From jingles to music albums - Why Music IPs work for brands…

Aaya
Naya Ujala to Coke Studio and Dewarists, brands have been using music as marketing
medium for decades – experts speak on the progressing role of Music IPs.

Back in November 2017, a 22 year old DJ Ritviz became the talk of the town as his song ‘Udd Gaye’ went viral. Created by AIB in association with #BacardiHousePartySessions, the video was a brand created Music IP that is widely consumed till date.

Now,
the use of music in marketing is a rather fashioned concept. From Aaya Naya
Ujala to Coke Studio and Dewarists, brands have been using music as marketing
medium for decades now. The rise of Music IPs in the form of full – fledged
soundtracks, which are also distributed as music albums with minimal or no brand
presence, has gained prominence in the last few years.

Rise of Music IPs

In the later part of 2018, Supari Studios collaborated with Red Bull to create Raah e Fakira, a music video featuring Bangalore-based folk/fusion band, Swarathma.

“Music helps establish emotional connect by triggering memories and stimulating emotions, drawing viewers completely into the narrative and the message. Moreover, unlike traditional commercials which are now seen as distractions, music is viewed differently, thereby acting as an immensely impactful IP from a brand’s perspective,” explains Manoti Jain, Business Head, Supari Studios.

Jain
goes on to explain how Red Bull went on from being a beverage company to a
full-blown media entity with Red Bull Media House. “Through its content wing,
Red Bull Media House, it has moved from being simply a beverage company that
uses video content for marketing purposes, to one that falls under the media
space as well. Developing music IPs has therefore, always been a very large
part of Red Bull’s brand identity,” Jain concludes.

The primary brief given to them was to put together a local sport with the track, while building a narrative based storyline out of the same.

Raah
e Fakira was released on social media and is available on the music streaming
app, Saavn.

2018 also witnessed Airtel TV Missing Stars Of Pujo, a music IP created by Airtel featuring prominent singer, Anupam Roy. The song advert was promoted heavily on digital and made available on Airtel owned music streaming app, Wynk.

“Airtel has a very recognisable signature tune
composed by A R Rehman way back in 2002. We decided to build around that and
create a song that can reach out to people,” shares Arjun Mukherjee, VP and
ECD, J Walter Thompson, an integral part of the campaign.

Shedding insight on creating a Music IP, Mukherjee opined, out there, on the internet, a music video is fighting with a cat video for attention. One can’t segregate content on the basis of music v/s humour or something else. “The internet is truly democratic space. Only content that people like and connect with will find traction. It must touch an emotive chord, something they can relate to,” he adds.

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One of the most prominent Music IPs created by a
brand is the aforementioned #BacardiHousePartySessions’ Udd Gaye. The brand
recorded 2500 entries and 1.3 million conversations for BACARDÍ House Party
Sessions.

“With BACARDÍ House Party Sessions, our objective
was primarily to encourage up and coming musical talent across the country and
cement our enduring legacy in music,” expresses Sahith Sethuraman, Senior Brand
Manager Bacardi TM - India & South East Asia, Bacardi India.

Sethuraman shares that when Ritviz performed Udd
Gaye at BACARDÍ Nh7 Weekender they realized that the audience knew the lyrics
to a song that was only a week old.

“If we look at the many covers that BACARDÍ House
Party Sessions has created, we start noticing how consumers talk about the
brand and the campaign. Our internal tracking parameters also show a large
upswing on desire and brand affinity scores,” Sethuraman further adds.

Building a Music
IP

Music IP as a term is very broad – it could be a
jingle, an ad campaign featuring a musician, or an entire music album (like 6
pack bank) with or without brand integration. Whether to create a Music IP or
no and which way to go has to be a strategic decision as opposed to a tactical
one. Music IPs are a cost heavy entity; for maximum RoI brands need to look at
integrating them in a larger strategy as opposed to a one of marketing tactic
that may or may not perform to its potential.

“Consistency is of paramount importance for a
platform or message to percolate. Second to consistency is ownable content. One
must do what is in line with the legacy. Above all staying true to the brand
legacy is what always ticks,” Sethuraman explains.

Legacy further brings out brand relevance which
stands true to all forms of marketing. “Brands, need to build IPs that are not
only strategically relevant, but also serve as powerful content territories, by
falling at the intersection of brands’ value propositions and the audience’s
passion points,” says Jain.

Harish Bijoor of Harish Bijoor Consultants explains that brands need to integrate music in every stage and not just the final product.

“The IPL sound is my favorite. Sound branding at its
best! You
recover costs only when you hit big. Most brands don’t,” Bijoor exclaims.

He emphasizes that brands must believe in research
that is oriented to the ears rather than to the other senses.

“Most of our brand research is related to the
visual. That needs to change in mindset terms,” Bijoor concludes.