Saturday, September 20, 2008

The power of song in an advertisment



Very often songs will make an ad, not creative. The Sony Bravia ad is a perfect example.

Watching the footy last night I had an enlightening thought. After a goal was kicked and an advertisement break was taken the Sony Bravia commercial appeared. A great creative ad, showcasing lots of bright colours which of course positions the Bravia Plasma as a TV that gives consumers the best possible viewing experience because of its extreme colour quality. I think the execution is brilliant using the Plasticine bunny rabbits and the messaging is clear enough as it is. However there was one thing that became evident to me after the commercial finished and this enlightenment came from my friend Michael with the simple words "I love that song, I love that ad."

There are of course MANY reasons for successful ads. Ultimately however an ad is successful if it is remembered and an ad is remembered because it strikes a chord with the consumer. That can be because of humour, a clever execution and as I realised out with Michael, a great ad can be because of a great song.

In this particular ad The Rolling Stones, "She's a Rainbow" is used to perfection. Not only was this song a great choice because it is just simply a terrific song from one of the classic bands of our time (which is why Michael was such a fan of the ad) but also because of the lyrics referring to 'rainbows' which of course instantly associates the ad once again with colour. So how can the viewer can't escape this colour messaging? Shit!

Other great examples of great song choices are Fiest's 1,2,3,4 in the iPod ad which is a very new age & individual song coupled with a very new age and individual product. On another level the iPod's simplicity to use is also highlighted by the song's chorus which starts off 1,2,3,4... In the same way the Lily Allen song 'Smile' was brilliantly used for the Sportsgirl campaign 2 summers ago. A very Summery tune the ad was launched just prior to the national release of the song and uses the independent woman image of Lily to to position the Sportsgirl range in the same way. In addition using such a fun Summery tune also helped position the Sportsgirl brand as a fun and lovable brand. Luck fell Sportsgirl's way too when the song reached top 10 status on the charts..

It's not easy to find the perfect song for a specific creative execution but by God is it effective when the perfect combination is found!

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