Branding with music: How can music contour and tonality enhance perceived brand innovativeness and brand evaluations?

Abstract

A large and growing number of brands use music in their marketing communications to influence consumer perceptions. This article offers an answer to how brands can leverage the characteristics of music pieces to convey an innovative image and boost brand evaluations among consumers. The authors bridge prior research in psychology, marketing, and musicology to demonstrate that using music pieces with an irregular contour or unstable tonality in communications can make brands appear more innovative. The difficulty that consumers experience in cognitively processing music pieces with these characteristics (disfluency) mediates these effects. Additionally, this research shows that branding with music that has an irregular contour or unstable tonality can either positively or negatively impact brand evaluations. This is contingent on whether brand communication includes information about brand innovativeness or brand liking. This article identifies the characteristics of music that influence perceived brand innovativeness and brand evaluations and offers a theoretical lens for understanding these effects. It also reveals which brands can benefit from using music pieces with an irregular contour or unstable tonality, as well as when they can benefit from it. Additionally, it provides practical recommendations for music selection.

Sonic branding: A narrative review at the intersection of art and science

“…they can be used to create emotional connections with brands which can, in turn, increase brand salience and recall (Iyer & Aggarwal, 2019;Scott et al, 2022;Wazir & Wazir, 2015). Studies drawn from the fields of music/auditory cognition have revealed how specific auditory elements, such as timbre, pitch, and rhythm, can all influence brand perception (Mas, 2019;Mas et al, 2021;Techawachirakul et al, 2023b;Zoghaib et al, 2023; see also Motoki, Park, et al, 2023). This knowledge can be particularly helpful in adapting brand themes and soundscapes so as to help evoke, or prime, specific emotions in a listener.…”