If you know me, then you know that music has been at the center of both my personal and professional life since I was ten. Well, it wasn’t very professional at ten, that happened closer to fifteen. But that’s another story.
The Grammys have always held a special place in my heart. As a kid I sat in front of the TV guessing quickly to pick each winner like it was my own personal version of Jeopardy. As I got older I had the opportunity to work in the music business and attend all the Grammy parties and become a bit of an insider. And then I stepped away. The music business had burned me out and and I needed a few years to gain some distance from the business part of music. Which was good, it allowed me time to become a fan again. A pure and loyal music fan who listens to all genres of music ranging from Hip Hop and Metal to Pop and Americana as you can tell from my list of most listened to albums of 2017.
So here we are, just a few days before music’s biggest night and I’ll be watching. But now I watch a little differently. I’m on the advertising and marketing side of music and I actually watch attentively to see what the brands will do. Something the younger me would NEVER have wanted to see! That was selling out!!!
But while I am a bit jaded, and you will find me critiquing everything in the show like the old muppets in the opera box, I actually want to see which brands will properly use music to keep mine and America’s attention.
As of yet I haven’t heard much about brands representing at the Grammys. No Super Bowl type pre-buzz about the ads, seems like a missed opportunity, right? Last year we knew that Target would be there with Little Yachty and Carley Rae Jepsen coming off the retailer’s previous year’s live commercial with Gwen Stefani. Word is that this year’s contribution will feature Maren Morris and Zedd. Aside from Target the only other brand we know about is IBM’s Watson who will be studying the fashion on the red carpet.
I trust that we’ll see many more music and brand partnerships because brands want to reach young people and young people love music, so of course they’ll be watching the Grammys. Or will they? (Oops, there goes the muppet in me again). I’ll stay positive, root for Kendrick and the rest, and hope for some good engaging musical ads in between.
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