Riding the wave effects of sound in marketing ain’t bad.
Remember the Ocean Spray-drinking, long board-riding, Fleetwood Mac-lip-syncing, TikTok guy? If you’re not familiar with this lovely story about sound in marketing, read this.
In a gist, Nathan’s truck broke down. He had to get to work. So he grabbed his longboard and juice and cruised on down the road. While en route, he opened up TikTok and did a chill rendition of Fleetwood Mac’s song ‘Dream’ while sipping a Cran-Raspberry.
The result was insanely viral.
Ocean Spray had nothing to do with it. Fleetwood Mac had nothing to do with it. But both benefited by riding Nathan’s wave.
Organic creativity breeds relatability
With one song and a relatable guy, Ocean Spray was able to get in touch with a broader and younger-than-usual demographic and Fleetwood Mac’s music sales tripled.
How did this happen?
Organically and unprompted by either company or band, Nathan did it his way because…he wanted to. He saw it as a way to pass the time and did a sincere shout-out.
With Nathan’s casual nods, he gave both Ocean Spray and Fleetwood Mac a massive free marketing boost.
Ride the sound in marketing wave- don’t try to control it
A lot of times, we as marketers and brand managers are tempted to interrupt a beautiful organic thing and flip it to our own narrative. Ocean Spray stepped back and let Nathan be Nathan.
They rode the wave.
Nathan’s unprompted post was just the beginning. He inspired others to parody him over and over and over again giving even more popularity and positive organic marketing opportunities to all parties involved.
Ocean Spray has since wrapped the viral sensation into some of its campaigns and marketing. However, they didn’t do it right away. They let the people do the talking. Of course, they thanked Nathan with all sorts of things like a new truck but that was to be expected. They would have looked heartless if they hadn’t.
In my opinion, the best thing that Ocean Spray did was let it play out as it may, instead of directing it in one way or another.
Controlling the ocean is impossible. Elements that powerful must go as they will.
Fun fact: The Sacramento River has been a beast of a watershed that supported the valley’s native tribes for thousands of years with its fertile soil for agriculture. When the Gold Rush brought Europeans and other settlers to the city of Sacramento, industry interrupted the surrounding environment. The great flood of 1862 (and a follow-up in 1875), put the nail in the coffin for the original city and its surrounding development. The runoff from the floods was covered in massive hydraulic mining refuse that scattered across the valley. This changed the region’s ecosystem entirely and devastated the land.
Water is more powerful than man’s “influence”.
TikTok’s ‘Sound On’ model works
Brands are missing out on something that musicians and the average Joe, like Nathan, already know. Sound sells a point quickly and effectively. With TikTok, music’s importance is front and center.
When you scroll through TikTok, most everything you want to watch, you also want to listen to. It’s a ‘sound on’ experience.
Imagine if Nathan’s video had been silent. Would it have reached as many people as it did with sound?
No one will ever know for sure but I’m betting it wouldn’t have.
Sound in marketing experiences is a brand’s new best friend.
Tiktok’s viral audio experiences are just scratching the surface of what audio means to marketing now.
We are an OCD society that can’t sit still. We are constantly moving and doing things and it is unrealistic to expect consumers to take the time to sit and process what an ad ‘looks’ like.
Marketing to the consumer needs to be a full experience woven simultaneously into all aspects of their actions throughout the day.
These actions are not always about looking at something.
How do we market to someone driving a car or helping kids with homework? What about someone going for a walk in the park or eating dinner at a restaurant? Are we going to focus our marketing spend on big billboards or by leaving fliers on doorknobs and table tops so that people can see our sell?
Of course not.
Sound in marketing is that engaging friend to our subconscious that we can listen to while continuing with whatever it is we’re doing.
Sound gives us the mental images and good feels that we need to acknowledge the message and either act right away or store the information for later.
Does Ocean Spray taste better now that Fleetwood Mac is in our head? No. But it does appeal to our senses more which creates the allusion of ‘better’.
It is crucial that brands find a way to stand out sonically especially in circumstances where they are marketing blind.
Interested in learning more about how sound fits into your marketing strategy? I’ve got resources available focusing on just that at Sound In Marketing Learning.
