Sound identity
Audio library
Audio logo
Brand anthem
Audio UX
TV ad
Radio ad
Education
Publications
Research
Music for your Campaign
THE SECRET WEAPON OF YOUR CAMPAIGN
Music has the power to enrich your story with emotion and meaning. Playing with rhythm, harmony, and timbre allows you to evoke associations that enhance your campaign and bring your brand to life.
TV ad
Music for TV ads is specially composed to support the story of your story and enhance its emotional impact. Without losing out on brand recognition.
How to create a DISTINCTIVE SOUND
Music plays a vital role in your campaigns. The thread between visuals, voice over and sound design. Amplifying each script’s unique rhythm and emotion.
However, you want to avoid each advertisement feeling isolated. For the long run, it’s wise to adopt a musical thread that ties all your campaigns together. Otherwise, there’s a common risk that your audience may recall the ad but forget the sender.
There are different way to crafting a musical denominator. Playing with recurring melodic motifs for example. Adopting a characteristic style, or sticking to a specific genre. Think of building a musical universe, such as in films and series. A flexible sound, yet always distinctly yours. Enabling you to paint in various colours while maintaining a recognisable identity.
How does music enhance your story?
Every story gets better with music. From an understated soundtrack to your radio ad to the chart-topping tune for your TV commercial. Or imagine what a distinctive voice over can do for your brand. With the right ingredients, you turn your creation into a musical blockbuster. But how does that work exactly?
Adding emotions
Music helps to pair relevant emotions to what we see or what we’re told. A romantic scene is better suited to a slow piano waltz than the sound of a heroic symphony orchestra. An upward melodic movement will evoke cheerful associations. While a descending contour triggers negative emotions. And the more powerful these emotions, the more impressive your story.
Time and place
Music can transport us to a specific time, place, or space. The sound of crickets puts you right in Southern France. A Gregorian choir takes you to the Middle Ages, while a sultry saxophone screams citylife more than countryside. This way, music acts as a kind of time capsule, providing the right context for your creation.
Managing expectations
Music accompanies the development of your narrative. By indicating dramatic direction or providing characters with specific musical motifs. Think about the predictive effect of swelling strings. Or a subtle theme that exposes the underlying struggle of the main character. Music allows you to play with expectations and give your story more depth. As a byproduct, it delivers listeners a substantial dose of dopamine.
Tempo and rhythm
Music directs the rhythm of your story. A serene soundtrack slows things down, providing room for development or an intriguing voice over. Meanwhile, an uptempo rhythm creates tension and urgency. By synchronising text, visuals, and music in this way, you build a seamless narrative. Making your audience remember you faster. And better.
The Crystal Clear campaign
The Crystal Clear campaign revolves around seizing that well-deserved moment of tranquility. Right amidst a hectic day, allowing you to see things with a fresh perspective. We translated that feeling into a dynamic filmscore, filled with rhythmic sound design. Accentuated by strategically placed rests and sound effects.
The creation of the filmscore ran parallel to the creation of their sound identity. That’s why we crafted a versatile musical palette. Suitable for supporting both the brand and the campaign. Across all possible formats and media.
Using existing music for your campaign
Music should support the story of your campaign and evoke associations with your brand. Therefor, applying well-known music comes with risks. Yes, it’s tempting to choose an existing track with positive associations. And in the short term, that can be advantageous. However, those associations don’t belong to you; you’re borrowing them. Usually, only for a short period.
Mental competition
The more famous the artist or the bigger the hit, the stronger the mental competition with your brand. In other words, you can’t compete with the association network of Kendrick Lamar. You might borrow the emotional charge of an existing track, but you can never truly own it. For a feature film, that’s not an issue, but it is when you’re building a brand.
Limited shelf life
Unless you have bottomless pockets, using existing music is strictly limited in duration. Let alone modifying the music for different formats without permission. This restricts the reach of your message. And it doesn’t give you leverage to create a lasting connection between your brand and a specific emotion. In the best case, you’ll sound like a musical one-hit-wonder.
Not exclusive
For most brands, purchasing an exclusive license is not an option. As a result, it’s always possible that someone else seizes the same tune. Especially with well-known hits, this is a risk. It leads to musical fatigue, causing the emotional power of the track to lose meaning. Brands in this situation have to work hard to make a lasting impression. Which wasn’t the intention, now was it?
Price promotion
Of course, this doesn’t mean you can never hit a home run with existing music. But even here, strategy beats tactics. Otherwise, the effect is limited to a short peak in attention, followed by a return to baseline. A dynamic similar to a temporary price promotion. And let’s be honest, who likes to sound cheap?
TAMBR on campaigns
Author
Niels de Jong
Sonic strategist
Niels graduated as a lawyer and performing pianist, was trained as a banker and found his calling as a creative strategist. For TAMBR, he helps marketeers to understand their brand in musical terms.
neem de eerste stap naar een
beter klinkend merk
Download onze whitepaper en leer hoe je sonic branding kunt laten werken voor je merk