Music and advertising - a perfect partnership

"Apple has proven that every time a iPod is created, an indie band gets their wings"~ Taylor Magenheim, Buzzfeed writer (via. Mashable)

While at Wellington's Homegrown festival I noticed certain songs have been well and truly hijacked by the brands who have used them in their advertising. Examples included Op Shop's One Day used by NZ Post, Tiki Taane's Always On My Mind used by BNZ, and The Feelers Stand Up which was used in the 2012 National Election Campaign. It's impossible to listen to these tunes without having the brands and ads pop into your head.

But why? Studies dissecting music’s effect on consumers suggest that songs — more often than not — positively influence responses to advertising. The right song choice can influence how long a person watches a commercial and sway them into buying what’s in the ad.

But it works both ways advertising has also been known to launch music careers and repopularise tracks. Here's a few examples of songs that were rocketed into the charts by advertising:

1. Sony Bravia - Jose Gonzalez "HeartBeats"

Branding Love - Creative Valentine's Day Campaigns

Valentine's Day - or, as men like to call it, Extortion Day! ~ Jay Leno

If it's a holiday/event/occasion recognised by the masses then chances are us marketers will make it an advertising campaign. In fact, the more cynical would have you believe that Valentine's Day itself was created by chocolate, flower and card selling companies to create additional revenue - along with those other suspect occasions Mother's Day, Father's Day and Boxing Day. 

I'm not complaining though - by now you've probably picked up that I like ads - and therefore applaud any occasion that inspires more advertising creativity (and perhaps ends up getting me flowers!). 

I've gathered a few samples of the most creative Valentine's Day ads this year - take a look and tell me your favourite! Or if you think advertisers should leave love well alone! 

Heineken's Serenade 

The Serenade app builds on Heineken's "The Date" - part of the brand's "Open Your World" global campaign. The app allows users to customise a Valentine's serenade to a Facebook friend. You get to choose "who" you want to ask out, "why" you want to go out with them, "what" the legendary date will entail and of course "why" they should say yes. The details are then incorporated into a song that can be sent to the lucky valentine.

You can create your own serenade on Heineken's Facebook page. 

Super Bowl - The Advertising Winners (and losers)

Even if you're not in the ad industry theres a good chance you watched Super Bowl as much for the ads as the game. Super Bowl ads set the standard as the most expensive, creative and wild advertising imaginable. While I couldn't watch them live during the game I've still tracked down the ads and picked my favs. 

Along with lots of cars, beer, dogs and babies one of the interesting trends was the number of really good ads that came from crowd sourcing. Possibly not what the agencies were hoping for but the idea is only half the equation, execution is also key. 

The other key trend was the number of campaigns that were pre-released. While only a handful of ads were available online last year, this year 20 out of 36 advertisers released them in advance. Advertisers looked to leverage ads across social platforms and gather pre-game hype - when you're playing $3.5M for 30 seconds it makes sense to make the ad work harder. 

Kia "A Dream Car. For Real Life"

I didn't have high hopes for this spot after the Adriana Lima flag waving was slowed down into 5 hours of slow mo footage and released as the teaser. In fact, I'd pretty much decided I was going to hate it. Part of me thought - why bother watching?

However I was pleasantly surprised and happily wrong - Kia's spot is everything you want from a Super Bowl ad - it's wildly over the top and slightly insane. Adriana Lima isn't the only draw card either - Kia managed to pack in rhino riding, a giant subway, kickboxing... oh and Motley Crue!  

Super Bowl is about advertising - an open letter to Sky

Dear Sky TV, 

I am the person your advertisers dream of. I love ads, I blog about ads, tell my friends about ads. But most importantly - I buy things I see on ads. Truth be told, I pay more attention to advertisements than your programming.  

So you can imagine the gravity of my disappointment then when the Super Bowl, the sporting advertising event of the year, was streamed live without these iconic ads. Instead we had to watch the same rehashed ESPN highlights clip every ad break. Super Bowl and advertising go hand in hand, surly we miss the full experience and a touch of the magic without these ads.

But do not fear the internet has come to my rescue and I have been able to view the ads post game. Hopefully next year New Zealand can get the full Super Bowl experience - ads and all. 

Kind Regards, 

Ad Obsessed 

P.S Sky's own TV ads are awesome - keep up that good work!




Update: 
Here's the reply from Sky - sounds like I need to tackle ESPN on this - surely there's a way! 

Shapes - Feed the manchild

Loving these new commercials by Y&R for Arnott's Shapes Roadies - nice use a green screen, traditional Kiwi holiday road culture and man children for a fresh approach on the manvertising trend.  


Which one is your favourite?