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| In the Babel of advertising, music might provide the emotive edge that makes your brand more loveable, or entertaining, or more thrilling. |
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If music be the food of love, rock on!
I don’t have much truck with West African music. A lot of people in East Africa enjoy it, but I don’t. Its appeal is about as singular as Scottish bagpipe music… and before anyone complains I am very fond of bagpipe music. ‘The dropping of Morag’s coffin’ is a pibroch that can move me to tears.
Lingala has that kind of percussive persistence that makes me want to pick up the nearest agricultural implement and visit a neighbouring village, with malice aforethought. It produces in me a kind of cultural tinnitus. On the other hand, Malagasy music, from the vast island of Madagascar, presses my buttons. Four thousand years of trickle immigration across the seas from Sumatra, Tanzania, Mozambique and, who knows, perhaps even Shetland has produced a rich cultural mélange. One of my favourite Malagasy artistes is Mily Clement. The music he plays is influenced by trad jazz and oriental ballad traditions, energized by a strong acoustic component.
Still with me? No matter - because I am simply describing my personal response to music.
When it comes to the music one should use in advertising, one has to be a little more objective. If you want your radio spot or your TV commercial to be given more musical impact, you must learn to put aside your personal preferences and consider what will work best with your target audience.
Unfortunately many marketers do not understand their target audience well enough to be able to form a clear opinion on this.
Address the consumer
Marketers often choose music that is familiar, music that they think ‘people know and like.’ That might be appropriate to a traditional, much loved brand, which seeks to reinforce its familiarity and sense of comfort. But for most brands the marketing job is not about bolstering the status quo, it is about asking the consumer to consider something in a new light.
Many years ago in Africa I met the Managing Director of a battery factory. He wouldn’t describe himself in that way. He probably saw himself as the deliverer of enlightenment to our ‘dark’ continent. A man whose leadership style owed much to his early life as a Corporal in the Royal Signals, he saw himself as a highly competent manager who delivered tremendous shareholder value.
At Annual General Meetings few would gainsay his claim to be well on the way to delivering his Company’s mission – to be the best high quality low cost producer of electrical battery cells, treating customers and competitors fairly, and having due regard for the cultural values of the workforce. I paraphrase, but … you get the idea.
Sadly, when it came to advertising, this commercial Leviathan was apt to stumble. You see, he couldn’t distinguish between his brand’s personality and his own ego. So he commanded that advertising be written to his liking, and not to address the wants, needs or even the vague interest of the consumer.
It was no surprise to us that he plumped for Tina Turner’s stirring rendition of ‘Simply the best!’ as the soundtrack for his campaign to promote the batteries he sold. Because what was really saying on television, and radio and on mobile cinema was that he was simply the best. And that had a limited appeal for most of us.
Don’t make the mistake of following fashion, or indeed of imposing your own musical tastes on your target audience. But do challenge your Ad Agency to surprise you with music that you have not heard, or indeed to compose it afresh. In the Babel of advertising, music might provide the emotive edge that makes your brand more loveable, or entertaining, or more thrilling.
Copyright Young & Rubicam Brands Limited.
To comment on this article contact kiongozi@yrbrands.com. To find out more visit www.yrafrica.com
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