McCann Worldgroup APAC CMO: Choosing the right music streaming platform is crucial to engaging customers

Music is a great companion for creative industry practitioners. Whether they need to hit a deadline or relax at home, they can resort to various genres of music to help create or disconnect them from the world. Marketing magazine is working with JOOX to invite creative industry practitioners to talk about their music consumption habits, and how to better leverage music in marketing.

In our sixth interview for the Marketers’ Music Mind series, we talk to Jessica Davey, CMO and director of creative excellence at McCann Worldgroup Asia Pacific.

Music is an indispensable part of many people’s lives. In previous interviews, our respondents expressed their love for music and said that it’s a must in their everyday lives. 

The same habit applies to Davey, who needs music in the mornings. “I always start my day with something boppy that I can sing along with in the shower. I connect my phone to my bluetooth speaker and serenade my neighbours,” she says.

In the afternoon, Davey also listens to music in between meetings or presentations. Speaking of her favourite types of music, Davey tells Marketing that her love for music spans across different genres. 

“I have to say I love most types of music, though these days I feel too old to listen to techno,” she explains. 

However, Davey chooses to listen to two types of music when she is on a deadline. 

“I listen to high-energy pop music to get my energy levels up. But I also listen to classical music, mainly Frédéric Chopin, Johannes Brahms and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, when I need to really focus on writing something,” she explains. 

JOOX offers classical music on its platforminfluential composers from centuries ago or modern musicians, JOOX has plenty to offer. In particular, there is a playlist that lists out the most popular classical music pieces on the platform over the past week and is published in Hong Kong every Thursday.

For stress relief, Davey enjoys chamber music, particularly choral music such as British early music vocal ensemble The Tallis Scholars. She says that listening to these types of music is very soothing yet uplifting.

Moreover, Davey has a very broad range of favourite music genres. The Beatles and David Bowie are her two classic go-tos, also citing American singer Lizzo, R&B duo Chloe X Halle and Australian band The Teskey Brothers as her favourite artists, making up the top five music acts she loves most. 

Someone with a wide variety of music preferences such as Davey needs a strong music streaming platform to listen to. Currently boasting 30 million songs in different languages and genres, JOOX’s huge base of music offerings allows audiences to enjoy music from around the world. Apart from mainstream music, JOOX also offers Cantonese opera, electronica and electronic dance music and more to meet the demands of various audiences. 

Davey agrees that JOOX carries great cultural insights across the region as a streaming platform. For example, Indonesia, one of JOOX’s leading markets, has seen a higher demand for Dangdut songs, a genre of Indonesian folk music that is partly derived from Hindustani classical music and Arabian music. JOOX has witnessed a 15% increase in Indonesian music consumption compared to the year before, and is planning to provide exclusive Dangdut content for users, bringing up the spirit of Dangdut as the music of Indonesia.

Meanwhile, music streaming platforms have made a lot of music available and also encouraged a lot of experimentation. 

“I enjoy seeing what my friends are listening to, even though sometimes I click on it and think ‘this is not for me’,” she says.

She adds that music streaming platforms enable artists to be known by audiences through genuine word-of-mouth. To her, it is part of a much wider cultural zeitgeist around accessibility and social reach. 

Brands have been leveraging music entertainment to reach out to potential customers. Asked how to engage them, Davey suggests that brands need to be very aware of whether it is the right platform for customers.

“It needs to fit with the brand, the idea and also the utility for listeners. The question is: Why, as a consumer, would I want this brand to interact with me while I am listening to music? If you can crack that, then it is a wonderful channel for communication, it feels very immediate and intimate,” she explains.

When it comes to the successful use of music in a piece of brand content, Dumb Ways To Die is given as an example as it is from an eponymous campaign created by McCann Melbourne for their client, Metro Trains Melbourne.

More recently, the Renault Clio film 30 Years in the Making is another one of Davey’s favourite commercials as it encompasses the lyrics of Wonderwall by Oasis. The lyrics and the pacing fit beautifully in the commercial. 

Asked whether she is familiar with JOOX, Davey understands that usage of the karaoke function has doubled since the lockdown earlier this year as karaoke venues were forced to close.

From February to July 2020, JOOX saw a 30% increase in karaoke users across Asian markets such as Hong Kong and Macau, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar and Thailand. To engage them, apart from the karaoke feature, JOOX launched a number of online campaigns and events for users, the new Quick Sing function, online concerts as well as some exclusive programmes.

“Being able to provide people with some entertainment during such a challenging time is a very worthwhile purpose.” Davey concludes.

For each one of our Marketers' Music Mind features, Marketing is collaborating with JOOX to produce a bespoke playlist based on our interviewee’s answers for our readers. Scan the QR code to see what we made and enjoy!

https://open.joox.com/s/rd?k=V8xN

This content was sponsored by JOOX