Celebrities, Music and Brand Sales
We are long past the days when the only advertisements were found in newspapers and magazines. Now, the average person is exposed to over 5,000 ads each day, making it increasingly important for advertisers to find innovative and effective ways to market their brands.
One underutilized outlet is through music – whether through the lyrics themselves or brand exposure in music videos. In this blog, Hollywood Branded shares our infographic on types of music artists brands can partner with, and explores the power of advertising in entertainment (known as advertainment) with music artists.
Consumer Reach - Far and Wide
Music celebrities have a huge online reach – it’s an undeniable fact. And there is no denying the emotional impact the beat of music has on consumers. Between concerts and tours, their songs playing on the radio or downloaded via various platforms, presence in television and film, and their own social media networks, there is no shortage of exposure a brand can receive from a partnership with a music artist celebrity. Brands have the opportunity to reach large fan bases who are not only eagerly keeping up with the artists’ every move, but also have the potential to be the brands’ new customers.
Why It Works
No matter if fans realize it’s a paid endorsement, music brand partnerships still work. Consumers realize celebrities are being paid - but that's not the point. They also realize the celebrity has the option of working with (almost) any brand - and despite being paid, they chose to move forward with a co-branded partnership.
Celebrities have a powerful influence over brand awareness and perception. That’s why brands sign multi-million dollar deals to have music celebrities endorse their products, ranging anywhere from food and beverages to fashion to cars.
Music videos are especially a sweet spot for product placement. Viewers get to see how the product naturally is used by their favorite artist. The placement won’t scream, “I am endorsing this product because I’m getting paid to do it”. The celebrities are indeed getting paid, but the subtlety only adds value to the endorsement – it’s personal and organic. Nielsen found in a study that product placement in music videos increases brand awareness and can cause purchase intention and brand perception to improve by an average of 8 percentage points. No matter how long the placement, a couple seconds can make the biggest difference in a brand's awareness - and sales. Nielson also discovered that even 5 seconds of exposure can have the same effect as placements on screen for up to a minute – a 35% or higher brand lift.
Which is good - since most music videos only offer a few seconds of exposure or it becomes a bit painful for the viewer in branding overload.
These natural placements will have fans asking themselves, “If they have it, why shouldn’t I?” And that’s when the magic that causes increased sales to happen.
Case Study Examples Over the Years
There’s hundreds of examples of product placement in music videos, so we decided to share with you a few more recent examples.
In 2015, Selena Gomez released her music video for “Hands to Myself”. Choosing to shoot it as more of a short story, Gomez is also seen with the Beats Audio Pill+ throughout. The music video has over 200 million views.
In 2016, the music video for “Hotline Bling” came out on a Monday night in October, racking in over 1.2 billion views since. Not only did Drake’s dance move “Bachata” go viral, but the red Montcler jacket he wore doubled Montcler’s jacket sales the following Tuesday.
Most recently in 2017, Bruno Mars song “Versace on the Floor” promotes one of the highest fashion brands, Versace. Yes, even luxury brands are not immune to working with music artists. The brand took this opportunity to custom design clothes for Bruno Mars and Zendaya, who is featured in his music video, and share it on their social media platforms.
Check out the article we wrote with 12 examples of how brands gain new consumers from cross genre music partnerships.
The Infographic
And here our infographic, which calls out three types of music artists for every music genre: Mega stars, Popular and Emerging artsits. For brands who are more budget consious, there are always options to consider. The mega star does not need to be the end all for brand partnership opportunities.
Product Placement & Your Brand
Ready to start using music to increase your brand's sales? Read our article Missing The Beat Of Music Marketing To Increase Sales to learn 8 ways your brand can take advantage of music.
And want to learn more about how product placement actually works? Download our Product Placement & Promotions Guide to learn the insights on how the industry works.
