Music Has the Charm to
Influence Perception

Is it the message in a radio commercial or the music that influences a listener’s perception of a product? According to Rui Zhu, it depends on the target audience, the format of the message, and how the music is performed.

There are circumstances, for example, when the style of a radio ad’s verbal message has little impact on the impression created by the background music. A radio ad promoting a store’s unique, original décor is more likely to leave a favorable impression on young listeners if the background music is relatively novel and soulful than if it is performed in a more classical version. The format of the verbal message—regardless of whether it’s easy or more mentally demanding to follow—will have little impact on the impression created by the music in this circumstance.

Zhu and her research colleague explain that young listeners will associate a classical version of background music with concerned, benevolent paternalism, while a contemporary style references their desire to be unique. Those feelings may be transformed into an impression of the originality of a store or product.“Even if the young listeners focus most of their energy on the verbal message of a radio ad and simply react to the sound of the music rather than its referential meaning,” Zhu explains, “the moderately stimulating, relatively novel style of the music would still have left a favorable impression.”

In a study published in the August issue of the Journal of Marketing Research, Zhu, assistant professor of marketing at Jesse H. Jones Graduate School of Management, and Joan Meyers-Levy, professor of marketing at the University of Minnesota’s Carlson School of Management, examined the relationships between the content and style of a radio ad’s verbal message, the background music, and the target audience.

“Simply the sound of a particular piece of music can evoke favorable or unfavorable impressions,” Zhu says. “On the other hand, that same music can elicit feelings or thoughts consumers associate with specific events or experiences, such as childhood, or concepts and emotions, like frivolity, calm, and fear.” Consumers’ sensitivity to either of these aspects of meaning imparted by background music depends on the complexity of the verbal message.

Radio ads that convey information in an easy-to-follow lecture format are less demanding for consumers to process. Marketing theorists claim that, under those conditions, the background music is likely to trigger associations for consumers—what they call music’s referential meaning—which then are attributed to the product. However, if the information is presented in a drama format, the listener has to pay closer attention to the verbal portion of the ad. In that situation, consumers are more likely to process the less complex embodied meaning of background music and have a favorable impression if it is performed in a moderately stimulating and novel style.

For example, an ad for a travel agency should use sedate rather than energetic background music when touting dependable, hassle-free service with a verbal message that is simple and direct. If the ad’s verbal message is delivered in a drama format with more than one person conveying the information, listeners will perceive the service to be better when the background music is energetic versus sedate.

In their study, Zhu and her colleague also point to the importance of identifying consumers who are most likely to pay attention to details of the ad. One way is by comparing their product category to the target audience. Those with very little motivation to process information about a product tend to pay more attention to peripheral aspects of radio ads.
“In that case,” Zhu says, “the listener is not all focused on the substance of the ad.”

—Pam Sheridan