Successful Music in Advertising

A common point emerges when we look at the criteria why a favourite ad is favoured: Music. The criteria that follow music are visuals, quality, editing, content, and cast. Neuro-marketing expert Martin Lindstorm claims that there exists effective music behind every successful marketing campaign and says, “Those that fail are usually the ones that spend all their money on the production and forget about the music... In the end, they say ‘Oh, we have to have some sound and music on’ and they are obliged to finalise their projects by buying some stock music rights.” There are some points to be watched while creating the music that addresses such delicate balance.

One of the most important audiences that you can address is the youth... Research shows that 80% of 16-24 year olds listen to music every single day and 41% of them listen for 1-2 hours daily; 85% agree that music can change their mood; 88% say that music reminds them of special places in their past. One must begin with correct music creation in order to steal the hearts of the young. However, in the globalized world, there is no more a format to the successful music that grasps the young. Musical genres such as rock, pop and world music are now invalid. Successful artists like Jay-Z, Madonna, and Bowie have gone beyond genres... Success is now about connecting the dots between genres rather than performing a genre... Music is the analogy of identity and therefore, an insight for marketing. As segmentation, an everyday challenge the industry faces, has lost its validity and while successful brands such as Red-bull, Apple, and Amazon are defining their own tribe of followers and uniting their differences rather than segmenting them, those who connect different dots and different musical styles - those who continue to build stories from music to music, will seize success.

Ad music is the music arranged to increase the impact of the message to be conveyed and to install it in the subconscious. Brands can make use of music as jingle, brand signal music, ad song, or background music. Jingle is the ad slogan you hear within an ad aired on an audio medium. The music in the background, however, is written by using the strong sounds of a simple tonality so that it will stick. As one of the most important elements that make a product sell, once it hits the bull’s-eye with the target audience, it will not be erased from memory for years. (Eti ‘Bir Bilmecem Var’ – Eti’s ‘I have a riddle’). Brand signal music is the melody that reminds the consumer of the brand. (Nokia tune). Ad song is a useful tool to talk about the product with a song content. (‘Büyüdüm büyüdüm Pınar’la büyüdüm’ – ‘I grew up, I grew up with Pınar’). And background music is the music that plays in the background during the advertisement. Research shows that certain musical genres form a relation between the product image and product categories and that different kinds of music are associated with different products. Classical music portrays a high-quality, elegant, mature, and love/sentiment-filled product image and mainly corresponds to watches, cars, wine, champaigne, perfume, decoration, and luxury products. Pop music contributes to a livelier and friendlier product image and identifies with FMCG, leisure time activities, and sports materials. Rock music portrays a product image that features a sense of self and protest and is mostly used for products like beer or bluejeans.

MUSIC USAGE GUIDE FOR BRANDS

1. MINIMALISM
The simpler and the shorter the melody, the better it sticks in the mind. In order to achieve recall, one should prefer simple tunes, reduplications, and rhyming words. To achieve this, one should dismiss the fact that hundreds of people will be hearing this message and create it as if talking to one single person and to concentrate on one single basic selling idea. One must not forget that the jingle must be able to attract the attention within a short time as the first five-six seconds.

2. NAME
Brands must focus on their names. A good jingle that identifies with the product name can be a reminder of the product’s equivalents.

3. SLOGAN
The slogan must be made into music. Remembering a jingle is much easier than remembering a slogan. (‘Toyota, Çıkarım Seninle her yola’ –‘Toyota, I’d go anywhere with you')

4. ORIGINALITY
The ad music should not bring to mind another tune/brand. Also, one should avoid popular songs. Although popular songs have a peak effect in recall in the short term, one must check how much impact they can generate in the long run. Usually, selecting a popular song means taking a risk.

5. FREQUENCY
No matter how good your jingle is, the more it is aired, the more its sticks in the mind. The recall rate of the jingle that will be created, is closely related to the media tools to be used and the frequency of the message.

6. ONLINE=OFFLINE
Not forgetting the fact that the young live in the online world, you must be able to adapt your offline jingle in conventional media to the online world. For example, with the help of social media, Diesel wanted to establish a closer link between the ten-year-old music program Diesel:U:Music and the insanely successful “Be Stupid” campaign. And from here was born the “Stupid for Music” Cup where emerging groups battled for prizes like recording sessions and music video production and where the fans went as far as creating fake tattoos to show their support. The campaign generated 3000 pieces of content that were created by fans, that spread virally enhancing Diesel’s rock’n roll rebellion, and that enabled Diesel:U:Music to be heard about.