Last weeks viral blog got me thinking about the original viral videos: commercials! Music has been used in commercials to sell products for a very long time. 1926 to be exact. Since then it has evolved into a huge part of the music industry. It has become so much more than writing jingles (hmmm, possible future blog idea) or using background music. Now having music featured in a commercial is an huge stream of revenue for artists, and a way to get your name out there.
It's too hard to pinpoint when and how things change, but the industry always has its ebbs and flows. I think one of the game changers was when Apple starting releasing their iTunes commercials. You remember the ones? Featuring bright colours, silhouettes dancing with the signature Apple white headphones. These commercials featured songs like "1234" by Fiest, "Flathead" by the Fratellis, and "Are You Gonna Be My Girl" by Jet. I believe this was a shift in the way artists started being featured in commercials. Apple was using generally unheard of artists to promote their music platform and it was widely recognized as a hugely successful campaign.
Before this, music in commercials had to be recognizable. Believing that if you heard a popular song that you liked or were familiar with, that you would be drawn to buy the product advertised. Since then, all kinds of music has been featured in commercials, famous and unknown. If you read my blog about the Shazam app, you'll know that this a big way I discover new music.
I thought I should throw together a list for you guys. So, here are some of my favourite commercials who absolutely crushed it with their music selections (or I just found it hilarious and amusing), and to be honest this could be full blog on Apple, Nike, or straight up car commercials with good music, but I will try to spread out the love best I can. It proved difficult to track a lot of these down so I apologize for the video quality, some of these are old. Enjoy!
10. "Flathead" The Fratellis, Apple/iTunes.
There were a lot of good ones to choose from from Apple. In the end, I decided to feature this one because I had never heard of the Fratellis before I saw this and really enjoy how catchy the song is.
9. "Feeling Good" Avicii, Volvo.
From what I remember, Avicii caught a little bit of flack from fans for "selling out". Which is lame in my books. The story behind it was that Volvo put out the word they were looking to use the song and remix it, and when Avicii heard he reached out immediately to be the one to do it. Then they built the whole commercial around him. Pretty cool.
8. "In Da Club" 50 Cent, Vitamin Water.
First of all, if you didn't know Fiddy was a major shareholder in Vitamin water, so of course he is going to use his own music. I'm not positive that this commercial is actually all that good. But I love this song and think it's pretty funny that he used an orchestra version of his own song, to promote his own product.
7. "Feel it Still" Portugal The Man, Apple iPad.
On the outside, this band may seem like a one hit wonder to most. But this song was merely them stepping into the main stream, with the help of this commercial. I love their music and was stoked they got "discovered' because they are so much more than this song.
6. "Africa" Toto, Castle Lager.
I'm not sure I need to explain. The commercial is weird and cheesy and I've certainly never heard of this beer. But you better believe if theres a commercial with "Africa" by Toto in existence, that it is going to make this list.
5. "Sail" AWOLNATION, BMW.
To me this is a little bit of a strange selection for a BMW commercial. I think I get what they are trying to do, but probably not. I like the song, and I like the commercial, so it made the list.
4. "Heartbeats" Jose Gonzalas, Sony.
I remember being mesmerized by this commercial when it first aired. This is all I've ever wanted to do. Throw a million bouncy balls down a hill. It also helps that its backed by a pretty cool track.
3. "A Little Less Conversation" Elvis Presley ft. Junkie XL, Nike.
I was obsessed with this commercial. World Cup is my favourite sporting event and I used to look forward to the commercials that would air in leading up to it. This one got me hyped for soccer and made me want to recreate it one day, which I still will. Watch me.
2. "The Funeral" Band of Horses, Ford Edge.
This song is the best, like actually. It gives the commercial a real emotional edge to it. At least for me. It definitely made me want a car with a moon roof, but mostly it just makes me want to listen to Band of Horses.
1. "In The Air Tonight" Phil Collins, Cadbury.
It's a Gorilla playing drums to Phil Collins. The commercial doesn't have to make sense. This one tops the list for me and its not even close. BRB, going to watch Tarzan.
Well I hope you had a fun stroll down memory lane. If you have a favourite commercial featuring music, let me know! But if you mention Telus and that Christmas hippo song I will cut you.
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