ADSAT’S CONTENT & MUSIC PHILOSOPHY
The effect that music has on us physiologically, psychologically, cognitively and emotionally can be harnessed in the retail environment to influence customers behaviour and enhance their shopping experience.
Studies have found that:
- Playing happy music can alter the perception of service and waiting times – with customers perceiving the service as friendlier and faster when the music makes them feel good.
- The tempo of the music affects customers. Fast music can get people moving; whilst slower music can calm and relax, slowing the customer down to spend more time in store.
- Genres also affect the perception of the brand. Classical music makes a product seem more sophisticated. Playing the latest hits can make a product seem on trend.
A sonic brand strategy needs to be built from the brand’s overall strategy—it’s intimately tied to the personality and position of the brand.
Key to delivering an effective music strategy requires a comprehensive understanding of the brand. This includes having a clear grasp of the brand’s personality, tone, purpose, as well as the brand’s customer base and desired.
We work closely with our clients to discover a core selection of songs that best encapsulate the personality of the brand and the atmosphere and mood the brand wants to create.
From this core selection, the music selection is built out to span across different eras and genres as the brief requires.
Each hour contains songs from the core collection of songs to firmly anchor the sonic identity.
We consult with our clients to understand dwell-time, to ensure that each customer hears at least one core song whilst spending time in their store.
Through an analysis of the target market and customer base we identify genres that are a good brand fit and will also appeal to the target and informs the majority of the music choices.
The genres are selected to complement each other in order to create a seamless flow from one track into the other and to give the station a unified sound.
For example:
Hot Adult Contemporary, Contemporary Hits and Adult Contemporary Hits are all categories that seamlessly fit together – giving a unifying sound across the station.
Practically, we also look at environment management. Are there any environmental elements, like noisy scanners, or acoustical noises that can be managed? Music can dramatically alter the shopping experience from being confronted with jarring ambient noise to masking these environmental noises to create a more pleasant experience.
We use the latest radio software to develop and maintain the audio strategy.
This includes:
Managing the spread of genres and categories across each hour
Managing mood and dayparting Each song is carefully analysed and mapped according to various attributes to control the overall mood in-store. Each hour is unique in that the programming elements are built into a clock which carefully manages each aspect of the play-out – including promos and advertising. This assists with the rotation of the music, as well as the rotation of the artists.
