• by Aaron Baar , January 22, 2010

In this age of trying to have campaigns live on as many screens as possible, Dockers has enlisted music tagging app maker Shazam to help extend the reach and depth of its ad campaign, allowing viewers to "tag" a new brand ad to unlock further content.

"The purpose of this is to create a more meaningful communication with the consumer," Jen Sey, vice president of Dockers global marketing tells Marketing Daily. "As consumers are watching the ad, they can interact with it and get more."

The new spot in question will air during the Super Bowl on Feb. 7 (Dockers' first appearance on the game since 2002). Viewers who use the Shazam app will be taken to a specially created branded-content page where they can learn more about the campaign, download the jingle and register for a Dockers giveaway promotion. The song, "I Wear No Pants," was written by The Poxy Boggards, a 13-man Irish band that performs original and traditional songs (though the song in the ad is sung by the actors appearing in the commercial).

The Dockers commercial is the first to use Shazam's tagging technology in conjunction with advertising content, says Shazam CEO Andrew Fisher. He notes, however, that there has been a "high correlation" already between people using the application for music heard during advertising (particularly automotive advertising) and music industry sales. "We see an application of our technology as a direct-response medium," Fisher says. "Services like Shazam are experiencing exponential growth. We think this is a mass medium that's only going to grow."

To ensure that members of the viewing audience will be ready to tag the ad, Dockers is pre-seeding snippets of the commercial online, letting people know that they can use it in conjunction with their Shazam app when it runs on the Super Bowl. Dockers will give viewers who miss the ad (or fail to tag it in time) other chances to access the content as the commercial airs throughout the year. Those subsequent airings will include on-screen messaging for viewers to remind them of the Shazam tie-in. The content on the site will be updated as necessary throughout the year, Sey says.

The spot is a new execution in Dockers' "Wear the Pants" global ad campaign that launched in December. The campaign, which includes broadcast, print, radio, social media, events and digital marketing, celebrates khaki as the go-to versatile pant in a man's wardrobe.

Interpublic Group's Draft/FCB in San Francisco created the campaign. The Ignition Factory, a specialty unit of Dockers' media-buying agency OMD, created the Shazam integration.