Hook, Line and Sinker

The Mrs. and I were watching TV one night and this commercial came on. In unison, the Mrs. and I exclaim, "I love that song!" Much to the chagrin of the advertiser, the only thing I remember about the ad is the song.

This did work out for Andrew Clark and Allison Moyet, as well as for the members of ABC, I'm sure. Before the show was back on I was logged into iTunes and in my basket were Upstairs at Eric's, Look of Love -- The Very Best of ABC, as well as several other Yaz tunes from a best of compilation. Before the show was over, I had downloaded 30 songs- talk about impulse buying. The commercial got me to iTunes, then the "others who bought this also bought..." section made me go "OH YEAH..."

I've noticed a lot of good music in commercials lately, New Order in The New AT&T (sucks), the Cure for HP just to name a few. I'm wondering if there is really a dual intent here? Are they selling the music as well as the product or service? For me, Hearing "Only You" in that ad was very nostalgic. It had been years since I listened to Yaz, but there was a point in my life when Upstairs at Eric's was the only thing I listened to. Same for ABC. I loved those songs, and they took me back to some really great days! I was compelled to buy, and then buy more.

Remember the Volkswagen commercial back in the '90's? The one where it is just the car driving through the mountains and Clannad's "Harry's Game" playing in the background. When I went to buy Anam it had a sticker on it that said "Contains that music from the Volkswagen commercial." Certainly they experienced a boost in album sales from the national ads.

So I like to think that it was just a coincidence that the music was great for an ad and I went to buy it, and wow, the Internet makes it convenient to do so. The advertising guys are much smarter than I am, and planned every penny I spent that night.