Instrumental versus Vocal Versions of Popular Music in Advertising

Michelle. L. Roehm

The present research examines recall for advertising messages that are presented via two musical formats: either via an instrumental version of a popular song or via a vocal version.

Instrumental vs. Vocal Versions of Popular Music in Advertising

Michelle L. RoehmWake Forest University Winston-Salem

An increasingly common technique for conveying advertising messages is to feature popular music[1]prominently in an advertisement (Buyikian, 1999). For example, Mercedes recently used the song ‘Falling in Love Again’ to communicate the unique emotional connection between Mercedes owners and the Mercedes brand. As the Mercedes commercial plays, audience attention is directed to Marlene Deitrich’s voice as it sings the lyrics to the popular standard. The words of the song state the core brand message of the advertisement, which is that consumers...

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