Pop artists go commercial; advertisers are turning to pop tunes that will click in consumers' minds, while artists have learned that exposure and money far outweigh the stigma of `selling out.'

0 Comments | Insight on the News, June 24, 2002 | by Donna DeMarco

Watching TV commercials these days is like flipping around the radio dial. Pop songs from every era are filling up the commercial breaks. Popular groups and artists from Led Zeppelin to Sting are jumping on the advertising bandwagon, their tunes helping to pitch cars, cruises, beer, fast food, software and insurance. And while artists are cashing in, so are the advertisers as songs resonate with consumers and keep their products moving.

Nike pioneered the commercial use of pop music in 1987 when it featured The Beatles' original recording of "Revolution" in ads peddling its shoes. Artists had sold their music for advertising in the past, but Nike's use of a song that some say stood for everything noncommercial brought attention to the trend.

The Beatles original recordings have not been used in commercials in years, although their words and sheet music have been. Most recently, Beatles' tunes have been tapped for H&R Block ("Tax Man"), Allstate ("When I'm 64") and Phillips ("Getting Better").

While almost every industry has used pop songs for ads, the auto industry has been at the forefront. Familiars include Chevrolet's "Like a Rock" by Bob Seger and Volkswagen's "Roboto" which was rerecorded by Styx lead singer Dennis DeYoung for the commercial.

Music is the major element in Mitsubishi's current ad campaign, which began running last year. Songs such as "One Week" a chart-topper by the Bare-naked Ladies, and the not-so-known song "Start the Commotion" by the Wiseguys, are among the main elements of the commercials, which usually show a group of young adults in the car singing and bopping to the beat.

In March, the auto company released a new ad for its redesigned 2003 Eclipse featuring a dance song by British band Dirty Vegas. The campaign aimed to project a message--cool people drive cool cars--without actually saying it, says Eric Springer, senior vice president and associate creative director at Deutsch LA, the agency that created the new Mitsubishi ads.

In fact, Mitsubishi's brand awareness has jumped 36 percent in the last three years, according to Pierre Gagnon, president and chief operating officer of Mitsubishi Motor Sales of America. "If the song is appropriate with your product, it does differentiate it and break through" Gagnon says. "We've hit an emotional chord with customers."

That's what most advertisers are trying to do by marrying a good song with a product or service. Royal Caribbean, for example, used Iggy Pop's "Lust for Life" to give customers a feel for what kind of adventures the cruise ship can offer. "We wanted to bring the brand to life" says an employee of Arnold Worldwide, the Boston agency that created the ads. "The music is the emotional bed we put the message on."

Other industries have picked up on the music vibe, too. "It's steadily growing" says Neil Gillis, a vice president at Warner Chappell Music in New York. "People see it as a trend because more artists want to get involved." Burger King appropriated more than 100 popular songs in its "Food & Music" TV and radio campaign of the late 1990s. It matched songs such as Tone-Loc's "Wild Thing" and The Turtles' "Happy Together" with its featured foods.

But there's a fine line between using a song for its star power and using a song because it actually fits with the advertiser's message. Music can be used for entertainment, to target an audience, to offer an emotional or nostalgic connection or to even offer credibility, explains Kevin McKiernan, president of Creative License Inc., a music-brokerage firm in New York. And, with more artists open to the idea of their music in commercials, it has become easier to cut through the red tape and get the proper approval to move forward with a project.

Music licensing involves two kinds of properties: the composition (the sheet music and lyrics) and the recording by the original artist. The latter usually is much more expensive to buy, so often an agency rerecords a song using a voice similar to the original artist.

The Martin Agency, which uses McKiernan's firm to broker music deals for some of its creative work, wanted to use the late Bob Marley's "Get Up, Stand Up" in an ad for Timberland. McKiernan approached the Bob Marley estate, which liked the idea of the rugged, outdoorsy commercial and cut a deal with the agency to rerecord the reggae anthem for $270,000. (The price of the original Marley song would have been more than double that.) The licensors stipulated that the agency use an artist who did not sound like Bob Marley.

Plenty of advertisers are willing to dish out millions to have the original artists' voice associated with their message. Cadillac struck a multimillion-dollar deal with Led Zeppelin to use the legendary band's "Rock and Roll" in its commercials introducing its newest line of vehicles. (The price of the deal, which marked the first time Led Zeppelin has licensed its music, never was disclosed.) The carmaker has a year-to-year contract with the band to use the song in its advertising through 2008.