Music can affect audience emotions and make your ad memorable. Used wisely, brave and bold choices can help you differentiate, re-brand and set your advertising apart from the crowd.

In a world of fast-moving visual media stimulation, it’s difficult to walk down a street without passing the stooped figures of people gazing down into their phones. But have you noticed the ever-increasing number now wearing headphones? More people than ever are listening in, creating more opportunities to get your brand heard at scale.

The growing popularity of podcasts, social audio, voice messaging and new technology means that ‘sound off’ is being replaced by sound very much ‘on’.

At Kantar, 84% of the ads we test globally have music. We’ve always known that it’s great to include music, but probably the most important reason to do so is that the lack of it makes it much harder to connect with your audience on an emotional level. Can you imagine a Christmas ad without any music?