Remember when you would hear a song on the radio that sounded amazing so you spent half the day trying to call in to the radio station to ask what the name of that song was? Ah, the thrill of the hunt! Well, if you’re not into that you’re in luck because now there is yet another medium that makes it possible to discover great new music: the commercial.
The music used in commercials seems to be a lot trendier nowadays. Have you noticed? Apple is a company that definitely comes to mind when speaking of good music in commercials. They always seem to have some potential up-and-coming musician. A couple that stand out are the commercial for the new iPod Nano featuring the song “1 2 3 4” by Feist and the commercial for the MacBook Air featuring the song “New Soul” by Yael Naim.
Other ad companies have followed suit, using the opportunity to give an up-and-coming band some exposure. Some of my favorites are:
- Bacardi Mojito – “Daylight” by Matt & Kim :: This led to the discovery of the best album of 2009 on EnterTheShell.com!
- Esurance – “Lucky Today” by Cloud Cult (click on the video to the right)
- Gears of War 2: Last Day – “How It Ends” by Devotchka
- Geico Insurance – “Remind Me” by Royksopp; “Don’t Want to Hurt You” by the Sounds
- Honda Insight – “See You on the Moon!” by Great Lake Swimmers
This is such a great tactic for both parties! You may be thinking, “What does the company get out of exposing an up-and-coming band?” Well, let’s say you’re sitting there in your underoo’s watching some TV. You see that kick-ass Bacardi commercial and aside from wanting a drink you think, “That is a kick-ass song! I wonder what it is?” So you get your iPhone (that you purchased after seeing a commercial featuring the music of some indie band) and Google “Bacardi commercial song.” BAM! You’ve done your part! Bacardi gets some exposure of its own while you find out who sings that song. Some ads even feature song information in the corner, a la MTV music video! I’ve seen ads from both Nivea Lotion and Bally’s Total Fitness that do this.
Honestly, I think it’s pretty brilliant. The way it works is that sure, not everyone who sees that commercial and likes the song is going to buy a bottle of Bacardi. But with a great song to lure in your potential customers, an increase of exposure leads to an increase in probability that someone will buy your drink. Regardless, that company’s name is seen and recognized when you type it into that search bar. One downside for the company is that many people know (and if you didn’t, you do now) that if you remember the lyrics, you can type them in quotes in pretty much any search bar online and you can find the song that way, avoiding the product altogether.
Consider this, though: Is the music in commercials really getting trendier? Or have we simply come to an age when technology is so amazing and accessible that we can look up any song we want and have the answer in an instant? I think it’s a little of both. Either way, we should be thankful that in a world where we can never get enough music, we’re constantly being exposed from every direction!
Here are some of the full versions:
- “1 2 3 4” by Feist
- “New Soul” by Yael Naim
- “Daylight” by Matt & Kim
- “Lucky Today” by Cloud Cult
- “How It Ends” by Devotchka
- “Remind Me” by Royksopp (this is the Geico version)
- “Don’t Want To Hurt You” by the Sounds
- “I Got You Dancing” by Lady Sovereign
Great post! I couldn’t agree more. This is great information, so I appreciate your research into it. Thanks again!