It’s rare for a commercial to be so moving it sends chills down my spine, but Nike’s “Human Chain” ad struck me just right.

“Ali in the Jungle” by The Hours is great song, but I’m not sure the song itself would have given me goosebumps. And the visuals, stunning as they may be, would never have done it for me without this song. Many of the 250,000+ YouTube viewers would probably agree – these music supervisors and film editors found the perfect match of music and images.

If an ad agency knew the secret formula for a “chill response” and could guarantee X number of them in their viewers, they’d be set for life. Why?

1. A chill response signifies an intense emotional reaction.

2. These reactions to music and film are almost always associated with positive feelings.

3. The chill response is physically measurable market research.

So why haven’t marketers been all over this? In truth, psychologists have been studying chill responses to music for years, but their findings have been limited by the unpredictable nature of chills. A powerful chill reaction is rare, and it seems to depend on a delicate balance of many factors. Reactions can vary widely from person to person, and some people reportedly never experience chills or goosebumps at all when they listen to music.

Still, some studies have found common musical qualities that tend to give people the chills:

1. Changes in volume

2. Entry of a voice

3. New or unprepared harmonies

4. Sudden textural changes

5. Solo instrument emerging from a softer orchestral background

While none of these factors alone will guarantee an emotionally powerful song, they can be helpful guidelines for critiquing a track. Ask: does the track change enough musically? Does it have dynamic highs and lows? Does it surprise the listener at key points? These questions can help steer you toward the next goosebump-inducing hit.

Which commercials are so good they’ve given you the chills? Post them in the comments section below.

For more info, this study outlines some of the best chill research out there: “Listening to Music as a Re-Creative Process” Grewe, et. al., 2007 (pdf).  http://musicweb.hmt-hannover.de/kopiez/Grewe-etal(2007)Chills.pdf

Charlie McCarron, Sound Consultant
soundlounge

Everyone in the recording business felt it coming – the growing stampede of internet-savvy listeners who got a taste of free music and never went back. While many cynics see this as a harbinger of doom for the music industry, optimists like Terry McBride see this transformation in listener behaviour as an opportunity to rethink the system. McBride believes the focus needs to shift away from monetizing music files, because he predicts our desire to “own” music will fade away in the next few years.

“The iPod is over,” says McBride, referring to the hassle of downloading and organizing music files. If his predictions are correct, on-demand streaming programs like Spotify and Last.fm will inevitably change our cultural instinct to collect CDs, download mp3s, or otherwise “own” a music library. Instead, we will have instant access to any piece of music ever recorded (just check out the YouTube-based Muziic.com if you don’t agree). Who wouldn’t want infinitely free music?

There still may be a part of us that isn’t convinced. Why should I replace my personal, meaningful album collection with a vast, impersonal database of songs somewhere up in the clouds? This question is one at the heart of the new music revolution, and it’s precisely the point McBride is getting at. According to McBride, it’s no longer content that matters, but the music’s context. The new industry leaders will be those who create the most emotionally engaging system for listening to and discovering music.

Back in 2002, Wired’s co-founder Kevin Kelly wrote an insightful article on the digital music revolution:

“Copies are so ubiquitous, so cheap (free, in fact) that the only things truly valuable are those which cannot be copied. What kinds of things can’t be copied? Well, for instance: trust, immediacy, personalization.”

In other words, we don’t need a gigantic database of music files, we need a friend who finds us awesome music we will like. When the music is free and infinitely reproducible, real-life human recommendations become the precious commodity. Talent scouts will be leaders in this new music industry – heartening news for the music supervisors, reviewers, DJs, and mixtape junkies of the world.

Charlie McCarron, Sound Consultant
soundlounge

A few weeks ago, we posted an article about the influential “sonic logos” of a baby’s life – its mother’s heartbeat, its mother’s voice. But what about its mother’s music? Can music be just as powerful inside the womb?

Shortly after posting the article, we were contacted by Michael Godart, whose day job revolves around prenatal music listening. He and his wife Adrianne have developed the Lullabelly, a musical belt for pregnant mothers to play songs for their unborn babies. Michael has been researching the effects of prenatal music and getting feedback from Lullabelly moms, so we were excited to hear his thoughts on the matter.

Listen…

So prenatal listening can calm babies and connect them with their parents’ voices. After birth, babies may even remember the music played to them in the womb. But now, the question on every parent’s mind – Will my baby become a musical genius? Michael shared his thoughts on prenatal music as an educational tool.

Listen…

For more information about the Lullabelly, visit lullabelly.com.

soundlounge

The very first sonic logo I heard was at 12 weeks gestation. It was my mother’s heartbeat. The second was her voice. These two simple sounds gave me a sense of self and my first, albeit hazy, understanding of the world outside. With these audio clues, I could tell not only where my mother was but also whether her surroundings were exciting or calm, happy or sad, dangerous or safe. I even heard my mother’s language and imitated it in my own cries. From the moment I was born, I was able to recognise like-minded spirits simply from the sounds that I heard.

But I was no baby genius. This ability to detect subtle changes in mood, geography, safety and hostility just by listening is a survival skill inherent in us all. The truth is that sound is one of the most sophisticated communication tools that we possess and one that neuroscientists are just beginning to understand.

We are physiologically programmed to respond to nature. Most of us find the sound of the sea very soothing, and not just because it reminds us of holidays. Its frequency of 12 cycles per minute is actually the same as the breathing frequency of a sleeping human. Birdsong also promotes feelings of well-being. We know instinctively that when the birds are singing we are safe; when they stop, we get worried. BP have recently installed birdsong soundscapes in their toilets as part of their campaign of stimulating a sense of well being and calm for their motorist customers. Check out the number of garages that play heavy rock. As my colleague Julian Treasure remarks – if motorists are listening to sounds like that, are they ever going to drive within the speed limit?

So if getting close to nature is one way to connect with humans very quickly are brands using these stimuli to connect with consumers? The answer is yes.

Take MGM. Nothing says louder that I am ‘king of the jungle’ than the roar of a lion. In a time of intense competition and a city that felt like a human jungle, Metro Goldwyn Meyer adopted the lion’s roar as their logo.

But one brand takes us right back to Mama. Check out Audi’s sonic logo blatantly based on the human heartbeat. The ultimate endorsement of safety and life itself. Where’s my dummy?

Ruth Simmons, CEO
soundlounge

We all know that brands love music but if they are to use sound to emotionally engage with consumers then understanding exactly how it affects them has to be at the very heart of sound branding. While great luminaries like Dr Daniel Levitin – Professor of Psychology and Behavioural Neuroscience and author of the groundbreaking This is Your Brain on Music – have been considering this on an intellectual level for many years, agencies still appear to be dragging their heels when it comes to putting a science to the art of sound branding. But last week, Levitin’s scientific paper Life Soundtrack (commissioned by Philips Consumer Electronics in 2007) re-emerged in the somewhat unlikely format of an article in Men’s Health Magazine. According to the report, music affects the human brain in a huge variety of ways, allowing us to utilise certain types or genres of music to help complete different tasks. This is supported by consumer analysis carried out by Entertainment Media Research (EMR) which found that an impressive 82 per cent of us use music to boost our spirits. It also revealed that 75 per cent of people use music when they are engaged in a physical activity from housework to the gym and even sex! Read more…

Last month, the soundlounge blog  investigated the most popular songs that fitness enthusiasts listen to while training. From the Rocky theme to “We Are The Champions,” it seems everyone has a track that helps them to stay motivated. This year’s London Marathon saw 35,000 brave runners take to the streets of the capital, many of them sporting mp3 players to help push through the dreaded ‘wall.’ Among the participants were a number of famous faces, some of whom are musicians themselves, including Ronan Keating and Keith Duffy from Boyzone, and pop singer Peter Andre.

With the heroes of the London marathon still recovering from their 26 mile battle, soundlounge had to ask – what songs kept them running? Read more…

As the UK gears up for the London marathon, soundlounge investigates what roles music and sound play in helping us achieve our sporting goals and why few joggers would dare leave the house without their trusty mp3 player.

With the epic London marathon just weeks away and the spring sunshine gently teasing us with the odd glorious day, Brits up and down the country are lacing up their running shoes and taking to the streets. Early morning commuters are being confronted by herds of lycra-clad joggers – some perfecting their beach bodies, some preparing for upcoming weddings and others trying to rid themselves of the last remnants of that winter stodge. But while each of them differs in their reasons for keeping fit, one thing unites almost all of them: music. Whether in the gym, the park or the street, these exercise enthusiasts are being motivated by the tunes coming through their headphones. What makes music such a motivational personal fitness trainer? Read more…

It would seem that choosing the perfect music for a commercial is such a rare and special occasion, that we almost speak in reverent, hushed tones when we discuss its success. But with at least £40million being invested in copyright music a year in the UK alone for commercials (which works out at roughly 15,000 ideas that are executed), it would not be unreasonable to ask why so many ideas fall into anonymity, neutrality and are just plain uninspiring. Music & image partnerships such like Leftfield & Guinness, Dvorak & Hovis, or any of the of Waitrose tracks that genuinely and consistently reflect its quality and values, and should give us the foundations to learn.

Another exceptional partnership is the much-feted winner of this year’s Cannes Lions Grand Prix, ‘Gorilla’, created by Juan Cabral at Fallon. ‘Gorilla’ has become the most successful campaign in recent years, with over 10 million hits on YouTube and 93,000 references on Google. With so many devotees, what is it about this particular film that has us all so captivated and spellbound? Read more…