36 Michael Spencer would like to teach the world to sing Sounding Despite the key role it plays in advertising, the impact of music has hardly been measured. Until now, that is. syjosowman skthe pesonbesd yout A \ienttetien ty Commerc hy eerie «andtorcalat he ase ~Srdyol rota ta hey Stuggletoqtpast ff he opt the ead ‘There's ‘Grapevine! forLevi's;a couple ‘of Coke classics: "like to teach the ‘word to sing, and “The real thing’ Something more recent, maybe ‘shaking that ass for Renault Megané, ‘or the Nokia one that even the birds in Germany started chirping, and perhaps one or two that were classics In theirhome country but were never exported, from Hovisin the UK, to ‘Aeroplane jelly in Australia Even fyoumakeit toa dozen tunes, and get the brands right, it's sila surprisingly low number, compared tothenumber of ads made and consumed each year. For Michael Spencer, a respected ‘musician, music educator and ‘music consultant to filmmakers and advertisers, it's not surprising at al He saysit's seldom that advertisers and their agencies hitthe right note when Itcomes to choosing music. “Most people in the ad industry) don’t actually understand music," he says, “and they feel vulnerable” He says that despite the powerful role itcan playin advertising, decisions about musi, and sound more broadly, are usually neglected inthe ad-making process Flying a kite Spencer sayshhe'snever come across focus groups in which consumers are asked about the musicbeing considered for commercials. He adds: "Usually the sound isall but anafterthought. To my knowledge, there's very litte research done atall. There's afairamount of quess work that goes on. Often it’s just fying a kite. Musics usually broughtin at the end of the making ofa commercial) and itshould be thought about at the beginning, and people don’thave the vocabulary tobe able to talk about what they want.” “They say things tke, ‘lke apiece ‘of music that would make me cry ata wedding’ or'something that goes up atthe end” The reason is that, ike many consumers, many admen and women’s experience of singing oF playing music ended with their primary school Christmas concert, and since then their exposure to music has been largely limited to modern pop and, ‘more recently, computer-generated ‘music and ringtones. “The people who make decisions about ‘music in commercials are listening tothiskind of musie alot, and their knowledge goes back only about 30 years", says Spencer. *Musichasa history that goes back 2,000 years and hasa tremendous breadth toi.” Name that tune While even opera novices might know Lakmé as the music from the British Alrwaysads, they might think theyoff don’t naw the Anvil Chorus from Verdi I Trovatore, until you remind them of the rousing pasta sauce ads they've hummed along to countless times. ‘There's sound to consider as well asmmusie. Remember the hiss of Schweppervescence, or the slow pour of apint of Guinness? Just how toassess the success ornot af music in advertising fsa tricky thing to ‘quantify but powerful ts, as anyone who listens to ‘0 Sole Mio’ and hears “Just One Cornetto" wil testify. ‘When BBC Radio in the UK earlier this ‘year scrapped theirlong-serving theme ‘musi for Radio Four, there was a national outery in the newspapers, and even questions asked in parliament. we know that music can provoke the most extraordinarily strong reactions", Spencer says. "But how do we actualy ‘measure how something ike this rests inthe public consciousness? There's a lot of circumstantial evidence, butwe don'thave any metrics yet” Japin knowledge is something Spencerishoping to help fil, ands currently working with Brain Juicer on ‘developing measurement techniques for music. It'sa small world Spencer's corporate clients include Unilever, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Saatchi & Saatchi, Bosch, and Young Rubicam, He also works with many Japanese organisations and isa ‘member ofthe Uk Japan Parliamentary Group; his long association with Japan Includes seven years directing the ‘national education programme for the Association of Japanese Symphony Orchestras He says an appreciation of musics ‘universal. "Music does transcend cultural and social boundaries" While people's taste in music might not be the same the world over, what ‘gets toes tapping usualy follows 2 pattesn, Spencer says modern music ‘written in Taiwan, forinstance, bears allthe hallmarks of Western-inspired harmonies. Some pieces are so universally enjoyed that they're almost universally used. Louis Armstrong's ‘hata Wonderful ‘World has, injust the past few yeas, been used inads for Leis, Microsoft, Disneyland Paris, Estee Lauder perfumes, Comic Relief and Imperial Cancer Research, Robert Palmer's ‘Addicted to Love’ was, ina single yearin the mid-gos, used to help sell both Soothers throat lozenges ‘and British Pork. Spencer's efforts to provide the advertising community with the Michael Spencer vocabulary that enables them to make better choices about music inclides_| As amemberof the London Symphony Orchestra for 4 2 programme with Unilever called years Michael Spencer worked internationally alongside “Breaking the Sound Barier.Hesays | musical giants ranging from Leonard Bernstein to Paul | it’s opened eyes (and ears) to the McCartney Helater became Head of Education atthe significance of music, One participant | Royal Opera House and created an arts software package, sald:"Hfound that sound isapartot | InaArtsopera, that was introduced in,o00 UK schools. life, and not just an add-on" | spencer now runs two companies, Sound Strategies Super sonics (ound-strategies.co.uk) a consultancy focusing on He says tiskind of work - with corporate identity building through sound, and Creative advertisers and agencies, atherthan | Arts Net, which uses the arts to stimulate engagement just forthem -iscrucial, and cannot be | in education, He will speak at the Cannes Advertising replaced bya music‘expert" who joins | Festival thisyear on the relationship between sound and project briefly picks or commissions | adver tune, then leaves. “Idon't believe there's such thing a silverbulletina tune, but ithelps tohave something that’s memorable, ‘and to an extent hummable". Spencer says of what makes great musicina TV ‘commercial. t's also about how it's used strategically, where in the ad it's used, and how often it's used. “People have thisideathatifyou create the right tune and put tout there it «ill make people buy beans. It won't "You've got to doiitin association with people who really know the product. Going in and saying, ‘Boy, we've got the tune foryou' will not work.”