In TV advertisemen, the music or voice of a
spokesperson is a very important tool to convey the message of a product and
to involve the audience.The content of the message is important, but even more important is how this message is
conveyed to the audience. It is the key to catch their attention, to connect with them emotionally
and to make the commercial as well as its message stay in the consumers' head. Creating and increasing the audiences' involvement with the product is often the
objectives behind commercial. The more human senses are addressed
by the commercial, the higher the attention to the ad and the involvement with
the product (Solomon, p130). Music is often specifically created for a
commercial to better connect with the audience’s emotions and motivation.
In one of my marketing
classes’ first assignment, the professor wanted us to pick a commercial and to
replace the existing music or sound with a song, we thought would best support the
product’s/brand’s message.
It is not easy to replace
the audio part of a commercial, especially if it is a well-known one. After a
while of searching the web for a commercial I could think of a song for, which
would support the commercial’s message, I made a find. I combined the commercial 'Find your greatness - The
Runner' by Nike with the song 'I
believe' by Yolanda Adams.
That's what this marriage of commercial and song looks like...
The commercial ‘Find
your Greatness – the Runner’ made by the sports brand Nike shows a well covered
boy in the assumed age of 16. This boy is running on a straight, seemingly
endless pavement street. It seems he is running on this street already for
along time, no house, tree or other human being around him. Neither his body
conditions, nor his clothing makes the viewer believe he is kind of an athlete.
But he runs. He runs in a casual shirt, training shorts and average running
shoes. The whole commercial in its length of one minute and three seconds does
not show any text or particular product, only the slogan Find your Greatness as well as Nike’s check symbol at the end for
about one second. With this commercial, Nike does not seem to have the
intention to convince the audience to buy the latest model of their running
shoe or running cloth collection. The message Nike communicates seems clear and
simple: Everybody can run and it does not need extraordinary items to do so.
One just needs a goal and an inner strength – ones greatness – as Nike is
calling it in the commercial. Everybody has this greatness and Nike helps one
finding it.
So I needed to find a
song, which picks up, supports and strengthens this message as well as makes it
memorable in the audience’s mind. I think the song I believe by Yolanda Adams could be very suitable to do so. Its
rhythm does not only matches well with the running boy, but also its lyrics
support the message Nike intends to deliver. The voice in the song sings
directly to a You, the boy in the
commercial as well as to the audience. That both receive the same message from
the singing voice creates a connection between the two. The Lyrics talk about,
that They – the boy’s or the
listener’s friends or family – never believed in what the boy or the audience
was doing and neither that this person “would make it so far”, which directly
relates to the long way the boy did obviously already run. The audience only
can imagine what this boy must think to motivate himself to do so. The lyrics
in the song support those motivating thoughts. The voice in the song seems to
be the inner voice of the boy talking and motivating him to keep running. “Just
talk to your soul and say: I believe I can. I believe I will. I believe I know
my dreams are real.” The lyrics contain strong words, which are repeated over
and over again: I believe. These words shall convince the audience to believe
that the boy can run for a long distance, even if his external expression does
not look like it first place. If the inner voice of this boy creates such a
strong motivation that makes him run, everyone can do it. This boy found his
inner greatness regardless of what other people might think about him. To
connect the message by Nike and the one in the lyrics: Everyone has the
inner greatness to run. Nike believes in you and so should you.
Doesn't that commercial
just motivate you to go for a run, and to buy some Nikes to do that, of course?
:P
And here the commercial
before getting married to my chosen song…
Creates a completely different atmosphere and very different motivation/level of involvement, doesn’t it?
Which one do you guys like better?
