Volkswagen seem to have taken the concept of the ‘sound of their brand’ to heart when it came to their latest ad campaign for the VW Golf. Now cars and music have always gone together, so using great music in a car ad seems an obvious thing to do.

VW’s agency DDB built on the connection between cars and music, and literally connected the sound the car makes with the sync music for the advert, by hooking up with Paul Hartnoll, formerly of ground breaking UK techno duo Orbital, to produce the music for their latest campaign.

The track, entitled Gob Smack, is made up from the sounds recorded in and around the Golf during the shoot. The track has even been released as a digital download, although bizarrely there’s no mention of the connection with VW, and when you go to the VW Golf website there’s equally no mention of the advert or the music. A real missed opportunity.

iTunes certainly understands the importance of syncs on music fans, as they are currently offering a 24 track ‘Music in TV ads’ collection for sale, featuring everything from the the music to the wonderful Drench advert (Brain’s from the Thunderbirds strutting his stuff to Snap!), through to the latest ad for Berocca featuring 80’s synth-pop duo Blancmange (and if you were wondering where they got the idea for this ad from, check out this fantastic homemade video for US band OK Go).

citizensound says:

Both brands and record companies rarely seem to realise the potential of a what is often perceived as just a sync deal. The right music with the right creative work - Jose Gonzalez and Sony Bravia springs to mind - can provide the brand with a sonic logo that reminds consumers of the brand every time they hear the music, even when the ad campaign has long disappeared from our TV and Cinema screens. While the humble sync deal can offer record company and the artist’s the opportunity to build a longer-term relationship with a brand, opening up a whole range of new channels to finance, market or distribute their products. So lets start joining the dots.