MUSIC SPECIAL...... Music As A Marketing Tool Focused On Millennials

Music As A Marketing Tool Focused On Millennials

As all social media users know, millennials are now ruling the economics, making up more than 25% of the US population, with a purchase power of around $1 trillion dollars, and it’s not just me who says this: you can check the numbers on PTTOW, CNBC, and Forbes.

Because we spent a large part of our lives under the influence of electronics and social media, we like to see brands going an extra mile in order to sell us stuff.

Millennials are probably the first generation of buyers who prize the emotional bond between them and the seller. In order to make a millennial buy, you need to represent the complex set of values they appreciate andreach to them, speaking their own language. I will talk about the foreign language spoke by millennials in another article, as for this one, I want to discuss how music is becoming the leading marketing tool brands are using to advertise to millennials.

Why music?

Why music? Why brands are focusing their marketing campaigns on music, targeting millennials?

The answer lies in the power of music. Music is able to cross cultural barriers and connect people in an amazing way. Music brings a lot of health benefits and is used as therapy, due to its great emotional power on the human brain. It also stimulates social interaction, which is just what brands are looking for. Moreover, millennials grew up on music, surrounded by tapes and sticking posters with pop singers on their bedroom’s walls. Some of us even had the advantage of recording music at home, with their computer, so music is close to any millennial’s heart.

The influence of the artist on the millennial.

Lori Feldman of Warner Brother Records states that music and the artist are critical to connect a brand with its consumers, as they transmit a certain message to the consumer, and this is true: music and those who sing it are able to emotionally connect people, so when brands started to use celebrities to advertise their products and conduct music marketing campaigns, they reached a gold mine.

To exemplify this, let’s remember the time when Jay Z announced the release of his LP “Magna Carta Holy Grail” in a Samsung ad, which was so effective the app went down due to traffic.

Call to action on musical notes.

Millennials are attracted by causes and they are quick to act and react on social changes. This generation will go out in the streets, asking for what they want! Music is going to be there, with them, at any social event, from a protest to a party, because music is dynamic and incites to action.

Amnesty International launched a program called The Power of Our Voicesin 2012, educating students about the power of music and how they can use it to drive social change. The program was a hit and many students wrote and sang their own protest songs, which incite to action, to change. After all, Billie Holiday sang about racial issues and most rappers sing about the difficulties of the ghetto live.

In this project, students were taught to drive change by using the power of their own voices.

Brands also took advantage of this driving force: during a contest labeled #AbsolutGaga that went on during Lady Gaga’s 2014 tour, fans were encouraged to share their creative ideas on how they would transform their community. Needless to say, the campaign was a hit and showed that people can be involved in transforming their community.

Music engagement leads to long term 

What can you do to gain as much exposure as possible? Engage your audience! Music events have a great power to engage the audience – think Coachella and the million of photos and videos uploaded by the participants on their own social media channels. This is what makes Coachella the main musical event of the year and brands can benefit from this opportunity as well. The keyword here is “live event”. When people attend live events, they engage easier, because they are emotionally connected.

The profile of the average music festival enthusiast is someone of 18-30 years old, who is quick to act on emotions and is active on social media. To understand better the phrase “act on emotions” think of the decision to spend hundreds of dollars on a ticket to a music festival: is it rational or emotional?

A study conducted by Momentum Worldwide showed that people who attend a branded live event are 65% more likely to recommend the brand afterwards and 59% more likely to buy from the brand afterwards.

Digital and traditional methods complement each other.

For a millennial who is highly active on social media, it may seem intuitive to use the online medium to discover new tunes. The reality is twisted: 78% of millennials find new music by listening to radio, which is a traditional medium.

Despite this, Twitter is the main platform where the audience meets the artist and share the news about live music events.

H&M tested the results of this study when they launched their Fashion Against AIDS campaign on radio in 2008. The campaign had a great impact, as it was offering 500 tickets to an Estelle performance, which was going to be held at an yet unknown location. Social media was also used during this campaign. At the end, the entire marketing campaign showed the combo of millennials, music and social media can sell 50k designer T-shirts and attract 17k entries.

The conclusion on the power of music marketing on millennials.

Millennials are breathing music on their social media accounts and technology advancements are keeping us closer to our favorite tunes and artists, while we love to interact digitally with our idols, we also love to see them in live events. In fact, the general lack of social interaction is pushing millennials to crave more and more live music events, where they can get a physical and emotional experience.

All these make music a great marketing tool for millennials, so branded live music events are going to bloom in the future, as more and more companies use music to reach and engage their audience.

BY HELENA NEGRU

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