Ordinary is the enemy of advertising. In a game of exposure and relevancy, blending into the crowd is deadly, but it’s common. Although some adventurous agencies produce innovative content, you can almost always count on bland, hacky music playing in the background.

Because the music is generic and uninspired, it doesn’t enter people’s consciousness. But if the goal of any advertisement is to get people’s attention, why is the music typically lackluster and boring?

Tight Budget

Most production money goes towards video production (sets, actors, CGI, all that good stuff). Music is usually considered post-production. By then, the budget is wiped out or you’re into overages. The client is upset and doesn’t want to spend any more money. The creative team resorts to a cheap alternative to an original score: needle drop music, pre-written material available for free or a few shekels.

The music is weak and ordinary. The focus is on the visual, not the audio. They select music that is hanging out of sight and won’t distract, but distraction is a good thing. Distractions are what you need.

Be Loud. Be Bombastic

In a stable full of horses, be a zebra. Be obnoxious and get noticed. Advertisers who play it safe won’t be loud enough. Be the ad with an obnoxiously loud laugh. The competition won’t be able to talk over you.

Go for the avant-garde. Go for something that’s not popular, not because it’s not good, but because it’s never had a chance. Everyone loves pizza and there are plenty of options if you want a pie or a slice. If everyone is serving pizza, what makes your slice unique? Perhaps you have a mac-and-cheese pizza or you make your pepperoni in-house. Be the “you-gotta-try-this-pizza” brand. Be a slice worthy of sharing with friends. Most of all, be a brand that people talk about naturally. 

True advertisements transcend culture. It’s no longer a one-on-one brand experience. Everyone has had Chili’s baby back ribs song stuck in his or her head and hummed the infectious tune ad nauseam.

How 'bout Meow Mix? (I bet now you’re meowing in your head right now. For that, I’m sorry.)

Be polarizing because, in the end, love and hate come from the same place— and both sell. 

Collaborate, Don’t Direct 

Work with a composer and give him or her as much direction as is necessary. Provide the opportunity to create freely. Directors like Paul Thomas Anderson and Christopher Nolen use this philosophy. Their music composers write freely with limited direction.

Jonny Greenwood and Hans Zimmer don’t write to strict cues, but independently, compose music the director pieces together later. The result is cinematic music that captivates the audience and enhances the story. Just watch Anderson’s “The Master” and experience how the music enhances the experience, or, watch Nolen’s “Inception.”

Experiment and Get Weird

Miles Davis and Omar Rodriguez Lopez (The Mars Volta) would often record sessions where the musicians would perform their parts without context.

The players would have no idea where their part was in the song and were in the dark on each other’s roles, so musicians were free to interpret the part as an independent entity. When the parts were combined, the music is enigmatic and powerful, because each part can stand on its own.

Experiment, marinate the ideas and take risks. Maybe give the composer only direction on a feeling you want the scene to evoke. When someone associates a positive feeling with your brand, it’s an experience. Manufacturer a feeling.

If you want to create interest, be interesting.