Yesterday I had read a very nice review by Sughosh titled Jingles all the way! Top 10 commercials. After reading the review thought I would write on uses of music in advertisements.
Historically, advertising was first introduced in print media. Early newspapers were short broadsheets entirely filled with news text; newspaper revenues came only through reader subscription. With the advent of photography and photolithography, the’illustrated news’ broadsheets gave birth to the modern magazine. And then came television commercials
Since then music has played an important part in advertisements.
Uses of Music in Advertising
There are six basic ways identified in which music can contribute to an effective broadcast advertisement: 1) entertainment, 2) structure/continuity, 3) memory, 4) lyrical language, 5) targeting, and 6) authority establishment.
- Entertainment
The etymology of the word’entertain’ means to engage the attention, or to draw interest. Good music can contribute to the effectiveness of an advertisement merely by making it more attractive. A good ad engages the attention of an audience, and the most straightforward way of achieving this is to fashion an appeal, which is entertaining. For example the Cadbury’s ad…a girl dancing with the tune in the field.
- Structure/Continuity
Music may also be employed in various structural roles. Perhaps the most important structural role is in tying together a sequence of visual images and/or a series of dramatic episodes, or a list of product appeals. This is the function of continuity. The music is used to mediate between disjoint images. Thus, advertising music can be employed as simply an uninterrupted background like the Nirma ad. A second structural function is the use of music to heighten or emphasize dramatic moments or episodes. This is also a major function of music in films. Example: Titan Ad
- Memorability
It is one of the peculiarities of human audition and cognition that music tends to linger in the listener’s mind. The association of music with the identity of a certain product may substantially aid product recall. Example: Airtel and may more
- Lyrical Language
A fourth technique of musical enhancement is the use of lyrical language. Vocal music permits the conveyance of a verbal message in a non-spoken way. Language utterances can sound much less naive or self-indulgent when couched within a musical phrase rather than simply spoken. An individual can respectably sing things, which would sound utterly trite if said.
It is believed that poetic language is more powerful than factual, logical language. Mixtures of speech and song provide advertisers with opportunities for both logical, factual appeals and emotive, poetic appeals.
Example: Sung: Jab main chota baccha tha, bari shararat karta tha meri chori pakri jaati…. It would obviously not sound good if spoken.
- Targeting
Men do not generally purchase women’s shoes, and children have little interest in shopping for bed sheets. A large portion of an advertising budget will be wasted through misdirected messages. Consequently, advertisers are interested in media whose demographic characteristics more nearly match the market segment sought. The choice of media and broadcast scheduling can be used to focus more selectively on a particular group or class of potential consumers. This focusing in on a particular audience is called’targeting.’
The importance of targeting is dependent upon the product itself. Once an appropriate medium is chosen, a second consideration of targeting is to engage or captivate those viewers who constitute the target demographic group. Musical styles have long been identified with various social and demographic groups. Musical style might therefore assist in targeting a specific market. The style may function as a socioeconomic identifier. For example: Taste aisa chaye character phisla jaye….Marinda. Marinda not only wants to target youth but also people above age of 40years
- Authority Establishment
Next is the use of music to enhance an ad’s credibility, to establish its authority. Authority may be promoted through celebrities who have no specific expertise with respect to the product. Despite their lack of product-specific expertise, however, celebrities will have a distinctive style, or air which may lend weight or credence to the testimonial. At one time or another, advertisers have tapped all of the esteemed values of a society in order to assist in product sales. These values include, among others: nationalism international brotherhood, religion, family, nostalgia, friendship, motherhood, fatherhood, health, beauty, youth, adventure, elegance, mystique, humor, economy, quality, security, love, sex, and, most important, style. It is arguably style, which holds the greatest unconscious sway, and music is arguably the greatest tool advertisers have for portraying and distinguishing various styles. Musical authority can be established most readily through quotation, allusion, or plagiarism. For Example: Thanda peen de bahane aaja….Thanda matlab Coca Cola
But without music and celebrities can a good ad be created? I would like all of you who have read this review to go to the link below and see the advertisement. This is the world’s costliest Advertisement. Everything is real with no graphics used costing some 6.2 million US Dollars. In case advertisement is opening with jerks increase the space of your temporary internet files to 1000MB. Hope you all enjoy it.
https://steelcitysfinest.com/HondaAccordAd.htm