SOUND has always been a key creative element of advertising—think of the Meadow Lea and Toyota jingles, and the way classic 60s and 70s songs provide a powerful advertising “shorthand” to baby boomer markets.
Now however, discerning clients are pushing for more original compositions which not only provide a unique identity for their brand or product but which connect so well with a target demographic that they can stand alone as music tracks. Today advertisers deamand original music which sounds like it should have been a popular hit.
A big advantage of this is that original music often costs far less than the licence fees paid for existing copyright material.
Song Zu chairman Les Gock says the trend of finding an existing song to soundtrack an ad can work if done well, but all too often it is the “lazy way out”.
“There’s a comfort in ads which use existing music, because of the automatic baggage which comes with a recognisable song or piece. There’s instant likeability and a comfort zone for the client,” Gock says.
“But the relevance can often be nebulous and the ad just becomes a film clip. It only works if the whole concept is locked tightly into that piece of music.”
Gock says the sell to clients on original music is not always easy because of the lack of instant “gratification”. But the advantage is total and original association for your brand—he points to classics such as Toyota’s “Oh, What a Feeling” tagline and Sussans’ “This Goes With That”.
Gock says the key is using music or sound to make a connection. Song Zu recently scooped a swag of international awards for its work for Visa on the “Dining Out” Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon-style TVC, including a Silver Clio, an ATV award and a highly commended at the London International Advertising &Design Awards.
“It is all about an emotional connection between people of like values,” Gock says of soundtrack composition. “A Rolling Stones fan can be an 80 year-old guy or a 14 year-old kid. What connects them is their values and that’s where music can work so effectively, if used intelligently.”
The trend now is away from jingles and towards compositions, say Gock and Bebe Laurence, producer for sound studio, Human Worldwide.
Laurence agrees with Gock that the push for original sound is coming from creatives and clients and that the forward-thinking clients aren’t “jingle guys” any more.
Human, which was responsible for the Barry White-inspired track to the Dulux TVCs, has also created more orchestral music for ads lately, and Laurence says the trend is toward a filmic approach. Examples include original work done by resident composers Anny Naylor and Elliot Wheeler for Heineken, Visa and Yellow Pages campaigns.
“One of the most exciting recent jobs was a huge campaign for Toyota Scion where we did four separate tracks from hip hop to African beats for four ads. The client was very specific about wanting music, not jingles. The brief was to market a car you can ‘build’ with your own accessories and to create a personality for it relevant for kids aged 18 years to adults aged 25 years.
“Original tracks are an inventive way to reach the audience, with a close perspective between music and sound which can cross ages and genders, ad creatives and suits.”
The push to original music is an established overseas trend.
Another studio, Supersonic, has been writing original indie rock and punk-style tracks for Japanese clients for two years and general manager/producer Ian Lew says they are now being asked in Australia to compose TVC music which sounds like it’s been lifted from a ‘real’ song.
“A good example is the ‘You know you want it’ Coke commercial where our brief was an anthemic song which could have been a hit record,” Lew says. “I suspect the trend is about tightening prod-uction budgets and the difficulty in justifying expensive licence fees.”
Where soundtracks, original or otherwise, don’t work is where the client just wants to be self-consciously or “shorthand” cool—as in wanting imitative or “off the radio” music for the youth market.
Lew says creatives often have a very good sense of the music tastes of their target markets but marketers often have an outdated idea of what is “cool”.
Trying too hard to create music “shorthands” can alienate an audience.
“It can be difficult to convince the client that easy imitation is not the way to go,” Gock says. “But originality is our whole game. Original tracks are the better way to wed different concepts.”
So does this push for the use of original music represent an evolution in the relationship between sound design and art direction in advertising?
Lew says designing soundtracks for advertising is just another wave but the importance of sound to ads has long been recognised by discerning creatives.
“The use of hit song-style music is almost a throwback to the halcyon days of jingles although thankfully now we manage to avoid that ‘it’s so bad it’s good’ style which used to get to air.
“I think however certain creatives and directors have always appreciated the importance of sound in their spots. And then of course there are still people who will spend six months and a fortune on the visual side and expect us to come up with an original track in 48 hours.”
Lew and Gock agree that the original versus licensed track choice very much depends on the ad.
“Sometimes it’s worth spending the money for a great licensed track. An example is the Wreckery track used by the new Levi’s ad which really makes the spot. However an original composition has the advantage of being able to hit key points because it is tailor-made and can also play on people’s emotions more favourably.” n
