Music Genres In Advertisements 1

Music Genres In Advertisements :

Brand Expectations and Audience Reaction
Mahmood Hossain Farsim
Music Producer, Sound Engineer
Radio Shadhin 92.4 FM
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Abstract

Music has been a key tool for producing impactful advertisements. This study wanted to
investigate the impact of a particular advertisement in terms of music genre that was used by
the brand or agency and how the expected music type by target audience was different and
brought different results. An advertisement was shown to 20 people and a mix of responses was
recorded. Almost half of the participants expressed their unwillingness to buy the product after
watching the advertisement with type of music used by advertisers. Most of them expressed
positive purchase intention when the advertisement came with Rock music. The study also
examines the impact of other music genres on the advertisement.
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Music Genres in Advertisements : Brand Expectations and Audience Reaction

Music in advertisements has always played a key role behind the impact of any particular
campaign on the audience. Music is used often in advertising to enrich the key message and may be
the single most stimulating component in a commercial (Hecker, l984). It often happens that a great
story of a particular advertisement ultimately can't create that impact that it was supposed to create
on the market and audience, sometimes due to the wrong choice of background music for the picture
and story. On the other hand the background music can enhance the emotional appeal of a particular
advertisement. The notion of central and peripheral processing suggests that peripheral cues such as
music can lead to a positive attitude about the advertisement and then transfer that positive attitude to
the brand (Stout & Leckenby, 1988). The advertisers play the primary role behind the choice of a
particular music genre. Most of the time they tend to go with the trendy genres and artists for the jingle
and background music for an advertisement. When music is used to evoke emotions congruent with
the symbolic meaning of product purchase, the likelihood of purchasing is enhanced. (Alpert and Maltz
,2005) But a lot of time, music might not really change audience’s purchase intention. According to
Morris and Boone, music may not always significantly change pleasure, arousal, dominance, brand
attitude, or purchase intent in an emotional advertising condition, but it can change how the viewer
feels when watching the advertisement. Pretesting the fit of the advertisement with the music is highly
recommended, (Morris and Boone, 1998). Oakes and North in 2013 conducted a study where in an
experiment on university advertisements show that classical music resulted in a more sophisticated
perceived image for the learning environment and an anticipation of higher university fees. Dance
music, however, increased the desire to apply for a place at the advertised university by
communicating the hedonic pleasures of student life. Study shows that the choice of background music
can completely bring the opposite result than expected (Morris and Boone, 1998). Our study suggests
that there is a need to explore the perceptions behind the choice of background music genres on
advertisements and whether the target group of that particular advertisement really acts towards the
campaign as the brand or advertisers expected for the use of a particular music genre. Why sometimes
the brand managers’ and advertisers’ expectations don't come in parallel with what audience’ feel,
after watching that advertisement ?

Evidence shows that three independent, bipolar dimensions are reliably measured and alone are
sufficient to define all emotional states (Mehrabian and Russell, 1974). These three dimensions are:
P pleasure/displeasure, A arousal/non-arousal, and D dominance/submissiveness. In 1891, the De
Long Hook and Eye Co. commissioned a series of rhymed verses—what we now call “jingles”—to
advertise its product, the hump hook and eye. Their advertising campaign started a trend of jingles in
advertising (McLaren). According to Huron, there are six basic ways that music contributes to an
effective broadcast advertisement: entertainment, structure/continuity, memorability, targeting and
authority establishment. The use of popular music has become a practice for a long time. When the
objective of a particular campaign is to stay in people’s memory for a longer time, popular music comes
in good use for that. Although, musical artists used to consider this as taboo (Howard). Use of popular
music in advertisements have showed successful response. When a song is placed into a
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television advertisement, people automatically associate the music with the images in the
advertisement. Memorability is one of the most prominent reasons why advertisers use music in their
advertisements. Advertisers seek to use songs so that they are memorable and create an impact
(Huron). Researchers found that in order to process music our brain uses the same parts those are
also responsible for emotion and memory. For example, strings playing short and sharp notes in a
major key were found to elicit feelings of happiness and excitement . Meanwhile, a shift from major to
minor keys provoked a sense of sadness or melancholy in 83%, and 90% found acoustic guitar sounds
to be caring, calm and sophisticated. (Gilliland, Econsultancy.com ,2018 ). Study by Neurosight backs
up the fact that music in TV ads becomes more memorable when it drives the action of the ad. In this
case, music genre of the background music plays a significant role for the success of a particular
advertisement.

Researchers have found the impact of music on advertisements and the effectiveness if the music
drives the action on screen , however, there are rooms left for further research to determine the
difference of genre selected by the advertisers and the genre expected by the audience and the reason
behind the difference. Also it can be explored whether the generalized belief of the production process
to choose a particular genre of background music for a particular type of advertisement can be
challenged to establish new anticipation among the audience. Therefore, the current study helps us to
understand what the particular target audience of an advertisement or brand tend to like the kind of
music genre. It also helps us to understand how new experiments in choosing background music
genre will be received by the target audience and how that affects purchase intention.
 Music Genres In Advertisements 5

Method

Participants included 20 people aged from 23 to 45 years and 12 of them were male participants.
This group of people reflect the target customer group of the advertisement, All of them listen to music
at some point in a day. They have day jobs and some of them are aware of current trends in music,
information and communication. The people were thoughtfully chosen to reflect a mix of different socio
economic backgrounds who had different favorites among music genres. Most of the participants
spend more time on social media than TV which indicates that the importance of effective
communication by brands on the internet.

The commercial was from a telecom company and its offer. The duration was 6 seconds. The
advertisement shows a charming young girl, aged around 22, is holding a placard which is showing
the offer information. The information on the placard initially animates and the yellow backdrop keeps
on animating throughout the time. There was a cheerful male voice over that was explaining the offer
showed on the placard. The music that was embedded on the original material was composed with
local Bangladeshi instrument 'Harmonium' , local percussions like 'Dhol', cymbals , additional kick
drum, synths on bass and low mid spectrum. The mix was very 'pumped' and loud. The tempo of the
music was 124 BPM , time signature was 4/4.
Each participant was called one after one in a studio to participate in the research. Each
participant viewed the commercial without the music but with the dialogue and sound effects. After the
advertisement was shown to each participant, they were asked :
a. Whether there should be any music at all in the advertisement or not.
b. If the advertisement needed music, what kind of music, namely music genre , they
expected in the advertisements.
To ensure that the participants are aware of the music genres, classical, rock, funk, jazz, uplifting, pop,
blues, light piano and acoustic guitar based music were played to them and the audience were asked
c. To choose the music they think that fits to the advertisement.
d. To express whether the participant would want to buy the product after watching the
advertisement in this form (A)

After each participant’s reaction was recorded, the advertisement was shown to them again with some
other music genre. After the advertisement was shown with new music, to know the participants
purchase intention, s/he was asked to
e. express whether s/he liked the advertisement or not on the scale of 1 to 5.
f. express whether the participant would want to buy the product after watching the
advertisement in this form (B).
After this, the participants were shown the video with original music that were chosen by the
advertisers. Then the participant was asked to
g. express whether s/he liked the advertisement or not on the scale of 1 to 5.
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h. express whether the participant would want to buy the product after watching the
advertisement in this form or not. (C)

Results

Result of this research shows a significant difference between the choice of music by the brand
and participants' choice of music genre. On form 'A", 17 out of 20 participants voted 'Rock' as their
choice of music on which they would respond positively in terms of their purchase intention. Only 2
participants chose western classical and one participant chose uplifting music as their preferred music
genre for this advertisement. All of them said they would want to buy the product except the participant
who chose uplifting music. The participant was not sure about the purchase decision even if the
advertisement comes to him with his choice of music genre. As a reason, the participant said he would
prefer more detail about the product to make the purchase decision even if, the advertisement
production was 'good' according to him. Among the participants, 5 of them who chose rock , was
concerned how the voiceover and music fits together and according to them, 'Rock' was the perfect
genre for this advertisement.

Next, the advertisement was shown with a different music genre than each participants' choice in
form A. For example , rock was replaced by piano, western classical or funk in form B. Here, 16 out of
20 participants scaled 3 out of 5 when they were asked to choose a number to present how much they
like the advertisement with the new music. However, 9 of them did not want to buy the product. 2 of
the total sample marked 2 out of 5 and other 2 participants marked 3.5 and 2.5. These last two
participants said that they are not sure whether they would want to buy the product now. On contrast,
they were sure about the purchase when the music of the advertisement was Rock. Other two who
gave the advertisement 2 out of 5, expressed negative purchase intention in response to the new
music in the advertisement.

Finally, in form C, the advertisement was shown with its original music that was chosen by the
brand and agency. In response to this content, the viewers showed a mix of response in terms of how
much they like it and their purchase intention. 11 people marked the production 4 out of 5. However,
not all of them said they would necessarily buy the product even if the advertisement comes to them
in this form. 3 out of those 11 participants said even if the music fits the advertisement, they are not
attracted to the content with the music and thus, they are not willing to buy the product. 3 participants
from those 20 people have marked the content 2.5 and expressed their willingness to buy the product.
As a reason, they said even if they do not like the advertisement with the new music that much, the
advertisement has been successful to grab their attention with its sharp tonal content and send the
message about the product and its offer. Thus they might remember the advertisement and think of
purchasing the product in future. Rest 6 of the total sample gave 2 or 1 out of the scale 5 and said
neither they liked the new form of the advertisement nor they would want to buy the product.
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Overall, the result shows a mix of responses and a number of conclusions and decisions can be
drawn out of this survey.

Discussion

The purpose of this research was to investigate whether music, as a factor of an effective
advertisement differs as a choice among advertisement makers or brand and the target audience of
the product. The survey result brings a number of facts in response. Music, as a content for the
advertisement can affect the content in different ways. The type of music that advertisers choose may
not be preferred by the target customers. The traditional perception behind the music choice , in most
cases shall not be experimented. The reason is evident. Most people did not like the music that 'does
not go' with the visuals. Although this particular subject has further research possibilities, this is true
that people's thought process and way of acceptance have been shaped by a long time of practice of
doing things in particular ways.

Only 1 participant preferred the advertisement without music. As expected, that clearly shows that
how music is accepted among people. Among all the genres, 'Rock' was most accepted and increased
purchase intention in our research. However, it might not be true for any visuals. Our visual was bright,
charming and direct. In other kind of visuals, 'Rock' might not be the best choice for background music.
On the other hand, more than half of the people who chose Rock, did not want to purchase the product
when the advertisement was shown to them with original music. This clearly states one thing,
advertisers still have a lot to think when they are making decisions on music.

Although , a good number of people liked the original music, it did not create an effective impact
on their purchase intention. The content was not attractive enough for making a positive purchase
decision, according to these people. So, even if the agency or the brand choose a good composition
for their advertisement, there is another factor of overall packaging attractiveness involved which
requires more analysis of how well the sounds are matching the color spectrum.

In conclusion , the results of this study brings some fascinating insights into effective choice of
music genre in advertisement. The expectation of target group in terms of music may be very different
than what the advertisers are thinking. Also it is not necessarily true that a good production on the
advertisement can always bring positive purchase intentions. These things and changes in the creative
process of advertising need further experimentation and research to bring up new ideas and bring new
inputs to people's minds to produce new perspectives on how productions are consumed. For this, a
lot of other things can be investigated. For example, how the purchase intention varies depending on
what listening medium is used while the advertisement is consumed. Another aspect of research can
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show a particular frequency spectrum can attract a particular gender or age group. For example, it has
been found on research that women tend to like more high frequencies than men. Another subject of
further study can be 'voice overs'. How a type of voice over can be relative to a particular music genre
in an advertisement. Overall, it can be said that how brands think of placing a particular type of music
can differ greatly with audience's choice and expectation and thus, the right choice of music in an
advertisement is always a matter of greater analysis.

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www.econsultancy.com