The power of sound in advertising is the truest mix of art and science. Brett Armstrong, General Manager of Global Business Solutions at TikTok ANZ, explores how creating something truly cultural and influential is art, but making it stick is science.
It’s probably not new news to you that repetition is the key to making something stick with your audience.
From simply licensing tracks like Telstra’s use of Flight Facilities’ distinctive Clair de Lune to sonic brands like McDonald’s ‘Ba ba ba da da’ or Bunnings Warehouse’s infuriatingly catchy theme tune, brands have long used earworms to get into audience’s minds.
Conversely, people tend to get irritated when they get over-exposed to a piece of marketing.
Menulog copped a backlash when it played its Katy Perry ad in every break at the first State of Origin game this year, but you can guarantee many people watching will have found themselves humming the tune the next day, and probably hankering for an unplanned home-delivered dinner.
Beyond traditional media channels though the tables are turning, and, believe it or not, people are searching for those distinctive brand sounds to put their own spin on, reaching audiences of millions in the process.
Running Up That Hill
Creators and audiences on platforms like TikTok are driving the discovery process for communities of new artists. If you think of Doja Cat, Megan Thee Stallion or Bella Poarch, all three had their rise to the top through the platform, and from their songs came trends many brands were able to capitalise on.
So far, not a lot is new Brett, I hear you cry. After all, brands have used music as currency for decades, using cool new or emerging tracks to score their ads and make them more relevant.
But as the internet democratises content, brands now have a chance to push sounds no longer tied down by a release date or timed relevance. TikTok has shown its power to bring old music and even obscure soundbites back into the spotlight.
Everything from The Brady Bunch, Kate Bush and ABBA have been happily adopted from new communities as ‘bangers’ to the surprise and delight of many older users (myself included).
As science based as the art of music can be, there is a simple secret sauce to why these songs and soundbites trend on the platform so easily, and that’s recognition.
The reason sound is so effective across channels such as TikTok is due to the insane number of creators. When thousands get together and create a trend around one soundbite, it’s hard not to take notice.
As Ollie Wards, Director of Music for TikTok ANZ, told me on stage at the recent Advertising Week APAC conference: “Repetition has always been important and it is our central point of why these platforms can help music be discovered. If we hear the same thing over and over in a short clip, your brain needs to complete the rest of the story and hear the rest.”
Ollie, incidentally, knows a thing or two about tastemaking with music having been content director for youth music radio icon Triple J.
The goal now with music across creative platforms is to find even more unique sounds creators want to play with, creating the kind of repetition that means your brand lives in people's heads rent free.
Whether sounds find their way to the platform or are born there, it’s the influence they generate that is truly enticing to brands.
Soon may the Wellerman come
TikTok’s influence isn’t solely boosting old songs and choreographing dances to Boney M’s ‘Rasputin’, the platform has become a leading place to promote social change, leaning into culture, and music, to manufacture outsized impact.
For example, Creative Agency BMF leaned into the sea shanty trend which swept the platform in 2021. The song ‘The Wellerman’ birthed many new shanties from users who’d been exposed to them for the first time.
In a genius stroke of creativity the agency recognised the power of the cultural moment and how it could be used to promote the plight of millions of refugees forced to take to the high seas in makeshift vessels of their own.
Working alongside Nathan Evans, the Scottish Postman famous on the platforms for his Sea Shanties, they created the ‘Reluctant Shanty’, telling the tale of 95 million displaced people around the world and humanising them for the audience.
Sitting down with five refugees who had travelled to Australia, the agency created the music and video guided by TikTok’s Creative Lab. What resulted was a really stirring piece of content that was launched on World Refugee Day and saw 13.5 million views in a short amount of time.
It’s About Damn Time
But it’s not just pop songs creators are playing with. Brand jingles and sonic identities are also fair game. And this can only be a positive for any savvy marketer to get on board with.
Last year to celebrate its 50th anniversary in Australia Maccas took the brave leap of actively encouraging users to remix and play with its iconic sound by seeding it with six creators. It resulted in more than 40 million video views on the platform. And now the bed lives on for any creator to remix themselves and reach more audiences.
There is a limited amount of attention our audiences are willing to give us. Audio makes sure you’re utilising every second you’re connecting that one person or community to your brand.
Creators across the platform are becoming mini music supervisors, working to pair the correct music with their video to enhance the experience for their audience. Something we in the ad industry have been doing since day dot.
That’s why we’re starting to see brands take advantage of TikTok, as it allows them to do something completely different. It can be hard to sell clients on ideas, especially the weird ones, but you know if you can get your fans and community to create that content for you it's a way to open a lot of creative thinking.
To me, Avneesha Martins, Creator and Artist on TikTok, summed it up brilliantly:
“Creativity with sound is about thinking outside the box. How well can you match a sound visually with something that is so contradictory that people have to pay attention. Yet on the flip side of that you have to make sure you’re creating something that has a point of difference and is still authentic.”