Brands advertise to stand out. They advertise on TV, which dwarfs other media in cost, because it offers the opportunity for impact through sight, sound and motion.
So why do most ads end up sounding alike, literally? 
Given the high cost and the huge opportunity, why do marketers use such a limited range of music? Spend an evening or two listening to the music in ads and you’re unlikely to hear anything beyond contemporary (rock, hip hop, rap, country, maybe a little jazz) and oldies. This includes music used in its original or adapted form as well as music written specifically for commercials.
Name that tune?
Can anyone tell me which brand used “The Age of Aquarius” recently? I know I’ve heard it, but darned if I can remember the brand.
Okay, now what about “Rhapsody in Blue”? Chances are you’ll recognize it as the theme song for United Airlines. Yes, that’s probably because United’s used it consistently for years, but isn’t that the point? Using something distinctive that goes the distance and becomes associated with your brand?
There is an extraordinary range of music available that’s already gone the distance. It’s called (drum roll)…classical. Instrumental and choral music by great composers has already stood the test of time and is bursting with possibility.
Decades later, brands that used classical music still own a little real estate in our heads. Ask any American-born boomer, “What’s the cereal that’s shot from guns?” and he or she will probably start humming Tchaikovsky’s 1812 Overture before telling you it was Quaker Puffed Wheat and Rice. The plaintive lament “No more Rice Crispies” sung to the famous tenor aria in I Pagliacci may be the only opera some boomers know, but it sold a lot of cereal—and still lingers in memory.
Today, brands occasionally use classical music, but they rely on the same safe, popular warhorses everyone else does, so it might as well be “The Age of Aquarius.” Great music? Sure. But have a little more originality and sense of adventure, people! And a little more brand sense. Is trotting out “Ode to Joy” one more time really going to make you stand out?
Your stealth weapon
One barely-tapped resource is choral music. Once you get past the glorious but overused big three (“O Fortuna” from Carmina Burana and the “Dies Irae” movements from either Mozart’s or Verdi’s Requiem) you only have, say, 400 or so years of repertoire and tens of thousands of movements to choose from. No problem finding something distinctive and ownable.
Full disclosure: I am a choral music geek. A lifetime alto, I am honored to sing with the Newton Choral Society, one of the Boston area’s top choral groups, under its extraordinary director, David Carrier.
While you may be tempted to dismiss this entire genre as fringe-y or elitist, think again. According to a major recent survey by Chorus America, “more than 1 in 5 households have at least one singing member, making choral singing the most popular form of participation in the performing arts for both adults and children.” Wouldn’t you like to resonate instantly with numbers like that? Well-chosen choral music could be your stealth weapon.
Make it sing!
Looking for something commanding and exciting? Why not the zippy part from the 6th movement of Brahms’ Requiem? Need heart-breaking poignancy? Consider “Plorate filii Israel” from Carissimi’s Jephthe. The possibilities are endless, and there are knowledgeable, imaginative (underpaid) experts available to guide you.
To those in charge of making brands extraordinary, a creatively chosen classical soundtrack is a swift road to being distinctive—and I personally encourage you to be a choral music pioneer.
To my fellow choral music enthusiasts, what pieces would you recommend, for what purposes (emotional situations, brands, etc.)? Please leave your comments below and share the challenge with others! For grins, feel free to include musical puns, too. Perhaps “Wie lieblich sind deine Wohnungen” (How lovely is thy dwelling place”) for Century 21 or Sherwin Williams? Yes, the possibilities are endless.
I am thinking that the Aida could be a good piece to bring back out of the closet for the Egyptian Tourism department.
Otherwise, speaking of Bach to the Future, (although it is now a little dated), I thought you would surely bring up the marvellous Air on a G String used in the Hamlet cigar ads… Priceless.
(PS I too sang in my school chorus.)
Great idea, Minter! Thanks for the comment and suggestion! I suspect Egypt might want to wait a bit before rolling out the tourism campaign, but what a perfect soundtrack that would be. I don’t know the Hamlet cigar ads, but sounds like they’re well worth listening to. Btw, I heard recently in an NPR interview on music and the brain that music is the last to go–some Alzheimer’s patients who’ve lost all language can still sing a song with all the lyrics. Those school chorus tunes may still be with us decades hence!
“there are knowledgeable, imaginative (underpaid) experts available to guide you.”
Not that I think you should be underpaid, Tracy. But I bet you would make a great resource for people wanting to dip into this musical stream and not knowing where to begin. This is fabulously creative thinking, just what you do so well.
Aw, shucks. Thank you for your lovely comment, Diane! I was actually thinking of all the incredibly knowledgeable music folk who have such great expertise at their fingertips. Though we love light entertainment, there is also a hunger for things that are deep and real, and classical music has the power to connect you instantly to something with a bit of eternity. And there is magic in the human voice. Together they offer wonderful potential.