The Hindu Business Line : Corporates tune into music albums

The song has been composed by the musical troika Shankar, Ehsaan and Loy. National creative directors Mr Piyush Pandey from Ogilvy & Mather and Mr Prasoon Pandey from McCann-Erickson have penned the lyrics.

"Music albums are the in thing today, and we wanted to experiment with them as a tribute to beauty that Pond's represents. We have set no sales target and we will consider this again if all goes well," Mr Ashok Venkatramani, Vice-President, HLL, told Business Line.

Plagued by the advertising clutter on most media, companies have been trying to come out with music that resonates their brand essence.

Colgate-Palmolive released a music video Spread a Smile last October following a song writing competition for its target audience - school children.

"Music plays an important part in brand building, and we have been receiving calls from most companies to create music albums for them," said Mr Loy Medonca of the Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy group.

The trio have also scored the music for the Spread a Smile album, besides composing music for corporate biggies such as Pepsi and Infosys last year.

Though the efficacy of music albums as a medium of brand building may be in question, music companies manage to cover costs by restricting the number of audio-cassette and DVD released.

The corporates bear the cost of music album production. They also pay a consultation fee to the music company, which releases the album.

This fee usually covers losses, in case the music album does not click, industry players said.

"The number of CDs and cassettes released relates to the nature of the songs. Like in the case of the Pond's song, the target is a niche audience. So, we release a limited number of units," said Mr Shameer Tandon, Country Manager, EMI Music India.

EMI Music launched the music album Tango for pharma major Dr Morepen last December.

Javed Akhtar penned the lyrics, and the music was composed by Ehsaan-Loy-Shankar.

Boots Healthcare, the makers of throat lozenges Strepsils, is also testing the music medium.

"Voice is a strategic platform around which our activities would be centred," Mr Devendra Shinde, Marketing Manager, Boots Piramal Healthcare Pvt Ltd.

Article E-Mail :: Comment :: Syndication :: Printer Friendly Page

Stories in this Section
Indiapost enters goods transport sector

K Sera Sera plans film distribution nationally

Post-patent, prices of cancer, HIV drugs may go up: Paswan

Callaway Golf enters into distribution pact with Planet Sports

Blaupunkt bullish on India — Opens first brand shop

Sting operations bring India TV more viewers

PepsiCo President Nooyi in India

Corporates tune into music albums

IOC launches auto LPG station in Thiruvananthapuram