Advertising Saves The Radio Star

On a cold, dreary October day in Chicago, country music star Jo Dee Messina played a four-song acoustic set for a VIP audience of about 150. With fans clutching promo posters of the singer—and several of them singing every word—Messina sang her anthemic, crossover-country hits, including 1988's chart-topping breakup single "Bye Bye." Between songs, the personable musician engaged in easy banter with the audience, at one point even inviting a fan on stage with her. Her final song was a self-penned tale of heartache and recovery called "It Gets Better," from her 2005 gold album, Delicious Surprise. Unlike other promotional appearances the singer has made during her career, however, this one was not hosted by a radio station or a fan club. Ad agency Leo Burnett invited Messina to its offices as part of its "Artists in Residence" program, to introduce her to the creatives in the hope of using her songs in ads.The program, which started in March 2005 and has welcomed performers ranging from rapper Common to the neo-punk band Good Charlotte, has become so popular that Ira Antelis, the agency's director of music, says he has to turn artists down. The program's popularity is just one of many recent examples showing how the music industry's reliance on the ad business is growing. "It used to be the advertising industry chased the recording industry—now it's switched," Antelis says.Even Messina, before flying off to sing "God Bless America" during Game 3 of the World Series, freely expressed her desire to work with the agency and several of its brands—to the point of joking that she only ate Kellogg's products for breakfast. (The company is one of the agency's largest accounts.) "I'm a businesswoman and I'm an entertainer," Messina says. "In theory, if you get the right advertising campaign, people come and show up to my shows. It helps with exposure and record sales. … With the right advertising campaign, I get to extend my career."Gone are the days when signing over song rights to corporate America was sneered at by fellow artists and fans alike. Seven years ago, Sting set what many in the ad industry see as a milestone when he teamed up with Jaguar to put cuts from his music video—in which he sang a new song from the back of the luxury car—in TV spots, which in turn helped revive his languishing album sales. What had been viewed as "selling out" came to be tolerated, and in recent months, the pace of musician-marketer deals has picked up a beat. Now, it's not only acceptable, it's expected for musicians to cash in on advertising. "I would say within the last year, it's sped up exponentially," says Josh Rabinowitz, director of music at WPP Group's Grey Worldwide. Now, he says, artists regularly come by to perform acoustic sets in his office, much as they do for program directors at radio stations around the country. And the trend isn't limited to lesser-knowns or artists past their heyday, such as John Mellencamp and Guns N' Roses, who struck recent deals with Chevy Trucks and Harley-Davidson, respectively. Rapper Jay-Z, whom many would regard as at the height of his popularity, also recently made a deal with Anheuser-Busch. While some hard-core fans might continue to view licensing songs for ads as selling out (as some blogging GNR fans did last month), the labels and artists see it as a survival tactic, due in large part to the difficulties they have gaining radio airplay. As more radio stations have fallen under corporate ownership, they've become more conservative, and their playlists even more narrow. It's now harder for even established artists to land a new song on the radio, which limits awareness of the new song and hurts sales."Advertising is the new radio," says Rob Schwartz, ecd at TBWA\Chiat\Day, in a sentiment that was echoed around the ad and music industries."A heavy media buy is the equivalent to heavy airplay on the radio," Rabinowitz adds. "Radio as we knew it doesn't exist anymore."Even an FM staple such as Mellencamp has problems getting new music heard. That's why, after Chevy used one of his less-popular tunes for a brief campaign last year, he offered up a new song—unsolicited—for the brand's 2007 Silverado TV effort from Campbell-Ewald. "I write songs for people to hear them and am always glad to find ways to reach a broader audience," Mellencamp says in a statement issued by his publicist about the use of his latest single "Our Country" as the campaign's centerpiece. And Mellencamp's not the only one. Guns N' Roses' first song in 13 years is featured in a Harley Internet ad. When the client and its agency, Carmichael Lynch, approached GNR, the intention was to use the nearly 20-year-old hit, "Paradise City," for a TV spot. But the band's label, Interscope, offered up a new song from the forthcoming album as well, according to band manager Merck Mercuriadis. "The changing landscape of music means you have to find new and different ways to let someone know something is coming," Mercuriadis says. The Cost of CollaboratingSources from both the music and marketing industries say the line between the two is only going to get more blurry. "I can foresee a day when Eminem approaches Mars and says, 'I'm Eminem, you're M&Ms, we should work together,'" Schwartz says. "I think the future is a band and brand mashup. They're going to look for creative direction from the artists." Toward this end, WPP Group's Group M and Universal Music this fall formed a joint venture, BrandAmp, intended to put agencies and marketers in direct contact with Universal's international stable of artists. "There need to be greater connection points between content providers and agencies," says Richard Yaffa, president of the Leverage Group, which will work with BrandAmp in the U.S. "They're both looking to connect with the same demographic. Why not work together?"Take Anheuser-Busch's recent deal with Jay-Z. In teaming with the rap artist/entrepreneur, the company went so far as to name him a "co-brand director" on its Budweiser Select label. While details of that arrangement are still being figured out, the company's vp of advertising, Marlene Coulis, says they will rely on the artist to provide strategic direction for the brand. "He's got expertise in music, business, fashion and pop culture," Coulis says, adding Jay-Z has already sat in on brainstorming sessions for the brand. "He will be involved in [creating] Budweiser Select's advertising."So, what does Jay-Z gain in the deal? New ads for Budweiser Select not only sample his new single, but also include a tag hyping the album's Nov. 21 release date. This new collaborative environment means the music companies may no longer charge astronomical fees (which have ranged from $10,000 into the millions for a popular song), especially if the brand is willing to work with the artist in many venues, including concert promotion. "Why do we have to pay them if advertising is one of the means of distribution?" asks Grey's Rabinowitz. "They need us as much—if not more—than we need them." This is not just the ad world perspective; the record labels are starting to see the writing on the wall, too. "[Advertising] is another avenue for a consumer to hear new music and know there's a new album coming out," says Camille Hackney, vp of brand partnerships and commercial licensing for Atlantic Records who is responsible for finding advertising deals for the label's artists. "More and more [record] companies are hiring people like me." As chief creative officer at Campbell-Ewald, Bill Ludwig is on the receiving end of the labels' increased pitches for ad deals, and he estimates recently getting 60 promo CDs in a two-week period. "The music industry is still far behind the marketing industry," he says. "Sooner or later, the marketers are going to say, 'My brand is worth more to you than your song is to me.'"In-Tune AdvertisementsWith all these deals taking place, the trick now is to make sure the brands and the bands align stylistically. "When something is a mismatch, somehow our guts tell us it's not right," says Messina, who lists Hallmark and Secret as brands she uses and is interested in working with. "Leo Burnett has several [matches]; that's why I'm here." And musicians are beginning to understand how they can be involved in controlling an ad's look and feel. "I'm seeing more artists wanting to see the storyboards and the concepts [before signing]," says Atlantic's Hackney. "More and more labels are partnering with agencies on a first-look basis, and more of those partnerships will be based on exchanges creatively."Such moves have led some to suggest that the next logical step will be for marketers to become even more responsible for an artist's career. "It's going to be very soon when you see Starbucks signing a band, or you're going to see Amazon signing a band," says Stan Prinzen, executive producer at Martin/Williams, which recently hosted a week of seminars about how to better use music in its advertising. From there, some think it's only a small jump to a time when an artist and ad agency ink some sort of formal deal. "I envision a day when an agency says, 'I am going to sign an artist,'" says Antelis. "'I don't know what I'm going to do with them, but I'm going to use them.'"And why not? Campbell-Ewald's Ludwig says an agency may be more attuned to how and where music can best be employed. "We're better at marketing than [labels]," Ludwig says. "It's no longer about getting airtime on the radio. I probably have more connection and knowledge about the Internet than [a label]."But until that day, the labels and their artists will probably ramp up their approaches to ad agencies, looking for commonalities as they try to work together. "In advertising, you're selling a product that a consumer needs. In music, we hook into peoples' emotions," says Messina. "It feels like a natural marriage."

Brand Marketing

Advertising Saves The Radio Star

Aaron Baar

About

Subscriptions

Events

Publications

WORK SMARTER - LEARN, GROW AND BE INSPIRED.

Subscribe today!

Aaron Baar