For Recording Artists and Advertising, Being ‘Authentic’ Has More Than One Meaning

By Bob Farnsworth

What do you do when a respected colleague calls up and says, “I presume you’re going to the Billboard/Adweek Music & Advertising Conference in New York, right?”  Well, if you’re in any way involved in today’s ever-changing music landscape, you don’t just say, “Nah, I have no interest.”  If anyone is fighting to stay on top of that river of change it’s Billboard and Adweek. So when I saw the well thought-out lineup of panelists and topics they were going to address, I bought my ticket.

Obviously, with Billboard being a co-sponsor, it was quite in order that the focus of the conference was on artists getting their music into commercials. Various brand representatives (Lexus, Cotton Inc., Levi Strauss, etc.) and their agency creatives discussed their success stories in promoting artists through commercials. The web site Guvera.com made a convincing presentation explaining how their site enables free music downloads, while at the same time paying the artists through advertisers.  Josh Rabinowitz, Director of Music at Grey’s New York office, led the Creative Directors panel and did a terrific job allowing the audience an inside look at the natural tensions that arise between the creative ‘idea’ for an ad and how that idea interfaces with music and audio. And Bill Moulton, CD of DEVO’s ad agency, Mother LA, gave a funny, sarcastically elementary presentation about their methodology for getting DEVO’s talented musical insanity before the masses. It was, well, DEVONic.  (For a look at photos of the event, click here.)

When the time came for questions, Moulton began with, “OK, now you can ask, ‘what the hell are you guys doing, anyway?’” He was met with laughter, and then a few questions. Finally someone—actually, it was me—really did ask, “So what the hell are you guys doing, anyway?” It was a fair question, one that seems to apply to just about all of us in the industry these days.

Moulton’s answer wasn’t that important.  What was important, at least for those in attendance, was that the conference was terrific—there was a great mix of factors at work here, everything from the creative vibe to the cool factor, the strong audience engagement and the great information that was passed on. And believe me, I’m being sincere.

Yet despite all these positives, I still had this gut feeling that somebody needed to stand up and at least ask, “Is it possible that the Emperor has no clothes?”  The following analogy might explain why.

Three salesmen approach you. Which do you prefer? The first one talks of nothing but the virtues of his product, and goes for the close.  The second tells you little or nothing of his product, and hardly even hints of a close. (You weren’t even quite sure why he came to see you in the first place.)  The third asks you where you’re from, and a little of what it was like growing up there, shows you his product, and asks you if you might have an interest in that product.

I’m going to venture that, if you’re like most people, you’d prefer the third.

But throughout the conference, I was struck by the notion that, in the present day ad industry, we’re perhaps operating like the second salesman without actually realizing it.  There was much talk of ‘authenticity’ at the conference, especially as it applies to the artists that are representing the products.

And indeed, throughout the two-day event, it was clear that there’s a genuine effort to strive for the authenticity of the artists at various levels. This was overtly expressed several times, especially on the “What Do Agencies Want From Artists” panel, with veteran music directors such as Mike Boris of McCann Erickson and Eric Johnson of Y&R on board. The moderator for that panel was Michael Paoletta of Comma, a Chicago-based music house.  

It became apparent during the conference that the ad world is diligent in making sure that an artist really does use the product that their music is featured with, that the music is truly representative of their demographic, that the lyrics are not crassly pushing a product, that the setting is appropriate for both the artist and the product, etc.

The irony in all of this is revealed when you get to the end of a commercial with a wonderfully authentic artist providing the track and you say to yourself, “That was awesome! Now who was that ad for?” There is, on the part of the sponsor (that would be the Emperor), something inherently un-authentic about that, like with salesman number two.

Back when pyramid marketing was very popular, if someone asked me to a business lunch, but was mysterious about why he or she wanted to get together, I would jokingly say, “There are two things I don’t do: Drugs and Amway. Other than that, I’d love get together.” (You’d be surprised how, once some people were smoked out, they actually didn’t want to “do” lunch after all.)

That’s the way many feel when they see an ad that is too subtle in what it is promoting—sometimes, it’s so subtle that you not only have no idea what the product is, you may not even know what the freaking product category is, either. At this juncture, what’s the point in taking extreme measures to be ‘authentic’ regarding the use of that particular artist? Not only do we risk that our viewer doesn’t experience the proverbial Saatchi “Love Mark”—the practice of emotionally integrating your product into the lives of the consumer—but we also risk making the consumer feel like he or she has been BS’d, or worse, deceived.

The biggest irony to me of the conference was that, although DEVO delivered that sarcastically simple, crystal clear and anything-but-subtle presentation, the audience loved it, and we remember their presentation. The resultant branding of DEVO at the conference was better than any other product case study we saw.  Perhaps DEVO is not entirely genuine in their promotion of DEVOlution, if you consider that their method of promoting the world of chaos is to use the vehicle of order. So: brilliant strategy (way to go Mother LA!), but not authentic. (DEVO, are you listening? Or are you, as your lyrics for “Mongoloid” go, just “bringing home the bacon?”)

Now, having said all of that, I still ultimately defer to point number one: The conference was terrific and very informative—and I am being authentic.

Bob Farnsworth is President and Executive Creative Director of Hummingbird Productions.

Published June 29, 2010