Know-How Exchange : Advertising/PR

The role of music in advertising is usually meant to capture the attention of the viewer, create a specific mood, insinuate quality, target a demographic, and in some cases, to "install" a catchy or annoying jingle in the viewer's head in order for them to remember the product and talk about it with others.

These are all extremely important factors of getting in touch with your demographic and creating a particular 'branding" so to speak of the product ( i.e. "hip" music to target youth, classical music to imply quality or relaxation, catchy jingles to get the word of mouth going).

Some good examples:

McDonald's- "You deserve a break today"

Chili's- "The Baby-back Ribs Song"

Outback Steak House- "No Rules, Just Right"

Toys R US - The X-Mas song "It's the Toys R Us time of year"

Just to name a few off the top of my head... I know there are dozens more that will come to mind as soon as I hit submit! LOL!!

An amazing statistic I once read: More Americans know the words to "The Beverly Hillbillies" TV Show song than the Preamble to our own Constitution!

"Now let me tell you a story 'bout a man named Jed...."

Good Luck!

Music can be used to reinforce a message, for example to make a jingle more memorable, so it sits in the back of the prospect’s mind and suddenly pops up and plays just at the point of purchase! Perfect!

Or it can be used to evocatively. To evoke an emotion with which you want the prospect to identify. A paint company is using “Somewhere over the Rainbow here in Australia – not the Judy Garland version, the version by Hawaiian artist Israel Kamakawiwo`ole. For some it evokes very sad feelings – the end of Finding Forrester, and Dr Green’s death on ER. Apparently it makes people buy paint!

An anti-dandruff hair shampoo commercial aired in Australia used the 1961 Doo-Wop song “Duke of Earl” to accompany visuals of people washing their hair and singing karaoke style. The ad was so popular thousands phoned the commercial TV networks to “request” the advertisement – I believe that’s the first time that’s ever happened.

Don’t limit your thoughts to advertising alone. TV programs create ownership of music through their themes, as Jett has already pointed out with respect to Beverlet Hillbillies. What do you think of when you hear the Who’s “Won’t Get Fooled Again”? I’m betting CSI (Crime Scene Investigation) is somewhere in your mind – so somehow the Jerry Bruckheimer and the CSI brand now owns the emotions associated with a 1970’s rock anthem.

Powerful stuff, the linkages made through the cerebral cortex.

It would be interesting to analyse a target market by researching people drawn from the demographic, playing them certain pieces of music, and asking each person to write down the first thought that enters their minds. That would be a great way to identify pre-disposition towards thinking about something, and allying that pre-existing thought to a direction an advertiser might be seeking to take that thought.

However, a market need have no particular disposition towards a piece of music for it to be successful in an advertisement, as many original jingles would prove. Oh what a feeling… Toyota!