As Barack Obama announces the stars of his White House festival, music remains a relatively un-mined resource for content marketers
This week, president Obama unveiled the first round of stars for the South by South Lawn music festival – to be held at the White House garden on 3 October.
With more names to be announced, it so far includes folk-rock band The Lumineers, soul group Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings and DJ Beverly Bond.
Obama is a noted music fan, releasing regular playlists and famously crooning Al Green’s Let’s Stay Together at a 2012 fundraiser.
Music aids the perception of Obama as a cool, relatable, culturally attuned figure. Additionally, although undoubtedly genuine, his love of music – and the music he chooses to spotlight – is part of his brand.
The soundtrack of our lives
In content marketing, music has tended to be used for soundtracking content (predominantly video) rather than as a content marketing tool itself.
But not always.
When United Airlines broke musician Dave Carroll’s guitar on a flight, and then subsequently stonewalled him when he complained, he turned the incident into a song and accompanying video.
It was a huge viral hit – close to 16 million YouTube views and counting. Carroll now tours the world giving public speeches, has released a book and uploads regular videos on his YouTube channel.
Thanks to the song he is now also a business, writing songs for other brands.
Content marketing aims for connection and engagement with an audience – and music offers that instant and emotive response in a variety of moods. But creating music for a B2B content marketing campaign is an unusual approach, and has so far been restricted to lighthearted content.
Such as cleaning product Cillit Bang’s move away from shouting spokesman Barry Scott to a Flashdance-inspired music video starring dancer Daniel Cloud Campos. Instead of traditional TV advertising spots, Cillit Bang recognised the need for a refresh in approach, embracing content marketing with shareable video and a nostalgic pop culture theme.
Musical pairs
Away from original compositions, music is more likely to be a tool used by businesses to try and align with certain demographics.
For example, Starbucks attempted to be seen as a cultural tastemaker with its record label Hear Music – signing much-loved, mainstream favourites such as Paul McCartney and Alanis Morissette and selling CDs of the music played in their coffee shops.
Although initially successful, it wasn’t immune to the decline of the CD-buying record industry: Hear Music folded in 2008.
Instead of continuing to embrace music, more recent attempts at expanding its reach have included audio and video storytelling with its Upstanders podcast series.
Don’t hit the wrong note
Perhaps looking at how Obama has played the game successfully, this week Hillary Clinton announced a new initiative to encourage people to register to vote. Her website is offering the prize of a meet-and-greet with rapper Pusha-T.
But musical associations can be a dangerous game. Famously, Ronald Reagan’s request to use Born in the USA for his presidential campaign was met with a round refusal from Bruce Springsteen. It also showed a fundamental misunderstanding of the song – less a tub-thumping chant for his country, more a critique of the futility of the Vietnam War.
Considering such sensitivities and potential pitfalls, commissioning original music could seem to be safer territory for content marketers.
Although that tends to be the domain of lighthearted content for the moment, perhaps it’s time for a shake up.
If the golden age of advertising in the 1950s and 60s included a fondness for jingles, perhaps content marketing needs its own soundtrack.
