Building Partnerships in Music: Benefits for XM

We all know music can make or break an ad campaign – with video edits to the beat of the music, we get pulled into some great work via audio. Our team attended an event that discussed the importance and potential behind building partnerships in music with a panel that included: Chris Cook (Founder of Trevor//Peter), Jacquie Sestito (Director of Brand Marketing at RBC), Kyle Lynch (Founder of Everise), and Jenn Shah (Director of Corporate Partnerships at Massey Hall and Roy Thompson Hall).

Here are some key insights we learned:

Overall, the focus of the conversations aimed to encourage brands to collaborate with music partners (i.e. musicians, venues, festivals, etc.) to create something new that targets a shared audience. The music world craves new thinking, so there is an opportunity to unlock innovative ideas that are actually feasible, like with what Boots & Hearts did.

Music lays a powerful foundation that a lot of brands may overlook. By using music as the connective tissue, we have the potential to unfold the endless possibilities of new and existing partnerships. This will provide an opportunity for storytelling through new proprietary programs.

It is captivating to an audience when brands contextualize through music. By taking a brand’s key message and focal point, they can narrow in on the audience’s mood to resonate with consumers and leave a lasting impression.

 

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Music Festival Success

One prominent example of music collaboration (that FUSE is familiar with!) is music festivals. Brands play an important role ahead of the live date by helping spread the word and creating a buzz about the festival through PR messaging, amplifying festival content, etc. Brands also play an important role on-site through measurable and  tangible tactics that engage and provide the brand with an opportunity to interact with Festival go-ers (i.e. entertainment, free swag, shade, an area to hang out, places to sit, etc.).RBC has made strides in the music space with their collaborations with Golf Canada (RBC Canadian Open) and TIFF. Their approach uses music as a horizontal crossover partnership to introduce different audiences to their partnership segments to interact and add value (like the Alanis Morrisette performance at RBC Canadian Open). With this crossover partnership, RBC is exposing sports to music audiences, and music to sports audiences, which could ignite new passions and create new business for the RBC brand.

Over the years, FUSE has participated in brand partnerships through music; from bringing together Jose Cuervo and large music festivals, to AIR MILES hosting a private concert with Charli XCX. Through these collaborations, brands have united the artists to the event and contributed to the buzz of partnerships through music.

Contest Exclusivity

With each brand partnership, the approach to gaining the attention of each audience niche is unique. For example, with AIR MILES and Charli XCX, the approach was taken through a social contest, which had attendees enter for a chance to win an intimate experience. This presented exclusivity to gain access to the private concert with Charli XCX. Through this, AIR MILES was successfully able to gain the appreciation of new consumers, and add people to Charli XCX’s growing fanbase.

Tequila x Tunes

Jose Cuervo partnered with music festivals across Canada to bring an eye-catching display through experiential marketing to festival goers. By partnering with Boots and Hearts, Badlands, and Rifflandia Music Festivals, Jose Cuervo was able to connect to music lovers of all genres (country, R&B, pop) while introducing that unique clientele to the Jose Cuervo brand. Over the course of this past summer, Jose Cuervo interacted with a total of 83,000 people across three music festival.

As FUSE Create continues to build and develop more experiences with music partners, we are excited to see how the development of mutually beneficial partnerships could push beyond the expectations to provide a fruitful outcome for both parties involved, and of course music lovers!