Finding your voice — the usage of music in advertising.
Recently while talking to my mother, she reminded me how all throughout my childhood I memorized songs and jingles from TV ads and kept singing them all day long, and how it drove her crazy. That got me thinking about music in TV commercials, YouTube ads and advertising in general.
Ads and music go together exceptionally well, which is why the use of music is so prevalent. Because of that, for years scientist and marketing experts have tried to discover why and how does music affect us as consumers, and why does it matter so much.
Why is music so important?
Studies show that the same parts of the brain that are used and responsible for memory and emotion, are also used to process music. Our brain connects what we hear to things we experienced or feelings we felt.
That being said, different types and genres of music elicit different emotional responses and reactions. Starting from the essential aspects of melodies such as notes, chords and scales played, major scales are usually seen as happy and used to elicit happiness, joy and excitement.
On the contrary, minor scales are usually used to elicit feelings of sadness, contemplation and melancholy. The same can be said for music genres. For example rock music is usually used for high energy and exciting ads, while classical music is usually used to create the feeling of something classy and calming. Because of that it is extremely important to use music that fits the feeling you want to create in consumers minds.
How to use music in advertising
As mentioned before, you need to make sure the rhythm, feeling and message of a song used fits your needs. A song or melody that doesn’t fit will do more bad than good to your advertisement.
Music can be used in many different ways but the most usual use-cases are:
- Evoking emotion
- Targeting a specific audience
- Improving and evolving story-lines
- Defining brand image and feel
- Defining a product or product line
You also need to consider what platform you are advertising on. Studies have discovered that more than 70% of Facebook users view content with the sound turned off. That doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t use music in Facebook ads, just that you should think about how much it influences the look and feel of your ad.
On the contrary, platforms like YouTube and TikTok are built around video content and with that in mind, sound is an extremely important and vital part of what you create. A good fitting song can elevate your ad in a special way.
And as always, you should legally licence music, and only use it if you have permission from the artists that created it.
Examples of great uses of music in advertising
There are many different campaigns and ads that prove music is generally a must in any advertisement, as an element that can make or break a campaign. Just to prove that point here are some examples of some great, and not so great visual and musical pairings throughout the years.
Defining a product and campaign
Evoking emotion in consumers
John Lewis is a brand known for its incredible Christmas ads. In this case they used an innovative idea of blending production with the finished product and packaged it all together with a heart-felt song by Lily Allen. The result — an incredible and moving experience in the form of a Christmas ad.
Creating a part of Pop-culture
An Australian public campaign made by Metro Trains to promote railway safety evolved into so much more because of how it managed to send a message in a funny and exciting way. Over time, as it gained popularity, it evolved into a mobile and PC game, and merchandise and even lead to two more similar campaigns. All because of a great idea combined with a catchy song.
Using popular artists to empower your brand and product
Dodge collaborated with rising artist Billie Eilish on their ad for the new Dodge Challenger. The visuals pair very well with the rhythm and feeling of the song and together they create an experience for the consumer. A great example of how to use celebrity popularity and recognition to promote your product and make it “stay in consumers minds”.
Doing a bit too much and creating a counter-effect
In a now infamous example of music in advertising, American company Preparation H used the song “Ring of fire” by Johnny Cash, in a TV ad for their hemorrhoid cream. As you can imagine the mental imagery was a bit much and consumers response to the ad was not good. In a twisted turn of events the song they used was a bit too fitting and as a result, for a while hemorrhoids were the main association with Johhny Cash, and of course not in a good way.
In conclusion
Music can be used in many different ways for many different purposes. It’s an important part of so many medias, advertising being one of them. If it fits your idea and feel, it can elevate an ad into so much more. Also it can be detrimental to a campaigns success.
The next time you see and hear an advertisement, try to think about how it made you feel and why, and how much of that feeling was there just because of the music used.
