The kind of music that sells

As the creative minds of the advertising industry have long known, the best way to make an impression on consumers’ minds is to use a song that gets stuck between their ears. But too often they’ve relied on kitschy jingles that numb the mind rather than inspire it.

What’s needed instead is a good “legitimate” song, says Australian record producer Mark Beckhaus, co-founder and music director at Nylon Studios in New York and Sydney.

“We all love songs, so why not leverage them?” Beckhaus asked at the Asia Pacific Advertising Festival in Pattaya last month. 

“You’re always likely to be drawn to one element of a commercial. For example, if I say, ‘Buy this bag’ with some great music in the background, you’d probably remember the song – and you’d be wired to also remember the bag thanks to the connection between the song and the bag. The song might not be about the bag, but our brain works in a way that it automatically connects the two.” 

In essence, if the tune reminds you of a happy occasion – a favourite vacation, your first date or even a great movie – it evokes positive feelings about whatever retail product or service with which it’s associated. 

A lot of firms think investing money in an original song is the “long way round”, Beckhaus said, but they’re missing a golden opportunity if they shun the power of music.

“We always try to make people aware that music is important in advertising. Unfortunately not everyone thinks strategically about it. Often they’re more worried about the script or the imagery, but no one goes to YouTube for music and listens to your script. We’re more interested in focusing on the song, especially when there’s authenticity to it.

“The main thing is that, if you do something that feels real, resonates with the people and connects with them socially – and music can do all that in a powerful way – then they’ll share it. 

“And when they listen to that song again, they think about the product in the commercial. A lot of clients want songs with lyrics about their brand, but people won’t put a song about a brand on their iPod – that’s not cool. Instead, if you’ve got a cool track that manages to represent the brand in an indirect way, people will listen to it.” 

Getting people to share the track with friends is crucial because everyone will credit the brand for the song, so wherever it travels, the brand goes too. 

“Remember that people in general aren’t interested in sharing a commercial message because it’s not fun. But music is fun. And when the music is catchy and you can’t get it out of your head, you just have to share it!”

One of Nylon Studios’ big successes was a series of commercial ads for JCPenney, the American mid-range department-store chain. It began when Nylon formed a band called Forever Thursday and recorded the feel-good song “How Can It Be”. The ad went out credited as “a collaboration between JCPenney, Nylon Studios and Forever Thursday”. 

“Why do we have to go as far as creating an artist? Well, if you call it ‘JCPenney-brand music’, it’s not very emotional,” Beckhaus explained. “You have to be honest and straightforward about this too. You can’t pretend it’s a real band because people will find out, and very quickly.”

The song went viral on the Internet. And, of course, JCPenney got more traffic on its website because people wanted to know more about the tune. 

“You have to be strategic and think early on about the music for your commercial,” Beckhaus said. “You only have a short time to build up the hype and the sensation, and those will last if the launch is timely. If you act too late, it just gets stale and stagnant.” 

Nylon Studios went on to record additional songs for JCPenney with different styles of music to create a more diverse “ambience” around the product. 

This is the age of sharing, after all, and if something is free, it’s that much easier to share. Advertisers now have a means of promoting their retail products for free on the social networks, with many professional musicians and songwriters also reaping the benefits of successful ad campaigns.

“Ten years ago it wasn’t cool for an artist to have music in an ad,” Beckhaus pointed out. “All of this is happening today because the traditional music business has changed so much. Now record sales are down because people share the music rather than buying it. So now a lot of artists want their music in an ad to get people talking about it and sharing it. 

“And people nowadays don’t care if they find music in a CD shop or in a commercial either – as long as they like it. So we’re seeing a very big change in the music scene.”