FRUKT on Music

James Male

Yesterday, I submitted part 1 of my blog on music and its role at the heart of brand utility. This is the second and final part of that blog, where I’ve listed five further considerations when using music to create brand utility.

6. Build strategic partnerships
Creating brand utility won't deliver your business and communications objectives single handedly. If you cement the right strategic partnership you can achieve a greater reach and better campaign results. Nike and Apple with Nike +, Nine Inch Nails and Tap Tap Revenge, Bacardi and Groove Armada, O2 and the Academy Group are all examples of partnerships that have achieved success through working together.

7. Build stronger, more meaningful relationships with consumers
The fragmentation of media, the empowerment of consumers through the Internet and the consequent shift from push to pull marketing, means that traditional media is increasingly less effective. Delivering brand utility can help increase resonance and consumer engagement (e.g. Pink, Snow Patrol and Nine Inch Nails phone apps were examples of bands offering free multi content offerings and track streaming with a clear drive to purchase).

8. In an oligopoly brand utility can be a major point of differentiation, as well as a driver for increasing customer loyalty
In a market where you have few key competitors, offering tangible utility can be key in marking you out from your competitors. For example, in a recent customer survey over half of O2 customers (52%) visiting the venue cited priority ticketing as a key factor in staying with the O2 network. Additionally, where there is not much differentiation in a brands product offering (handsets and service plans, for instance), these benefits can actually win you new customers. Provide realistic benefits to customers to set you apart from your competitors. This will increase customer retention, whilst in some cases win you new customers if the offering is strong enough.

 
 9. Keep your eyes open. Monitor new technology advancements and market developments
The Carling iPint application was one of the first apps to utilise the iPhone's accelerator technology and managed to become one of the top 10 most popular downloads in the US. Impressive, considering Carling isn’t even sold in that market. Early adoption created widespread word of mouth and PR as a consequence. However, the market has since become saturated with accelerator powered apps, so the wow factor is no longer as effective. Embrace technology but keep your eyes open to what's developing around you in order to enhance your USP.

10. Simple is sometimes best
One of the best case studies to illustrate this point is Intel’s partnership with MySpace. Intel Powers Music targeted bands and artists by offering a fifth track on their player, plus expert industry advice in exchange for being a friend of the Intel Powers Music MySpace community. The campaign results for something so seemingly simple were impressive:

 
-       Attracting friends from 46 countries
-       6 million page views
-       31,000 clicks on the blog
-       22,000 plays of the expert industry tips
-       19,000 band sign ups
-       42,000 consumers becoming friends
-       23.8% of respondents could also recall a recent MySpace advertiser
-       When prompted 33.5% correctly recalled Intel’s activity on MySpace
-       69.5% rated the Intel Powers Community as “excellent / quite good”

In summary, brand utility is becoming increasingly important in order to build up more meaningful relationships with consumers. The media landscape is more complex than it was 10 years ago, it’s harder to communicate with your target audience and the development of the Internet is empowering consumers more than ever. Consequently we’re seeing marketers adopt a different stance - a shift from push to pull marketing and providing value to consumers. Here, brand utility and useful content offerings, when well planned and delivered as part of your overall strategic planning can not only increase customer retention but win you new customers.

Music is a very powerful asset that can help brands deliver utility or branded content.

If you need pointing in the right direction with that in particular, you know where to find us.