedia.com/blog/the-relationship-between-music-and-advertising-5-ways-music-enhance-commercials/
Hampp, A. (2011) 10 songs steve jobs made famous. Adage. Retrieved from https://adage.com/article/news/10-songs-steve-jobs-apple-made-famous/229471/
Jentetics, K. (2012). The strategic integration of music branding and its evolution in the past 10 years. Retrieved from https://musicbusinessresearch.files.wordpress.com/2012/06/13-jentetics-kinga-the-strategic-integration-of-music-branding.pdf https://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/keller-brand-equity-model.htm
Jerry (2016). That song in the commercial. Blog. Retrieved from http://www.liketotally80s.com/2016/06/song-commercial-st-elmos-fire/
Kareh, A.( 2017). Seven steps to a better integrated marketing communications strategy. Forbes. Retrieved from https://www.forbes.com/sites/oracle/2018/11/06/cmos-put-down-the-journey-maps-and-think-data-first/#38fb55885abd
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