WHICH JINGLE SUITS YOUR BRAND?
WHICH JINGLE SUITS YOUR BRAND?
Monday, 30 October 2006 07:23
Most adverts are heard or seen and forgotten. Others are however well remembered either due to the frequency of airing them, the faces and voices in the adverts, the content of the adverts and more importantly, the music in the adverts, which either carries the message or compliments it.
The power of music should never be underestimated. Take the case of Tusker “Milele” advert. The tune is simple and the lyrics couldn’t have been better. Singing along to the advert, a deep sense of patriotism brought about by the lyrics engulfs ones mind. The choice of crowds as cast makes the audience feel the urge to be part of the larger, “patriotic” group. The tag “We are Kenya, Milele” sums up the advert, it’s the brand for the country. One almost feels he or she owes it to the country to consume the brand.
The Safaricom “Bamba 50” adverts also worth a mention. The product was marketed using all genres of music, from “Taarab” to the golden “zilizopendwa” oldies and even to “Genge” which mainly appeals to the youth. The fact that all these genres are local, they make the product truly local. And to ensure that no part of the audience was left out, the young and the old were equally treated to a genre of their choice. The lyrics were simple and drove the message home, “Ni wakati wa kuBamba 50,” a tag which consumers repeatedly use as they purchase the product.
Our level of interaction and desire for any brand offering highly depends on how we respond to adverts. The above campaigns identified their primary targets and spoke to them in a very clear and creative musical ways. The brands simply interacted with the social and emotional sensibilities of their target audience. This brought about connections which made the audience trust them.
But “musical branding” is not only about genre of music, words or the artist profiles. Picking Nameless’ “Sinzia” as it is to market a new product for a bank will be out of place despite the fact that the artist has a good profile and the song is of an acceptable genre and has fantastic lyrics. Music branding is about using music to state who you are and what your values are. The lyrics should communicate clearly to the audience of what the product offers and why they should pick it instead of choosing those of their competitors.
So, why do we have to take the trouble to compose the company’s values and product details into a song and further, pay handsomely to an artist to perform the composition instead of simply reciting the paragraphs? It’s simple. People do enjoy music and easily bond with it, if it is relevant to them (depending on the genre of music and the type of audience). The right music can stir fond memories and all sorts of positive emotions. And, positive emotions make for an even better customer trust, or what do you think?
If you are planning to use music in your next branding project, here is how you may go about it.
First, have a message to pass across. This is the message which will be turned into music. Services of a professional composer do come in handy at this stage since they have the skill and wit to turn your story into music with an appealing tune. Remember that no one in your marketing department should purport to be able to compose a tune not unless they went through a music school and are able to compose a catchy melody within the eight octaves of the sol-fa notation.
Choose your artist wisely. No informed adult will purchase a product associated with Nonini of the “Wee Kamu” fame whereas no young person will listen to an advert by the legendary Habel Kifoto of Maroon Commandoes (try asking one of them if they know anyone by that name). If targeting the wider audience, you may choose different artists for different audiences or come up with a compromise one.
Music is quite simply a crucial humanizing element for any brand. With music, the opportunity to connect and become even more relevant for your market is huge. Still, it seems that very few brands have realized music’s emotional power and importance as a part of brand identity. If your consumers are to think about your brand even as they shower, they have to be humming it. So, its time to get musical.
