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Business Report Lowe's Looks To Score New Customers With A Music NumberSUSIE GHARIB: And finally tonight, hitting the right note with corporate advertising can be a real challenge. It takes skill, smarts and sometimes knowing the right score. Scott Gurvey explains. AMANDA KRAVAT: New guidance will grow, flowers will bloom, we'll make new memories in every room. SCOTT GURVEY, NIGHTLY BUSINESS REPORT CORRESPONDENT: Singer/songwriter Amanda Kravat is recording a tune meant to suggest home improvement. It is not a topic you'd expect to find on the Billboard charts, but in the future, you might. That's because it will be sold by home improvement giant Lowe's (NYSE:LOW) on a CD designed to meet customer demand for the music. It was written by the same team that composed Lowe's award winning television commercial called Spring Anthem. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: For 56 years, families have been coming home to Lowe's. BOB GFELLER, SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT, MARKETING, LOWE'S HOME IMPROVEMENT: Consumers remember it, they like it, and, frankly, they started asking us how they could get it. And we had so many inquiries either from the press or from our customer groups through either our 800 number or our Web site, that we decided that we ought to try to put it up online. GURVEY: The Lowe's music was created by To The Beat Productions, the province of husband and wife team Sue Cirillo and Mark Saunders. To The Beat's commercial credits include L'Oreal, Maybelline, major league baseball and MasterCard. Making music for advertisers is more difficult than most imagine. SUE CIRILLO, TO THE BEAT PRODUCTIONS: Music is a very strong branding tool. People, you know, remember music, and it makes their campaign stronger. But as you know, it shouldn't be a distraction from the message of the ad. So it truly is an art to be able to be heardand effective without being terribly distracting and, you know, covering the message that they're trying to get out. GURVEY: In the case of Lowe's, To The Beat proposed several different musical ideas. Most were distinctly American. The composers were surprised when Lowe's picked a theme with an international flavor. MARK SAUNDERS, TO THE BEAT PRODUCTIONS: I think that's what makes it stand out because, you know, if you go to a hardware store and Americana is kind of more what you'd expect. But this leaps off the TV screen. GURVEY: So far, more than 3,000 people have taken the leap and downloaded the music from the Lowe's Web site. The CD goes on sale soon. Scott Gurvey, NIGHTLY BUSINESS REPORT, New York. GHARIB: Paul, do you ever whistle the tune of ads that you heard on television? KANGAS: I remember that quartet called the Hilows . Maybe they ought to try out for some of that advertising. -back- Disclaimer: All rights reserved to their respective parties. Full credit (where possible) has been given and sources (where available) have been cited. Neither the website nor its webmaster intends on taking any credit, ownership, or authorship of the material or content presented in the article. |