Research Finds Alcohol Brands Struggle With Sound
Despite recognizing the significance of sound in advertising, the sector lays claim to very little owned music says a study from amp.
Published by: BIA Staff | Branding in Asia on February 29th, 2024
Alcohol brands have long been attuned to the importance of sound and music across advertisements whenever possible. New research from amp sound branding takes a deeper look at an industry attuned to the importance of sound to see how the best-selling alcohol brands stack up in the sonic branding world.
Leveraging extensive desk research, social media monitoring, and AI evaluation provided amp dissected, analyzed, and ranked the top 50 alcohol brands by their use of music and sound over the last 12 months based on the top 5 brands from each sector by market share.
Amp said that despite alcohol brands recognizing the significance of sound in advertising, the sector lays claim to very little owned music. Pilsner Urquell, with 27% owned music usage, leads the market in sonic performance and is the only best-selling brand with a sonic logo.
Havana Club, Michelob Ultra, Belvedere, and Modelo round out the top 5 ranking with descending sonic scores, amp said, adding that beer brands performed well in the analysis, claiming 50% of the top 10 slots in the ranking.
“Plagued by a wildly expensive licensing habit and an uninspiring stock music dependency, the alcohol sector is primed for a long overdue investment into owned sonic assets,” says amp.
Licensing, and Sub-Sector Differentiation
This alcohol industry is composed of numerous sub-sectors, all delivering different experiences targeted at distinct demographics. According to amp, while brands have been crafting quality products from champagne to hard seltzer with impressive visual identities aimed at target audiences, these sub-sectors struggle in the sonic department.
The study found that champagne brands use a combined 90% “stock music” and “no music” in external marketing communications. “This stale approach to sound leads to shockingly low brand differentiation and simply promotes the general champagne product,” said amp.
According to amp research, hard seltzer brands utilize “no music” in 41% of their external advertisements.
Taking stock
Amp’s analysis showed that stock music is the alcohol industry standard, being used in 43% (on average) of all content in the sector,
American beer brands have a particular penchant for music licensing. US beer brands use licensed music in 36% of their content on average in an attempt to meld their product with pop culture. Despite these attempts, brand association with licensed tracks continues to be incredibly low, said amp.
You can learn more about “The Sound of Alcohol” study here.
