Why is popular music in adverts so powerful?
Anyone who knows me at all will confirm that I’m not a ‘details’ person. I prefer to make massive broad-brush claims about stuff, and let others present the empirical evidence for what I know in my heart is true.
So, if we’re talking about the ‘power of music’ I’m not going to bombard you with stats – they’re freely available on the internet. Instead I’ll just wade in by asking a question…
Why is it that the music publishers are receiving more requests to licence well known songs for advertising than ever before?
Is it the advertisers’ vanity that’s driving this?
(“Yeah, we’re using Dylan’s ‘Blowing In The Wind’ to promote our baked beans – total classic tune right?”)
If you look at the cost of using some of these songs, versus the perennial pressure on production budgets, I doubt it.
The real reason is because great, well chosen and relevant music works. It brings you increased recall, increased contextual relevance, it builds brand equity, and it lends credibility to a campaign. You can hum along with it too.
But beware, like any power, it can be dangerous in the wrong hands. If you take a well-known song and butcher it by re-recording it cheaply or inappropriately, it could show you up as misguided or just a cheapskate – and nobody would want to associate with that kind of brand presentation.
In fact, if we apply the maxim that ‘the bigger the song, the bigger the effect’ when we use popular music, there’s always the danger that the song could be TOO powerful for the brand it’s promoting. I’ll just leave Tina Turner’s ‘Simply The Best’ on the table for you. Yeah.
If you’d like to explore the musical possibilities for your business – from identifying the right song to use, to navigating the licensing maze and using the best recording – we’d love to help. Just get in touch.
(At this point on the audio version of this blog, we might fade up into the chorus of ‘Start Me Up’ by the Rolling Stones. Or we might not.)
