Strike up the band! Does music increase brand equity for advertisers? The answer is yes and no depending on the goal of a particular advertising campaign and the overall brand strategy. When deciding to associate your enterprise with a musical theme, sounder, or jingle, there are many factors that must be considered before calling up your favorite composer. Music in any advertisement, at the very least, should be:

• Engaging to the listener.
• Rewarding.
• Relevant to its time.
• Memorable.

You can certainly meet these criteria without the use of music and/or lyrics, but history has proven that putting a jingle to your brand can be very effective in increasing the odds that consumers will listen to, be rewarded by, and remember your brand name after hearing your advertising.

In addition to words, music provides rhythm, pitch, repetition and melody to aid in message retention. Most of us have learned our ABC's by singing the alphabet. A longtime Boston late-night radio talk show host, Larry Glick, used to sing his call-in phone number so people could easily remember it. Additionally, elements such as style, orchestration, and selection of vocalists (male, female, chorus, soft or hard, contemporary, young, old, etc.) can help position your product and affect the mental image of your firm. If you want to sound big, small, hip, established, sophisticated, folksy, or funny, you can with the aid of music.

Strong Musical Identities: Many companies have used the same music theme for decades. If done well, the music becomes as much a part of your identity as your name, slogan, and symbol. Good examples include Disney's "When You Wish Upon a Star," ABC Television Monday Night Football's "Are You Ready for Some Football?" Bob Seger's "Like a Rock" for Chevrolet, "Days Go By" by Dirty Vegas for Mitsubishi, and Credence Clearwater Revival's "Heard It Through the Grape Vine" for California Raisins. It only takes two bars of music (with no lyric) to know that National Geographic is about to present its show. However, the use of a popular song reapplied for product advertising can be expensive (it is rumored that Microsoft paid the Rolling Stones $8 million for "Start Me Up") and many become "old" in the consumers' minds after multiple exposures over a long period of time. This is not the case for a custom music piece that works as the audio-logo part of your identity.

Sometimes, music is applied to help new groups of consumer targets relate to a product. A fairly recent example is Cadillac's use of Led Zeppelin's "Rock And Roll" for its CTS product. Another popular technique is to use a "sounder" of a few notes. Intel has great recognition for its four-note melody and NBC's decades old three note sounder is a good example of how melody alone can cause recognition.

Some advertisers make mistakes when using music. In a custom-made jingle, avoid using product or service descriptors in the lyrics. For example, "We sell nuts and bolts, lawnmowers, dishwashers, and anything else you want at our store." It is hard to believe that this type of lyric would engage consumers. In fact, the blatant sell and lack of creativity would most likely turn them off. The lyric should focus on one big idea that is the essence of your brand. Do not complicate the jingle by trying to cram a lengthy retail message into the lyric. You can hurt your company's brand by using inferior production values, off-key singing, unintelligible singers (probably the most abused), and selecting a music style to fit a radio station format. The style should represent you, not the station.

Good music pieces are composed with "donuts" or places where the lyric stops, and the music continues so that an announcer or actors can get your retail message across. Here is a checklist for assessing if a piece of music enhances brand recognition. The more "yes" answers you give, the more effective the music is.

1. Does the music paint the emotional picture that the brand represents?
2. Will it support or promote your company's message?
3. Does it have the ability to represent the company for the desired length of time?
4. Does it fit with your brand identity?
5. Is it memorable?
6. Are the production values equal to or greater than the music that may surround it in the feature broadcast?
7. Is it relevant to its time?
8. Will the listener be rewarded by the music?
9. Does the music engage the listener?

 

When selecting licensed (already composed) music, you must consider the length of time that you plan on using the music. Also, make sure you know who may have used the music before, in what markets, what level of exclusivity you will own, and if there are any negative associations with the performers of the music. When choosing custom music, choosing the right composer, lyricist, and production company will make the difference between success and failure. Dan Serafini of Dan Serafini Music, in Nashville, TN, says, " Writing a great jingle must meet all the same criteria as a hit song, but it must also have the ability to meet advertising (brand) objectives. Choosing a composer that understands the advertising business is a priority and a composer's ability to focus and clearly present the essence of the creative director's idea is paramount," Serafini adds. For a current sample of a highly effective campaign using licensed music, click "I'm So Excited!"

Developing a music identity for your company can be fun. The production process brings a little bit of show-biz into your life, but be careful. No matter how much you like the music, it shouldn't be created to please you. It must represent your company and please your audience. If done well, music will bring years of immediate recognition and brand value to your organization.

Kevin Tracey is a graduate of The Boston Conservatory, former advertising music producer and is currently president of Tracey Edwards Company in Boston, MA and Bedford, NH. kevin@traceyedwards.com (603) 622-7200