World Music Day is celebrated this week in 120 countries across the world. Music is a powerful tool in advertising and can be extremely important to a campaign on radio but is not always utilised to its full potential.
‘Strike a Cord’ research from Radiocentre revealed that brand music is an area of low confidence and that more guidance was needed for brands to take advantage of the benefits music can bring. Music needs to be a consideration from the start as by the time copywriters and creatives had received the brief the opportunity to include brand music had often been missed.
In their study Radiocentre questioned advertisers on this topic. 86% said they had visual brand guidelines but only 17% had audio brand guidelines. This seems like a huge opportunity as brand music can be one of the most effective tools for advertiser brands.
Radiocentre suggests that allocating 20% of the media budget to radio can improve the overall campaign ROI by 8%. Their research highlights how using music strategically an advertiser can multiply this effect even further.
Below are the main headlines from their research:
- Agencies and clients understand the power of music but lack confidence in how to harness that power.
- Ads which use music strategically score more highly across a range of measures than ads that do not feature any music and those that use music tactically.
- Ads which use music strategically were also shown to stimulate brain response at the implicit level measured using EEG tests (beta-gamma brainwave activation) vs ads which didn’t feature any music.
- Ad campaigns that use music achieve better results across a wide range of success metrics, including sales.
- Music conveys strong rational and emotional associations for brands.
Radiocentre interviewed agency directors, planners, creatives and clients and they all agreed that the potential music has is universally recognised. Music can work for brands by delivering increased attention and engagement, communicating brand values, creating an emotional response and increased talkability around a campaign.
The research also explores the benefits of using a consistent music strategy as Boots did with their ‘Here come the girls’ campaign. This gives instant brand recognition and builds a sense of familiarity while also reinforcing their message. This consistent music also strengthens their brands presence across other media channels and improves the efficiency of communication.
Why not celebrate this year’s World Music Day by thinking about what music could do for your brand.
Source: Radiocentre ‘Strike a Cord’ research
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