From triggering recall to enhancing storytelling, music and sound play an important role in media and marketing, becoming an essential asset to brands. Both in the advertising and the branding worlds, music is the common denominator if you want to convey emotions.
To explore the future and power of music in advertising, MassiveMusic London spearheads ‘Sonic Iconic’, a new series on LBB, inviting boundary-pushing British creatives to explore the theme.
In this interview, Tom Drew, executive creative director at Wunderman Thompson, discusses changing production budgets, experiential sound design and his joy at finally being granted the opportunity to use the ‘Are you being served?’ theme tune in a commercial.
Tom> Radio 4 and 5 Live dominates my home audio, so I rely on work to be exposed to new music. I’m often in creative reviews being presented ideas that include some new artist’s work. Only then to be informed that the music was from 2012 or something. On. The. Pulse.
Tom> I’m not sure sound is more important than ever. It’s always been fundamental. It always will be.
Tom> We recently transformed Wembley Way into a WWE ring entrance, with lasers, smoke and even commentators talking-up passers-by as if they were wrestlers. Music is integral to the WWE spectacle, so we couldn’t have done it without Motorhead’s The Game blaring through the Wembley underpass.
Tom> The brief for the music depends on what role a track plays in the idea. Some are adornments to the idea. Some are inspiration for the idea. Some are the idea. I always loved the theme tune to the 70s sitcom, ‘Are you being served?’. I’d been waiting years to use it on a brief until I managed to write an Audi commercial based on it. The song’s obscurity and quirkiness contrasted the highly polished production beautifully.
Tom> Ultimately, the choice of music will always be subjective. I can’t imagine any client approving a piece of music that they personally dislike, no matter what the data or analysis could say about its merits.
Tom> As the Rizzle Kicks said, skip to the good bit.
Tom> As production budgets shrink, more well-known (and therefore more expensive tracks) become out of reach. But, if we manage to acknowledge the role of music at the outset, perhaps we can set aside an independent, and appropriate budget, for it.