What Sounds Sell?

Hey everybody, today I'm going to be talking about the sound and music used in marketing, commercials and advertisements - In successful campaigns, what characteristics does the audio possess?

To be completely honest with you, audio-visual is not my area of expertise - I'm a music guy through and through. So hopefully this little investigation can help both you and me by getting us thinking about aspects of sound in marketing that we usually wouldn't consider.

To really identify what a type of audio a successful marketing campaign utilises we're going to analyse three different advertisements. Two are from respected website AdAge's list of the top 15 Advertising campaigns of the century, and the third is a particular ad that grabbed my attention.

The first advertisement that I would like to talk about is number two on AdAge's list. This particular advertisement is American fast food chain Chipotle's Back To The Start campaign. This advertisement was created with the vision of promoting family farming and showcasing the fresh produce the chain uses whilst supporting local farmers. The campaign was reported as extremely successful being played in an advertisement break during the 2011 Grammy's and in cinema's across the United States.

“Chipotle’s ‘Back to the Start’ is perfect. It says a commercial is not limited to 30, 60 or even 120 seconds. How about 140?” said Robert Wong, executive creative director, Google Creative Lab. “This film captures a company’s beliefs and ideals in a truthful, inspirational and hauntingly beautiful way. This is the ‘We’d like to teach the world to sing’ of the 21st century.” (Advertising Age, 2016)

Have a look at the advertisement below.

So in the audio department, what does this advertisement have that makes it appealing? Well in my opinion there are quite a few contributing factors to this ad being so successful.

1. A soundtrack/song that conveys the same idea's as the visual - adding an increased depth to the meaning of the production as well as invoking an emotional reaction (In this case sadness, regret, guilt and shame followed by passion, joy and justice.

2. Minimalistic yet accurate sound effects - supporting the actions that are being seen on screen but not detracting from the engagement with the message.

3. All sound aspects meeting the industry standard and expectations. This is a rather obvious point and isn't really the direction I am heading with this investigation, but it is important to acknowledge that all of the sounds are a reasonable level and are all panned to the correct space in the mix.

The next advertisement that I'd like to talk about is also on AdAge's top 15 list. This ad was a campaign run my UNICEF in an attempt to help supply children in poverty with clean water. "The idea was simple; a $1 donation tacked onto a restaurant bill could help UNICEF provide a child with drinking water for 40 days".

Here's the ad.

Again, let's go through what's appealing to the viewer in regards to the sound - how does the audio complete this advertisement and bring another dimension to it?

1. The dialogue, which I have a strong idea was ADR'd (which yes, as of now is a verb) is very clear and well recorded. It is almost indistinguishable to being the real audio for the video. This means that the video feels natural and honest.

2. The ambience is extremely well done. If you listen closely there's music, footsteps, chatter, cutlery, plates - It really feels like you're there in the setting.

Finally, the last advertisement that I would like to discuss is one that I saw on Youtube whilst I was watching the weekly Mighty Car Mods upload (If there's any car people out there you know what I'm talking about) when an ad played before my video. I know, inconvenient and annoying right? But get this, I didn't skip it. The sound through my headphones was that engaging that I willingly and purposely sat through the whole ad. So I mean, it must be good right?

Have a listen below.

So, what's so good about this advertisement? Why did I make a conscious effort to not skip this ad when I have skipped every other ad? Ever.

1. The rock song that plays throughout is absolutely kick-ass. If you want to grab my attention, that's how. So the soundtrack is the number one thing on this list. It compliments the product and theme of the advertisement - it ads another dimension to the ad.

2. Even though this is a very music and dialogue driven piece of media the little pieces of audio are still there. For example the laugh, the breath and the buzz of the light as it turns on. It's these tiny little details that make the advertisement complete - make it unskipworthy (also an adjective now).

So there it is. A little blog about some important things to consider when looking at audio in advertisement or any audio-visual media for that matter. I know I will take these points into consideration when working on any advertisement jobs I encounter, I hope this helps you out as well!

Until next time,

Brandon Hayward.

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