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It is no secret that consumers advertising industries. “We are typical band these days has a label, signing the act direct and sharing an advantage rather than
today are highly resistant to very different businesses, with huge involvement with its fan- then releasing their music as a threat, in order to capitalise
traditional advertising and that vastly different agendas,” he base through the web and, con- part of a branded campaign. on the viral aspect of digital
sonic logos can be an effective says. “We need each other and, sequently, the blogosphere is And happily, in the final analy- distribution. In offering con-
way of cutting through clut- at the beginning, everyone al- very powerful. If the group’s sis, the much-discussed Groove sumers incentives to share Groove
ter. But recent research by Heart- ways starts out with the best of fans perceive it as having sold Armada/Bacardi deal was a tri- Armada’s music, the consumers
beats International shows that intentions. But the problems out, word spreads very quickly. umph for both client and artist. were effectively buying into
there is a genuine disconnect arise because, ultimately, agen- It’s the downside of the posi- “The ROI [return on invest- the brand.”
between what advertising agen- cies are acting as middlemen tive power of the viral buzz that ment] was fantastic and Bac- It is often said that, histori-
cies think and what they do. for their client and labels are every brand and band wants ardi is very happy with the re- cally, the music industry has
“Our Sounds Like Branding acting as middlemen for their to harness,” Korte says. Korte sult,” says Mat Morrisroe, been driven by technological
report revealed that 97% of artist. And often, what clients is currently looking for a group managing director and founder advances, starting with the move
global brand directors consider think they want is not what they to work with the US retailer of Music & Brands Consul- from wax cylinders to vinyl,
music to be very important and really need. These days, we are JC Penney: “They want to part- tancy. “But despite the ground- and then from vinyl to CD.
that 70% of them would like regularly asked to vet acts for ner with an American group breaking work behind that deal, But now that the arrival of dig-
to invest more in music,” Lusen- all manner of things that could who are touring heavily in sup- we still have a generalised situ- ital has broken the distribu-
sky says. “But equally, 70% ad- offend the mainstream audi- port of their first or second al- ation where brands really don’t tion monopoly that previously
mitted that, on average, they ence or negatively affect brand bum. They will be involved in know where to go to source tal- sustained the record industry,
actually invest less than 5% of image. Obviously, off-colour pop-up concerts sponsored by ent and record labels are con- further development will have
the total budget in music. It lyrics are a big no-no, but singers JC Penney, which will be broad- tent to push their latest act on to come from a different source.
comes back to the fact that mu- with multiple piercings and/or cast on the JC Penney website agencies without any real un- “The music industry of the
sic is not generally seen as a strate- heavy tattoos are increasingly and featured in the company’s derstanding of the agencies’ future will be intellectually-
gic tool in its own right, be- seen as a liability. That’s be- stores. Plus, they have even asked needs. And the truth is that these driven,” Morrisroe says. “And
cause the advertising industry cause the brand/band partner- us to see if we can get the band partnerships only work when it’s already happening. There
is dominated by a visual cul- ships we are working on these to wear clothes from the store. there is genuine interest and are more and more artists and
ture. I do sincerely believe, how- days are bigger and broader, When we are putting deals such commitment from both sides.” brands being brought together
ever, that music is able to pro- with the act undertaking du- as this into place, we need to While the mere existence of by management and labels in
vide new and more effective ties such as special one-off ap- work closely with both the la- the Bacardi deal caused a stir, a order to discuss their objec-
ways to get a brand message pearances on behalf of the brand bel and the management. To somewhat overlooked aspect tives. And that, in fact, is the
across.” Eric Korte, head of mu- and providing exclusive web get all the tracks licensed and of it was the way in which the raison d’etre of Music & Brands
sic production at Saatchi & content, rather than merely do- to have everything else prop- distribution method harnessed, Consultancy. We offer brands
Saatchi New York, believes that, ing the background music in a erly in place is a pretty com- rather than fought against, file- strategic steer on what sort of
even though artist/brand rela- TV spot.” plex process.” sharing. “Working outside the music to use and how best to
tionships are changing and evolv- Equally, bands have to be Another approach — as system can be very liberating,” do so, and we advise artists on
ing, there is a fundamental di- careful not to undermine their demonstrated by Bacardi — is Morrisroe says. “We were de- how best to present themselves
vide between the music and carefully nurtured fanbase. “The for the client to act as a record termined to find a way to make to agencies and their clients.”
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THURSDAY 25
TH
JUNE 2009
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