Why music matters
We know intuitively that great music, from jingles to sonic assets, can lodge in our brains in a way that other media doesn’t. But the paradox has been that, for all its power, the use of music has been a kind of alchemy rather than an evidence-based set of ideas that can help make advertising better.
Roscoe Williamson, director of global strategy at MassiveMusic, speaking during a main stage event at the IPA Effectiveness Conference, demonstrated the memorability of sonic assets, playing the WhatsApp notification sound, Netflix’s Tudum sound, and even Coca-Cola’s 1971 “Hilltop” commercial (pictured).
Findings
Highly engaging music boosts marketing ROI by an average of 32%. The top 20% of most engaging pieces can double ROI.
- Fit: Music that is highly fitting to the visuals can make consumers nearly 7x more willing to pay higher prices. Interestingly, campaigns where the music fit was deemed “medium” fit with the visuals (10%) was worse at driving price elasticity than low-fit campaigns (20%).
- Surprise: Music that is unexpected in the context of an ad can be up to 5x better at driving brand fame.
- Recall: Highly memorable music affects salience dramatically: 4x more than low memorability music.
Power over the long term: “Once you’ve got a great track, keep using it. Keep using it repeatedly because over time the effects only compound and then you get the long-term benefits, the most important and profitable of which is increased pricing power,” Williamson explained.
Methodology
The study looked at 150 campaign films from across 96 IPA Effectiveness Awards cases, covering 84 brands. This was then cross-referenced by a general population panel of 7,500 people.
The core of the study involved asking the survey participants to assess the music used in the campaigns based on four key metrics. The research aimed to isolate how people reacted to the music choice specifically:
- Engagement: Can this music capture the audience’s attention?
- Fit: Does the music choice fit with and elevate the visual (the picture)?
- Surprise: How surprising, original, and creative is the music choice?
- Recall (Memorability): Will the audience recognize this piece of music, and can it stay with them?
From the case studies, the researchers looked at six brand and business metrics: ROMI; large business effects, large brand effects; price sensitivity; fame; and salience.
SPT
[Image: Coca-Cola]