What affect can music have on advertising? David Alder featured on BBC Radio Solent’s The Big hour discussing the relationship between music and the products we buy.
Pop culture and pop music play an important role in advertising. Around 80 per cent of the advertisements we watch or listen to contain some music. When you hear Here Comes the Sun, Wherever You Will Go or Bohemian Like You do you immediately think of The Beatles, The Calling and The Dandy Warhols or M&S, Twinings and Vodafone?
Advertising is an area of history that is often forgotten. David Alder, Lecturer in History of Advertising said “Old adverts can give an insight into how people were living their lives, what the conditions were, how they were working and what their aspirations were.
“Familiarity, positive association and music can all affect the brands we buy. If we feel more favourable to an advert or it is more memorable, possibly because of the music or a jingle we are more likely to buy the product or service in the future. Of course, thanks to digital downloads adverts now have the power to affect the music charts.”
David discussed how the absence of music can be just as powerful. Using the example of two young boys used by Birdseye, having a conversation about how other brands ‘might look the same, but they don’t taste the same’. Explaining how the lack of music added to the simplicity of the advert and the message the brand was trying to portray.
When asked about the future of advertising, David said: “There will be more integration of advertising into music and films with the use of product placement appearing more and more.”
To listen to the full feature please click here
