Experiential marketing embraces the consumer’s experience. Several years ago, Nielsen looked at the results of 600 TV ads, and 83% of those ads included music. The organization’s study looked at four criteria:

• Creativity: The use of imaginative or original ideas.
• Emotive Power: The control it has over a person’s emotions.
• Empathy: The ability to sense what others are feeling or thinking.
• Information Power: The ability to influence others using information.

Perhaps not surprisingly, the ads with music performed better in every case. What is surprising is that most numbers were only a few percentages higher, except for information power. Ads with music blew past the ads without music.

Music Is Memorable

It’s not necessarily as surprising as you might think. If you were to see these lyrics, what brands come to mind?

• “Like a good neighbor…”
• “Snap! Crackle! Pop!”
• “…They’re magically delicious”

We bet you could name the brand in each case and sing the jingle. A catchy jingle creates the hook that makes your brand unforgettable. While jingles get stuck in your head, they may not have the same emotional appeal you’re looking for.

Several years ago, a cover of “Stand By Me” was used in a commercial where a bottling/canning line was switched to canning drinking water for U.S. cities recovering from natural disasters. It was hard not to feel emotional as the music and images told an unforgettable story. This company gained admiration by stopping its usual product runs and focusing solely on helping others. It’s hard not to admire a company that puts people over profits.

Think about some of the ads that tugged at your heartstrings. What music was part of them? Why did that music make such an impression? You might have a strong connection to the song, or the message may be easy to connect to. You’ve seen it done, but it can be harder to incorporate music into your own experiential marketing campaign because you have to stop thinking about yourself and put yourself in the consumer’s shoes.

The Psychological Impact of Music

Research has proven over and over that music is beneficial in many ways. One Johns Hopkins study had musicians perform music while lying down for an fMRI. During this, different areas of the brain became active. It was found that it boosted mental alertness, memory, and mood.

Music also helps marginalized communities bring social issues to light and prompt inclusivity while bringing people together. With music, you can gain interest and help everyone feel like part of something worthwhile.

You can build on this through a technique known as audio or sonic branding. Sonic branding is the use of sound and music in a way that establishes an effective, engaging message. Instead of creating a brand image using photos or video footage, you’re using sounds and music to establish your brand identity. It’s an advantageous strategy as it draws attention, improves brand recall, and spurs an emotional response.

People are exposed to as many as 10,000 ads per day on their TV, smartphone, or print media. You have a lot of competition to get and hold a consumer’s attention, and music is one of the best ways to connect your brand using emotional appeal and empathy.

Music Must Support and Not Take Over

When you use music in an experiential marketing event, it needs to be complementary and not overwhelming. If it goes from fun to frustrating, you lose your audience. And, there is a fine line between useful beneficial music for marketing and bothersome noise pollution.

Sometimes, an experiential marketing campaign goes overboard and becomes annoying instead of memorable. That’s not at all what you want to happen. Whether you’re planning a pop-up in several cities or sponsoring a weekend-long music event, you need the first day to be a smash success.

If people start labeling you as the brand to stay away from due to the repetitive noise or excessive volume, the rest of the tour or event is going to fizzle out. People have already labeled you negatively.

Consider doing an A/B test of your idea first and listen carefully to the panelists’ feedback. What music hit the mark and what failed? Where was the volume too much vs. not loud enough? Use this feedback to adjust until you have the perfect event, tour, pop-up, or other experiential campaign planned.

Strategize, Think It Over, and Re-Strategize Before Going Live

Your first draft is never enough. Strategize with your marketing team and tweak your idea until it’s doing exactly what you’re looking to accomplish. Remember that there are 10 important criteria in a solid experiential marketing campaign.

• Adaptable – It needs to adapt to fit everyone’s needs.
• Connection – It needs to connect your brand to consumers.
• Credible – It has to be honest and trustworthy. If consumers don’t believe you, you’re not doing well.
• Engaging – It needs to quickly engage and hold attention.
• Memorable – It cannot be easily forgotten as you’ve wasted your money if people forget about you a few weeks later.
• Personal – It has to be something that matters to the consumer.
• Relatable – It needs to evoke some form of emotional connection or memory
• Relevant – It has to fit the times.
• Shareable – It needs to be an experience that people will want to share with others.
• Targetable – It has to be designed so that it hits the right market, and you’re going to need to have KPIs in place to make sure you’re hitting your goals.

While you’re doing all of this, you need to make sure no one is being alienated or feeling excluded. Exclusivity is so important, and it’s something that many experiential marketing campaigns forget to consider. Music in your experiential marketing campaign is great, but what about the consumers who are hearing impaired? How do you include them?

Music is everything when it comes to creating an immersive, memorable experience. But, you have to use music wisely. People can have very particular tastes in music or with certain artists. You might love country music and think it’s a great choice, but will consumers? Statista polled 9,231 adults between the ages of 18 and 64 and found the following preferences:

• 45% – Alternative, indie, and rock
• 42% – Country
• 40% – Adult contemporary and pop
• 38% – Urban music
• 28% – Classical
• 27% – Dance and electronic
• 21% – Jazz
• 15% – Folk

You also have to look at the artist you plan to use. Pay attention to the latest news. You wouldn’t want to build a campaign around an artist’s song and learn that the artist has political views that will drive your target audience away. It’s a lot to think about, and sometimes, that’s exactly why you should consider hiring a professional in experiential marketing.