Sweet Harmony for Brands, Musicians

The potential synergies between consumer brands and the music industry have never beenmore important to explore.

The potential synergies betweencoesumer brands and the music industryhave never been more important toexplore， With total ad spending down 15 percentin the first half of 2009 compared with the firsthalf of 2008 and ad spending on music down16 pereent in the same period， it makes sensethat an increasing number of marketers andmusicians are interested in essentially doublingtheir promotional weight， both on- and offline.Here， three campaigns whose clever creativestrategies have boosted the profiles of both thebrands and artists:

COCA-COLA

For Coca-Cola， happiness is afive-note branding mnemonicturned into a song heardaround the world. The effort，a collaboration with Atlantic Records for thecola's \"Open happiness\" campaign from Wieden+ Kennedy， stars a genre-bending mix of artists:Cee-Lo Green; Fail Out Boy's Patrick Stump;Panic at the Disco's Brendon Urie; Gym ClassHeroes' Travis McCoy and Janelle Monae.Producer Butch Walker and Green co-wrotethe nearly four-minute track released in March(the mnemonic was written by Human) viaMySpace-where it's been streamed more than700，000 times——and iTunes， where it reachedNo. 27 on the Pop Chart in the U.S. The songwas used in ads that aired in 31 markets， withspots including eight customized versions withlocal artists (such as Leehom Wang in China，whose version reached No. 1 on the Top 100chart of search engine Baidu.com). In July.a music video——as stylistically fanciful asthe animated \"Happiness Factory\" spots——premiered on MTV. And the song is keeping itsbuzz on: so far， it has inspired more than 100user-generated versions on YooTube， and thiswinter it will be heard at various venues at theOlympics in Vancouver.\"One thing [that 'Open happiness'] hasproven to us is that music has the power toconnect，\" said Coke's global music marketingmanager Umut Ozaydinli at an Adweek andBillboard Music and Advertising Conferenceearlier this year.According to Atlantic's svp of brandmarketing， Camille Hackney， the collaboration--orchestrated by companies includingBrand Asset Group and Crush Music MediaManagement -- is helping to keep the artists topof mind as they each prep upcoming releases.

BLACKBERRY

In an eyebrow-raising switch ofbrand partners， U2 is working withBlackBerry to help promote its latestalbum， No Line on the Horizon. (Forits last album and tour， 2004's Howto Dismantle an Atomic Bomb，U2 partnered with Apple and released a specialedition iPod and an exclusive historical digitalcatalog， as well as starred in an iPod/iTunescommercial touting its \"Vertigo\" single.)BlackBerry's campaign， which touts themessage \"BlackBerry loves U2，\" includesexclusive sponsorship of the band's 360* tourand a 60-second spot from Arc that launchedin July. Timed to the album's release andthe tour's kickoff， the commercial featureda live performance of the band in a showerof glittery sparks playing \"I'll Go Crazy if IDon't Go Crazy Tonight.\" In the fall， the deal'smost innovative element was introduced: aBlackBerry app that includes songs， videos，pictures， a link to the U2 mobile shop and anews feed that sends users updates every time aband member posts to the U2 biog. A yet-to-beactivated social-networking feature will allowconcertgoers to mark their seats on a map ofeach venue， and locate and communicate withother fans at the shows.\"We're reinventing the album experience forthe digital age，\" said Jeff McDowell， vp， globalalliances at BlackBerry maker Research InMotion， at the time of the app's release.

CRYSTAL LIGHT

Atlantic Records' artistEstelle had a very goodnight at the Grammy's backin February. Not only did aCrystal Light spot launchduring the show with an upbeat song she wroteand sang--one of two spots featuring the songin a campaign from Ogilvy Mather--butshe later won her first Grammy for the song\"American Boy.\" (You can bet Kraft Foods，owner of Crystal Light， was pleased， too.) Inthe spot， Estelle belted out the upbeat \"Star，\"which she wrote for the powdered drink mix.The commercial included a URL where visitorscould download free copies of a full-lengthversion of the song.Within the first week on the Web site， said DougScott， president of Ogilvy Entertainment， it wasdownloaded 20，000 times. A month later， it wasput up for sale on sites including iTunes andAmazon. Ten months after its debut， Atlanticsaid the brand-inspired song is being consideredfor inclusion on Estelle's next release， whichis expected in mid-2010. The campaign， saidAtlantic's Hackney， \"was another platformto help build [Estelle] and her brand. Wecollaborated and got a fantastic song out of it.... And you never know， we may make it into asingle. We're still having those discussions.RELATED

2009: Trends in Music Branding

Adweek asked some experts in the field which trends were hot this year as popular musicand brand-building become increasingly intertwined.“The biggest trend was the commissioning of original music by brands， be it the Kanye West25th anniversary Air Jordan deal or the Estelle Crystal Light deal. More and more brands arenot necessarily only looking to license music but looking to collaborate with artists to makeoriginal music.\"

——Doug Scott president of Ogilvy Entertainment\"The biggest trend was the use of social networking: Artists are being discovered and in turnworking with brands. Bands are also becoming popular well before they get a label deal. Ifa band has an online following of a few hundred thousand fans， it is like a focus group. Withthe whole music business changing， ardsts are looking to our industry more than ever， andbeyond that 30-second spot， bands can synergize with our brands like never before. (ViaWeb films， behind the scene's footage， additional songs， product giveaways， contests， etc.)\"

——Mike Boris， svp/executive music producer at McCann Erickson\"The most notable branding initiative in the music space to me has been Apple's non-use ofcool songs in their TV ads——notable because Apple's use of such songs was the talk of thetown in the ad-music continuum for the last few years， and no brands have successfully filledthat vacuum in 09. Apple has recently and effectively used underscores with voiceovers tosell their iPhones and iPhone Apps， utilizing music that's unique in it's overuse of an acousticguitar and glockenspiel instrumental combo——a sound that many in my field many wouldsay/complain is the 'Apple Sound' that other clients requested a bunch this past year for theirown underscores.\"

——Josh Rabinowitz， svp， director of music at Gray Worldwide