Imagine the power of music 2
Alan Yentob’s excellent documentary on the work of Oliver Sacks, reminded me to share one of the insights that I picked up at a WARC conference I attended a few weeks ago on Sponsorship Marketing. The event chaired by a good friend of citizensound, Mark Palmer, brought together some excellent speakers including Sally Cowdry, Marketing...
Imagine the power of music
If you didn’t see the latest episode of Alan Yentob’s arts documentary series IMAGINE on the BBC last night please go and check it out on the BBC iPlayer (click the image below). Yentob’s fascinating documentary was based on real case studies from Dr. Oliver Sacks excellent book, Musicophilia: Tales of Music and the Brain....
Everything but the kitchen sync?
.A well-placed TV sync can provide a great deal of exposure for an artist’s music, and they get paid for the privilege! So why do so many of these opportunities go unrealised? Could it be that brands don’t fully appreciate the impact that music can have on their brands? Or is it that the labels...
The sound of your compact family hatchback is?
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...
Starbucks: smell the coffee and think small…
So have Starbucks given up on music or are they just refocusing their attention? When it was announced this week that they were to pull out of their record label Hear Music and hand over this business to their partners the Concord Music Group, an obvious reaction was ‘So what went wrong?’ This news was...
P&G and Def Jam: The birth of TAG records in the DIY culture
During our DIY panel at the Venice Festival of Media, the panellists were inevitably asked about what we thought about the recent deal between Proctor & Gamble TAG deodorant spray and Def Jam records. In case you haven’t heard, TAG records has been set up by both parties to find new hip hop talent and...
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Venice Festival of Media 2008: What inspired the DIY: Do or Die panel?
When I stood up to start the panel at Venice, I was looking for a way to immediately frame the topic so that the audience understood what they were about to sit through. So I mentioned a journey I took on the 137 bus in south London one day… There were five kids on the...
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Venice Festival of Media 2008 – DIY: Do or Die
Well, our panel at the venice Festival of Media 2008 went really well. The topic was a great one (if we say so ourselves), but what made the session were the great panellists and the audience. There is nothing worse for me than a panel that answers with Yes, No or Maybe. We all want...
Not too Leftfield for a sync deal…
Neil Barnes, co-founder of the rather excellent but sadly missed Leftfield, has produced the music for the new Audi TV ad, which debuted on UK TV last week. For the track, Barnes has teamed up with former Leftfield producer Nick Rapaccioli. The advert sonically interpreted the movements of gymnasts, using undulating beats and rhythms, mixed...
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Venice Festival Of Media : Brands Do… Or Die!
The rise of DIY culture is not restricted to the music industry. Brands know that they have to earn their place in the consumer’s life. Improved insight on how to gain and build trust is ever more important. A full page advert that states how wonderful the company’s Corporate Social Responsibility policy is, will not...
Battle of the B®ands?
In almost twenty years as an A&R person in the record industry I've seen plenty of Battle Of The Bands competitions come and go. Did I ever think to show any interest in any of the artists that came through these competitions, not really. Was I unusual, certainly not. So why is the music industry...
Where do brands add value?
Once you know where the artists and their fans ‘draw the line’, you then need to know where you can add value. Because in this day and age unless you add value to the music experience that you are creating (or buying into) you are unlikely to gain any real value from participating. One of...