5 Tips for Harmonising Creativity and Music Procurement

It’s that time of year again. The days are slowly getting longer but the weather is still not getting warmer and global brands are have allocated their advertising budgets for 2016. Financially, it’s a critical time for brands and in an environment where money is tight, is it time to start asking more questions?

So when it comes to music, are brands really getting value for money? How can brands make their ‘sound’ work even harder? We know agency production teams are all becoming more budget-conscious, but when talking about music it’s very easy just to focus on the final cost of a track. At soundlounge, we think there’s a bit more to it...

So, here are our top five tips for achieving that perfect harmony between creativity and music procurement:

1. Waste not, want not

Every Creative Director wants the best music to support their visual ideas. Understanding the ambition of the music and how it will be used in the edit should prompt a deeper procurement discussion.

What are the benefits of an original master over a new production? When do you absolutely need the real thing? Will the consumer hear the difference? Will the customer care? Knowing the answers to these questions could free up some additional cash that could be applied elsewhere.

Additional Money spent on briefing, re-briefing & demoing when ideas are not fully worked through could often be more productively applied. Always consider both the hard and invisible costs of music when building a campaign.

 

2. Don’t be penny wise and pound foolish

Brands today work hard to build relationships with consumers based on trust.  Why? Because they understand if trust is misused, the customer or client is gone. Trying to save money by opting for a library track (or your second or third choice) has the potential to compromise everything a brand intends to portray in its message. If the track fails to resonate with the team, the chances are this will be reflected by the consumer. And so begins the domino effect - where every ad break thereafter has the potential to dilute what the consumer already knows and loves about a brand. The end result: the consumer dislikes the commercial. The actuaries know how to calculate the value of brand loyalty - saving money on the cost of music could prove an expensive production saving! The cost of one spot may mean the difference between having a track that works and settling for one that absolutely doesn’t.

 

3. Challenge existing business practices

If you want to make better purchasing decisions, you need the agency team to think about music earlier in the process. Share the ambition of the music - what does it need to do and why? Get real estimates and quotes that enable decisions to be made on facts and insight.

 

4. Audit your music

Brands need to introduce music auditing systems that go well beyond just the question of “how much?” for each campaign. Log what you are spending and with whom. These patterns will reveal accumulative comparisons of costs against market rates and potential savings with preferred suppliers, with a view to increasing value-add and measuring ROI.

 

5. Set yourself a late New Year’s Resolution

This year, aim to do things a little differently. Start thinking now about value and worth - brands need to see the value of music not as a ‘creative cost’ or ‘great media return’ but a medium that has the power to engage with customers on a whole new level and increase the long-term profit from that customer. It is then that we can start to explore (and appreciate) music’s true value and worth to a brand on both the budget and balance sheet.