Tony Wilson made things happen. He tried things out. He believed in things/attitudes/ideas, but crucially followed through and brought those beliefs and passions to life.

Having only met him twice, I can only comment from afar. Yet from this perspective, I see someone who just went out and did things, rather than just theorise…

A Master of Praxis one could say…

Be it the music industry or the marketing community in other sectors, there is a lot of navel gazing and contemplating the meaning of the new consumer/fan realities…

It is as if we are all standing by the edge of the pool at a pool party…looking to each other to see who will jump in…not wanting to make the first move…meanwhile the fans and some smart purveyors of Praxis are splashing about in the water…

People like Tony Wilson do not come along very often. However, we can all learn from those who both dream and do.

Too often the sound is a last minute scramble in the advertising process, as advertising agencies all too often pitch ideas visually rather than sonically.

So it is no surprise that the mood set by the sound of the ad is poorly thought through in most advertising.

When is is right, it is immensely powerful.

Here is a great example of the power of sound. Another one of those clever Honda ads.

PS What is the half life of your sonic branding… 15 seconds…15 minutes or 15 years?

I like innocent and so does Paul (see his blog posts on citizenbay) Yes, their fruit smoothies are tasty treats but beyond that I like the brand and how they’ve positioned themselves in the music space: effortlessly, playfully, hip and down-to-earth. Take the now defunct Fruitstock music festival. With its eclectic talent line-up, central London location, free entry and best of all, quirky on-brand experiences — ranging from a knitting corner to flower arranging workshops to a farmer’s market — innocent proved it understands its relationship to music. The brand didn’t force an unnatural association between itself and music, or try to establish itself in an area where it has no credibility (like music downloads or talent searches). Instead it offered a great summer music experience, which nicely underpinned innocent’s brand values: fun, natural, light, simple, easy and friendly.

In fact, the festival proved so popular last year that it actually lost some of its innocence (excuse the pun), and will be replaced this summer by the equally charming and folksy-sounding the innocent village fete, proving that a big, loud, look-at-me presence in music isn’t always better. Particularly when trying to establish authenticity in the music space. Described as being a “proper fete” with food stalls, games, and unplugged live music it sounds like innocent have got it right again.

Joy

There has been an enormous amount of coverage on the Starbucks/McCartney tie-up. At the Venice Festival of Media, Pete Jenner suggested that Paul McCartney would have been better tying up with Saga Holidays than Starbucks. This may be a fair comment if McCartney wanted to target his new release to what some might feel is his existing and ageing core audience. However, he might have felt that the Starbucks environment offers him a chance to take his light music to a younger audience. We will find out in the near future whether his bet has paid off, but we can't help but take our hats off to him for trying a new avenue. What has he got to lose? As for Starbucks, they are not holding back on this release. When they officially released the latest Paul McCartney album a couple fo weeks ago, the first project on its Hear Music label, the coffee retail giant played the album nonstop, all day long, at its 10,000 shops worldwide. With hundreds of thousands of consumers purchasing their daily java from the chain each day, Starbucks is certainly betting that the audio blitz will drive consumer interest and album sales. But not because they’ve been pummeled into purchasing submission by the heavy rotation in-stores. No, what this strategy demonstrates is a good piece of music PR. The amusing media angle (i.e. playing the album non-stop), the tongue-in-cheek play on the album’s title, Memory Almost Full: the story has managed to generate a significant amount of press coverage this week. However, at a time where most brands are grappling with a move away from the PUSH model of marketing towards a more experiential model, one questions whether the audio blitz has been the right way to encourage the latte drinkers to consider new music from the old master. A little of the ingenuity that goes into creating their coffees flavours would have been welcomed in their communications strategy… All in all, a missed opportunity to do a little more for the HEAR Music label we think.

Lucy from Diesel (on the right) joined Kate Williams of Columbus Media at the citizensound session at Venice.

In response to the panel urging brands to commit to more than just the short term when getting involved in music marketing, Lucy shared with the attendees the experience of Diesel.

The Diesel U-Music activity has been active for a number of years, slowly but surely building credibility with both the breaking acts and fans alike. Whilst these two groups seem to be have benefited from the investment from Diesel, how about the brand itself?

Lucy shared with the attendees a classic problem for a brand who gets involved in the music space with the band and fan at the forefront of their activities. How does the brand get recognition for the commitment they have made without coming over as too pushy?

Artists such as Mylo have come through the Diesel U-Music project, yet few people are aware of this. Since becoming an established artist, Mylo has come back to support the Diesel U Music events, so recognition from the artist is not in doubt.

It is the transference of this mutual respect into long term business results that is the tricky bit for Diesel. It reminds me of the conundrum that ethical brands face. Do you tell the world that you are ethical, thus placing yourself in the firing line for those to find any weaknesses in your argument (Memories of Anita Roddick in the early days of Body Shop) or do you just do your stuff and keep low key about it (Levi Strauss a good example)? It is the eternal debate. Shout about your good work or do it quietly.

If the marketing world believes in the power of word of mouth or Advocacy Marketing, then letting others do the talking for you has to be the way forward…

In a recent article in Mojo magazine, Otis Williams of The Temptations was quoted as follows:

Motown used to throw local industries parties at the Roostertail Club and the Greystone Ballroom. At one of these I overheard a couple of white guys who worked for other labels.

One said, “We’ve got to stop this. Too many more of these Motowns” - meaning successful independent companies - “and we’ll be out of business.” When you’re successful enough to make the establishment nervous, that’s success.

Music scenes used to be referred to as city based, yet the more you look the more localised they are than that. After all, Hip Hop was Bronx, not NY.

Right now, so many local music scenes are out there, greased by the power of myspace. Croydon dubstep, Ladbroke Grove Broken Beat and so many more…

So much of this music is finding their own ways to consumers…

After so much consolidation in the music industry, are we on the verge of the return of the spiirt of Motown?

Not known for my love of focus groups as a way of getting insights on what consumer think about brands. Same for the world of music.

No way that focus groups could have helped the late great Ahmet Ertegun when he set out to start Atlantic Records.

We started Atlantic simply because we wanted to sign a few artists whose music we liked, and make the kind of records that we would want to buy.

I honestly never imagined I would be able to make a living from doing something that was so much fun. I am very glad I was wrong.

Brands who wish to be Brave can learn a thing or two from the story of this man. Sometimes you just know what you are doing is right. So do it and believe.