• by Martin Pazzani , February 10, 2011

This year's Super Bowl had a record viewing audience and an exciting game, which guarantees that it will remain the ultimate advertising playing field next year.

The pressure is high enough when you spend $3 million for 30 seconds and $500K+ to produce a spot, but now, with YouTube, and numerous blogs, newspapers, Twitter and TV shows rating the work, the stakes are exponentially higher.

So doesn't it make sense that you'd want to use all the tools at your disposal to make this advertising as effective as can be? For instance, the music.

As the former CEO of Elias Arts, which has done more Super Bowl ad music than anyone, I have a keen interest in how and why music decisions are made at the pinnacle of the advertising world. And as a marketer, I'm constantly disappointed at how few companies use the full power of music in their ads.

So, here's my preliminary assessment of the game from the moment Christina Aguilera flubbed the national anthem, with a music perspective:

• The majority of the music in the 75 spots was remarkably banal and utterly forgettable. So few inspired tracks -- it seemed music was treated as an unimportant production element rather than the powerful mnemonic and branding tool it can be.

• The music mattered in only a handful of spots. For Audi, Acura, Bud, Bridgestone, Career Builder, Doritos, E-Trade, Go Daddy, Groupon, Hyundai, Pepsi, Snickers, the music just wasn't noteworthy. It wasn't composed and integrated as much as manufactured and spliced. Clichéd underscores, typically the result of non-musical producers using music as an afterthought.

• Chevy and Hyundai: as decent as each ad was on its own, they both missed an opportunity to use music to unite their brand and put some topspin on their efforts. Multiple spots are a tremendous investment, but also a great platform. How much more powerful would each spot be if, rather than contribute to the cacophony that is the Super Bowl, they provided some audio synergy? When multiple spots for the same brand all have different music, you risk seeming like different brands with each one. Chevy creates a level of unity with Tim Allen's voiceover in every spot, but music is so much more powerful at creating clarity out of chaos.

• Volkswagen's two ads were indeed memorable, with a large musical component. The Darth Vader spot doesn't work without John William's Imperial March, but unfortunately it's already known as the Darth Vader spot, not the Volkswagen spot. And Jon Spencer's cover of "Black Betty" for the new Beetle will sell some music on iTunes, but will be forgotten by the time the car is in showrooms. Good but not great from a music standpoint.

• I do remember seeing an ad for one German car that made me want to download David Bowie's "Changes." Another German car ad made me want to forget I ever bought a Kenny G album. Yet another German car made me think of Janis Joplin until P Diddy appeared. And Elton John appreciates the royalties for "Tiny Dancer," though I can't quite recall which brand paid him for it.

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It seems no one ever learns the most common and expensive lesson when using music in marketing: you can't own iconic music or musicians for your brand. You're selling their brand more than your brand. It's borrowed interest, not brand building. And often, it's an admission that you can't come up with anything more creative to say than someone else's lyrics.

• Only McDonald's made use of an audio logo, and it's become every bit as effective as the Intel audio logo. Its consistent, long-term use of this simple mnemonic unites every brand message under an umbrella just as powerful as the golden arches. McDonald's music strategy, which permits original variation across executions but always finishes with its signature audio logo, is a great way to build brand equity and increase effectiveness.

• The most powerful use of music was Chrysler's Eminem ad. That rift to his hit "Lose Yourself" has the goose-bump factor and the pulsing, building beat added an emotional element and drama that no other ad that day had. It would actually be more effective if Eminem himself weren't in the ad because the celebrity factor tends to distract from the Chrysler brand. Even so, traffic for Chrysler at Edmunds.com was up 328% right after the spot aired.

Overall, a musically anemic Super Bowl. Composing a perfect original score to fit the moment and make a powerful emotional connection is a dying art in advertising. It seems that creative directors who understand the power of music are being pushed aside by a non-musical brood. They'd be well advised to reconnect with all the truly talented ad music people out there waiting to be put to better use.

Next year, the whole world will be watching again. Let's see if more than just two brands will try to use music in a way that helps maximize their investment.