They say music is the heart of our soul. Without music our lives would be dull. And to celebrate our life, we have music for every mood of ours. For ages, music has enthralled us, made us laugh, made us cry, made us celebrate every occassions. Music cuts across all boundaries. So no wonder strategic marketing have been regularly formalised around brands which have jumped on the musical bandwagon to reach out to its consumers.
Talking about music cutting across boundaries, one of the iconic songs that was adopted by the famed Heineken beer is none other than Jaan Pehchan Ho from the film Gumnaam and sung by the late legendary singer Mohammed Rafi.
The sheer energy of the song supplements the power of the beer brand and together, they created sweet music to the ears of the consumers.
Closer home, music has been an integral part of audio/visual communications by brands. India has witnessed some of the most amazing television commercials powered by awesome musical application that has withstood the test of time right from the black and white days of Doordarshan.
The launch of musical box Caravan by SaReGaMa has further cemented the power of music. Boasting of holding 5000 retro songs, this portable digital audio player with in-built stereo speakers and has already got a steady stream of buyers.
Music is an important strategy for almost all brand communications with the consumers. For live events, live performances are as much integral to the communication as is brand connect and audience interaction. Indian Cinema is incomplete without music and music rights are sold for exhorbitant prices stdespite the fact that online piracy and easy availability of music has curbed genuine sales to a large extent. Still online music streaming sites like Saavn, Gaana, Songdew are seeing a steady rise in subscription that runs in millions. This has resulted in brands tying up with musicians to create niche music that resonates the brand’s ideology and what it stands for. Take the case of Coca-Cola which tied up with MTV to produce Coke Studio. Coke Studio not only provided a platform for established and new artists but it also helped connect the youth with these artists through its brand connect.
And then there are brands who have associated with musical festivals like the Sunburn to take their brand connect with its end consumers to another level. And each year, these festivals just grow larger and larger as its audience level increased. This was another way for liquor brands to subtly associate itself with the youth through surrogate advertising.
Film promotions too have taken a big liking to the importance of music in its promotion. If there are movie teasers with captivating music in the background and title disclosurer, there are timely release of the film’s songs to hook the audience for more. Take the case of the recently rehashed and released medley song ‘Rafta Rafta’ from the upcoming Yamla Pagla Deewana Phir Se which has already garnered nearly 1.3 crore eyeballs and more than 280,000 likes.
This proves that music is here to stay and it just gets better with time. No wonder that more and more brands are coming out with their own music to compliment their brands. It has also established more and more television and radio music channels and with online portals like youtube which offers even novice musicians to dole out their fare, there is ample opportunity for music to grow further as an industry.
