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Trends and Insight in association withSynapse Virtual Production
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Find Out How to Put Some Oomph in Your Music Strategy

09/09/2014
Publication
London, UK
136
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Industry experts share their top tips for using music and sound to amplify your campaign


As anyone who’s wept at Edith Piaf or screamed with adolescent, libidinous joy at a One Direction concert, music and emotion are inextricably linked. However, despite the influence that music wields, its status within the advertising industry is surprisingly inconsistent. One Millward Brown BRANDSENSE study found that while 42 per cent of consumers identified sound as the most important sense in a brand experience (compared with 58 per cent who said ‘sight’), sound was typically allocated just 12.5 per cent of marketing budgets by Fortune 500 Companies. Music consultancy soundlounge recently released their Music Matters study, which found that although brands and agencies understand the cut-through that the right music can achieve, as a whole the industry is pretty erratic when dealing with music. Having interviewed 26 influential brand managers, creatives, producers, editors and record label representatives, they found that strategy is suffering due to a whole host of reasons: competing agendas, risk-averse brand managers, difficulties with communicating briefs, record labels pushing their own acts, the lack of a clear process and the sheer practicalities of waiting until creative and production have been firmed up in order to get a clearer idea of what kind of track might fit. One brand manager also cited the fact that there often seemed to be no one person to take ownership of the music and sound – a probable side effect of the shrinking number of ad agency Heads of Music.

There are also brands and agencies that are getting it right. Air France’s ongoing and fruitful relationship with BETC Paris has music as its cornerstone. adam&eveDDB is currently working with Goldsmiths University lecturer Dr Daniel Müllensiefen, whose speciality is musicology and the relationship between music and the brain. But you don’t necessarily need a neuroscience expert on staff in order to make a take a more strategic approach to music and sound in advertising. Below a selection of industry experts share their advice.


Natalie Dickens – MD at Felt Music

It depends on the creative in question – but usually the music should assist in the listener being conscious of the brand, even if they are not directly focusing on the visuals. Music can create a powerful brand aid that can be used time and time again and adapted to fit new campaigns and direction. It can also be unobtrusive but give the visuals pace and rhythm. 


Abi Leland – Founder of Leland Music 

It’s mainly just down to working collaboratively, the music supervision company with the agency and often the brand itself. The brand is the agency’s client and they have to manage that however they see best and I’ve got complete respect for that, at the same time they will want to keep them at more of an arm’s length than is needed with the music. We should be looking at the rband as a whole and not just looking at that one piece of film. And we can actually help the process if we’re brought in and involved in the dialogue directly with the client as well.

It’s another language for people and it’s a language that we can understand and it means we can help the agency with those conversations with the client. But we’re not always given the opportunity to do that. And when we are it generally really helps and everyone benefits from it - the agency, brand and music supervision company. It really a case of working really closely together and seeing the whole process through from start to finish. 

I don’t think people always have a clear idea about what to do with the music at the start of the project and don’t even have a brief – and that’s fine, it’s our job to do that. That’s absolutely fine. You get these briefs that creatives have been forced to write by their producers that aren’t really clear at all because it’s the start of a campaign and it’s just an idea and no one’s really sure. I think that’s the stage we should be sitting down and having conversations and helping with that whole process.

Paul Reynolds & Roscoe Williamson - MassiveMusic

Basically to get good music there is no place for subjectivity. If you eliminate it within the creative process you will generally be on to a winner. Music has a role to tell a story and engage and when you create an ad you’re creating it to sell a product or service and music is part of that function. You can literally break it down.  Does it engage the right audience, does it reflect the brands values, does it tick the right boxes? 

The key is starting to work with sound and music companies early in the process. Let them immerse themselves early. Communication and dialogue from an early stage. It’s much more challenging to be brought in at the last minute.  It’s also less cost effective to do it this way.  You can end up trying to force something to fit the edit. It’s possible to make the musical choice earlier on, all the tools are there.  Where we’ve been brought in early it’s always been really fulfilling and everyone has been very happy with the result.


Sander van Maarschalkerweerd, Nikolai van der Burg – Founder and Music Supervisor, and Music Supervisor at Sizzer Amsterdam

The most important thing is the ability to put aside your personal taste in music in order to get the best possible music for the particular ad. 


Scott Dora – Head of Creative and Owner at Altitude Music

There is a lack of audio consistency in advertising. Briefs on one job can fly in all directions. We have a process for working out music and sound design, a considered approach for finding the right ‘fit’. It counts for nothing if a creative or client wants to use some hipster track, just because it’s cool this week. We’ve starting to work with some very forward-thinking creatives who get it. Until the rest catch up, it’s a challenge. 


Mark Beckhaus – Co-founder and Director of Music at Nylon Studios

Originality, thoughtfulness, collaboration with the client and agency from the get go, and of course a commitment to a catchy tune – one that sticks to you like glue. We actually did a session at ADFEST 2014 titled Sticky Music where we talked about the latest thinking on music for advertising. How we create music that people are compelled to share and how this ‘share-ability’ leverages the massive PR opportunities present by social networks. It's a way of thinking about music for advertising that exponentially increases the role of music in advertising. 


Pitch and Sync

It’s important to be sensitive to the piece of film and think about how the music will get the ad’s point across best. More often than not it is music’s job to grab attention but sometimes the most effective sound design and music is the most subtle – you don’t even notice it’s there but it is essential and doing its work in the background.


Dan Neale – Creative Director at Native

There is a certain terminology with music, so that can make some people nervous or make them feel that they’re not going to be able to express themselves clearly – but then again that’s what music production companies and music supervisors should be doing. It’s your job to help work out what the hell they mean. 

I think the people who get the best results have a relationship with a supervisor or a production company. All that short hand language is a lot less daunting when you’ve got a relationship. You can understand what that person means when they say they want something that sounds a bit ‘spikey’ – those kinds of things have cropped up possibly before and it can help you clarify.


Image by aceebee from Camberley, UK (Just yellow paint) [CC-BY-SA-2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons
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