Part of my job is to anticipate macrotrends in the way marketers sell products. I'd like to think it's something I'm good at, but I'm not always sure; I completely missed how smart marketers have become in using impactful, new music in television advertisements. Earlier this summer Apple demonstrated a stunningly uncanny understanding of its target market (humanity) by introducing the new iTouch to the maddeningly irresistible tune of Feist's "1234." A song that shrugs off easy classification as a catchy, if simple pop melody and instantly becomes the soundtrack to your life for a few days. I have to credit that stupid iPod commercial with helping me catch a glimpse of what it must be like to be a crackhead.
Toyota is no stranger to effective advertising. It seems like only yesterday that the now iconic Prius became de rigeur for celebrities capable of purchasing infinitely more expensive vehicles. While the introduction of the Prius may have preceded the new, good music in advertising trend by a few years, Toyota has jumped on board with the Sequoia. To help sell the massive SUV, Toyota selected Pete Droge's "Going Whichever Way the Wind Blows" as the musical backdrop to a series of images evoking a spirit of adventure.
The song is arresting. Simple in structure and lyrically subtle, it is haltingly beautiful. Like a fine abstract painting, it asks politely for you to soak it in, mull it over, and make up your own mind. I like that.
Going whichever way the wind blows, Spacing on the road map, useless dots and lines
Toyota hopes that lyrics like staring into the rearview, leave it all behind will convince well-heeled consumers who can afford the Sequoia's hefty pricetag to buy the only vehicle that can take them to serene, exotic places that require careful introspection to be fully appreciated. This is not packing the kids into the CRV to head for Disney.
I find the song a gentle, stream of consciousness commentary on how I've lived my life as an adult, a sort of haphazard, aimless plodding that learns only by bumping into things, tripping, and getting back up. It's emotionally nomadic, just as likely to stumble into happiness as sorrow, and equally unable to make preparations for either.
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4 comments:
My favorite ad with good music is the UPS ones where they're playing that "Postal Service" song. Makes me chuckle every time.
BTW - you dont have to worry about watching how marketers sell things. They won't be selling much for long. The global economic collapse isn't just coming - it's here. It was a fun ride though, wasn't it?
Gert mentioned Volkswagen's usage of music, I'd forgotten them too. Which is odd, on account of the Passhit I own.
I do remember the one where the entire driving experience was synchronized with musical riffs. Pretty cool.
Three fast ones...
1) Pink, pink, pink, pink -- pink moon.
2) Droge v. Drone (Although the Freudian slip is funny given the way the song sound - at least to me)
3) From an instrumentation and harmony perspective, the song reminds me of early Simon & Garfunkle. Garfunkle's probably dead or available. Droge should look him up.
this is the nick drake "pink moon" volkswagen commercial of which you speak.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8lSKUL_n6c0
interestingly enough i read somewhere that nick drake's tunings are so complex that no one has been able to figure them out. sad ending that one.
this is why i hate madison ave. a car commerical shouldn't have so much sway over me as to return me to my adolescent youth for a minute. then again, i didn't go out and buy a car after i saw this; i went out and bought a nick drake album.
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