MUSIC BRANDING IN ADVERTISING AN EMPIRICAL STUDY ON KEY CHARACTERISTICS OF MUSIC BRANDING CAMPAIGNS IN VIETNAM Submitted by Le Quynh Chi Tran Submitted at Institute of Retailing, Sales and Marketing Supervisors Assoz. Katharina Hofer Master’s Thesis August 2022 to obtain the academic degree of Master of Science (MSc) in the Master’s Program Management JOHANNES KEPLER UNIVERSITY LINZ Altenberger Straße 69 4040 Linz, Austria jku.at DVR 0093696 Affidavit “I hereby declare on oath that this written assignment, “Music Branding in Advertising: An Empirical Study on Key Characteristics of Music Branding Campaigns in Vietnam”, which I am submitting as part of my Master’s degree, is my own work. All sources have been properly acknowledged and the assignment contains no plagiarism.” Date and location of signing Student’s signature 01.2022, Ho Chi Minh city Tran Le Quynh Chi Table of Contents 1 Introduction 1 1.4 Procedure 4 2 Literature review 4 2.1 The emerging market and music branding 5 2.1 Definition of emerging market 5 2.2 Emerging market in terms of marketing 6 2.3 Characteristics of emerging markets 7 2.2 Political and economic characteristics 9 2.5 Rise of new middle class 10 2.2 EM of Vietnam 10 2.3 Branding and music 11 2.1 The scope of branding 12 2.2 Building a strong brand 12 2.3 New trends in branding 13 2.1 Definition of music branding 14 2.2 Music branding in advertising 15 2.3 Different approach of music branding 16 2.1 Brand name placement in music video 17 2.2 Brand name placement in song lyrics 18 2.2 Music branding studies in different markets 18 2.1 The general concept of music branding 19 2.1 The listening situation 20 2.4 Voluntary versus involuntary exposure 20 2.2 The musical stimulus 21 2.1 Role of music: foreground versus background 21 2.4 Genre and style 22 2.5 Musical artist performance 23 2.4 Advertising processing strategy 26 2.2 Music branding study in advanced markets 27 2.3 Music branding study in emerging markets 29 2.4 Music branding in Vietnam 30 2.2 Criterion to evaluate a music branding campaign 32 2.3 Discussion on literature review 34 3 Research gap 35 4 Empirical study of music branding campaigns in Vietnam 37 4.4 Research Strategy used in this Thesis 40 4.1 Theme 1: Literature relevant findings 46 4.1 Demographic of target audience 48 4.2 Musical artist performance 48 4.6 Ad-execution involvement strategy 52 4.2 Theme 2: New inputs 53 4.3 Supportive activities on social media 56 4.3 Theme 3: Outlook for future of music branding campaign 56 4.1 An effective way to deliver brand’s message 57 4.2 A change to perfection 58 4.8 Case study design 59 4.1 Multiple case study 61 4.2 Multiple- versus single- case design 62 4.9 Case study report 1: Honda and Di Ve Nha- the journey to win millions of hearts across generation 64 4.4 Musical genre and style 65 4.5 Musical artist- brand congruence 65 4.6 Ad- execution processing strategy 66 4.10 Case study report 2: VIB and Trai Trai Phai Phai- when banking plays music 70 4.3 Music artist-brand congruence 72 4.4 Musical genre and style 73 4.5 Ad-execution processing strategy 73 4.11 Case study report 3: “Lifebuoy chua Lifebuoy di”- A fastest way to create consumers’ habit of hand washing 77 4.2 Musical artist- brand congruence 77 4.3 Ad-message involvement processing strategy 78 4.12 Cross-case study report 80 4.1 Music artist and brand congruence 80 4.2 Music is not the only driver 81 4.3 The harmony of commercial and entertaining value 81 4.4 The red ocean 82 4.5 Change or replacement 82 4.13 Discussion on empirical findings 83 4.1 Music branding and the emerging market’s characteristics 83 4.2 The relation of empirical findings and the general concept of music branding 84 5 Managerial Implications 85 6 Limitations & recommendations for future studies 87 6.2 Future Research Direction 88 7 Conclusion 89 8 References 90 9 Appendix 97 9.6 Code system 150 List of figures Figure 1: Prominent characteristics of emerging markets. 8 Figure 2: The model of consumer response to advertising music.
19 Figure 3: Examples of countries from high context to low context by Hall. 27 Figure 4: Concept of music branding as communication as exemplified by Egon Brunswick’s “lense model”. 28 Figure 5: Top 10 most discussed marketing campaigns on social media in Lunar New Year, 2021. 33 Figure 6: A revised model of consumers ‘response to advertising music by Lantos and Craton 2012.
37 Figure 7: Distribution of verified findings from the literature (blue) vs. new inputs (green) and future outlook (red) from experts - (left to right: Mr. 45 Figure 8: Code cloud reflecting the relevance of literature in expert interviews created by MAXQDA. 46 Figure 9: Code cloud reflecting the new inputs from expert interviews created by MAXQDA.
53 Figure 10: Code cloud reflecting the future outlook of music branding campaign in Vietnam from experts interview created by MAXQDA. 57 Figure 11: Multiple Case Study Procedure by COSMO Corporation. 63 Figure 12: Honda Winner X. 64 Figure 13: Rapper Den Vau (left) and vocalist Justatee in the music video Di Ve Nha.
66 Figure 14: The image the product Honda Winner X in the music video Di Ve Nha. 67 Figure 15: An overview of amplification activities of the music branding campaign Di Ve Nha. 68 Figure 16: MV Di Ve Nha reached top 1 on Youtube Trending Vietnam. 69 Figure 17: The Buzz Metrics Social Index chart reflecting the post entries and discussion times on social media in December 2020.
70 Figure 18: The poster of music branding campaign Trai Trai Trai Phai by VIB. 71 Figure 19: The illustration of unrolled mat implied an inexperience individual. 72 Figure 20: The singers Thieu Bao Tram (left) and Hien Ho in the music video Trai Trai Trai Phai. 72 Figure 21: A screenshot of the placement of VIB Online Plus 2in1 in the music video Trai Trai Trai Phai at 2:42.
73 Figure 23: An overview of Tiktok activities to amplify the music video Trai Trai Trai Phai. 74 Figure 24: An overview of the campaign Trai Trai Trai Phai ‘s outcome. 75 Figure 25: Buzz Volume and Share of Voice of VIB benchmarked with other banks in Vietnam. 76 Figure 26: Poster of the campaign Lifebuoy chua? Lifebuoy di!.
77 Figure 27: The Buzz Metrics Social Index chart reflecting the post entries and discussion times on social media in August 2021. 79 Figure 28: Social Index Ranking chart of marketing campaigns in August, 2021. 80 Figure 29: The key takeaway of the thesis. 85 List of tables Table 1: The list of interview partners.
42 Table 2: List of codes used in theme 1. 43 Table 3: List of codes used in theme 2. 44 Table 4: List of codes used in theme 3. 44 Table 5: Percentage of inputs given by the experts.
45 Table 6: Ranking list of codes mentioned in theme 1. 47 Table 7: Ranking list of codes mentioned in theme 2. 54 Table 8: Ranking list of codes mentioned in theme 3. 57 List of abbreviations BRIC Brazil, Russia, India, and China EMs Emerging markets FMCG Fast Moving Consumer Goods GDP Gross Domestic Product IFC International Finance Corporation IMF International Monetary Fund MINT Mexico, Indonesia, Nigeria MNC Multinational Corporation MV Music Video TVC TV commercial UGC User Generated Contents Executive summary Nowadays, people interact with brands in a variety of ways, frequently via media channels that are not under the control of manufacturers and retailers.
This is a signal for marketers to modify their traditional marketing methods to match the growth of brand relationships. In fact, emphasizing emotional brand connection will have a positive effect on how consumers perceive the brand. In response to the need for more effective marketing methods in the digital age, music branding has developed. This is a well-liked strategy for promoting products all over the world.
Music branding strategy is used to attract listeners, deliver ideas, increase brand awareness and maintain brand loyalty because music is a popular way for people to unwind and decompress. Take a closer look at Vietnam, this emerging market will be one of the most promising countries to study the effectiveness of music branding on consumers since its revenue from music streaming services is expected to reach 28 million U. Thus, this thesis presents the study about key characteristics of music branding campaigns in Vietnam through the lens of brand using qualitative research method. Specifically, three case studies and four expert interviews were conducted to identify why this marketing tactic is essential for increasing brand awareness and sustaining brand love in the emerging market of Vietnam.
The findings of the empirical study reflect the majority of the knowledge identified in the literature review and provide some new insight that are essential for developing a music branding campaign on the Vietnamese market. In addition to music as the primary driver of every music branding campaign, brands should also consider other significant characteristics, such as listening situation, musical stimulus, amplification activities, advertising processing strategies, and unanticipated events in the current volatile environment. Ultimately, the thesis can support brands and advertising agencies to make the use of music branding more effectively in the future. 0 1 Introduction Music is the most efficient method for penetrating a customer's mental state since many of daily activities such as studying, running, driving, and going shopping, are enhanced by the presence of music (Pantoja & Borges, 2021, p.
Furthermore, music is a wonderful soul language that expedites the sublimation of feelings. Hence, one of the primary benefits of using music in marketing is its capacity to influence consumers (Brands Vietnam, 2022, p. Consequently, music can assist brands to construct brand awareness and enhance brand love by being a main driver in a branding campaign to promote a product in a unique manner since there are plenty of ways to play the music (An Phuong, 2022, p. Therefore, this thesis will present the way how marketers can apply music concerning the necessary bricks to build up an effective branding campaign in the emerging market of Vietnam.
This chapter is regarding the identification of the thesis’s problem as well as the introduction of study objectives and the research question.1 Problem definition “Kids and grown-ups love it so, the happy world of Haribo” Just with a 3-second melody, Haribo has successfully become childhood's memories of many people in the world. This is not the only case using music for branding. It can’t be denied that music has become a powerful tool in advertising of brands because “what people listen to is more important for their sense of themselves than what they watch or read” (Frith, 2003, p. Music has been identified as a common element and a crucial feature in advertisements (Alpert, et al.
Indeed, music serves as a signal of identity in advertisements (Vedabala, 2018, p. The evolution of music in advertising is in lockstep with advancements in communication methods and strategies. Initially, these methods relied on explicit and memory- based messaging, which were accompanied by an insistent and simple tune, as well as music lyrics describing the brand and product (Mas et al. Using music in branding is not a new concept, it has just become more and more influential in past decades.
Nowadays, the role of music in advertisements has been upgraded. In addition to be used to deliver the rationale messages, music can be applied effectively for long-term brand building (Müllensiefen & Baker, 2015, p.49), in other words, music is considered as a powerful strategy for branding (Brodsky, 2010, p. 1 In terms of academic study on music branding, multiple studies have confirmed the beneficial effects of music use on brands, such as strengthening the consumer-brand relationship, improving brand attitude (Müllensiefen & Baker, 2015, p.32), brand awareness (Ruth & Spangardt, 2017, p.19), brand recognition (Raja et al.