How can a music playlist convey a brand’s mission, inspire customer support, and champion advocacy?
The Brand Story
Purses By Moms, a small business in West Los Angeles, needed a brand recognition boost. Beyond the store experience, its mission wasn’t “sticky” enough.
The company, run by Paula Winslow, provided hand-stitched bags and wallets made by stay-at-home moms in the LA County area. Paula’s mission was to provide crafty moms with an income during a season of diapers and play dates.
Purses By Moms’ mission was to help moms find purpose beyond parenting; an outlet with an income.
This mission was especially important in Los Angeles. When starting a family in an expensive location, sacrifices have to be made, like a second income. During those formative toddler years, families have two options.
One parent becomes a stay-at-home parent, or
Both parents work but sacrifice a paycheck to childcare each month.
Paula’s business model was focused on option one. It allowed moms to receive free training, a small commission for their work, and an outlet for creativity. Paula would provide the training and fabric, and the moms would work on the bags during nap-times and playdates.
For those moms who wanted to go beyond, they could become trainers. This would earn them an additional stipend and free Paula up to focus on operations.
Paula wanted to expand; to help other moms in expensive cities across America. However, beyond her community, Purses By Moms was relatively unknown.
Purses By Moms needed a drastic influx of clientele and stronger word of mouth. Paula’s efforts on social media weren’t cutting it.
Her saving grace was her location.
The shop was adjacent to The Grove, a tourist and celebrity-heavy mall in West LA. Out-of-towners and the occasional celebrity sometimes wandered across the street to peruse her merchandise. Shoppers would lovingly clutch their new clutch or pad their new purse with belongings. But once they left the boutique, the memory of the experience would simply slip away.
Paula was convinced that if she could find a way to make that memory and mission unforgettable (sticky, one might say), they’d return and spread the word like crazy to all their friends.
She put together an RFP (request for proposal) for a creative strategy to boost brand recognition.
The Sonic Strategy
Dreamr Productions proposed a mission-driven music playlist to inspire shoppers. We called it The Ultimate Playlist.
In addition to and as a reinforcement of the playlist, Dreamr would also research and write copy for the store’s endcaps. This copy would be messages from the purse-making moms themselves. It would provide the customers with a connection to the ongoing mission.
The copy would include the mother’s name, picture, kiddo’s ages, a testimonial, and conclude with their favorite track from The Ultimate Playlist.
The proposal was to bring context through the copy and memory-inducing moods through the music.
The Sonic Experience
Paula loved the idea.
First up, Dreamr needed to find a culmination of tracks that inspired the listener to champion the brand. As there were no popular tracks that we knew of that spelled out Paula’s exact mission, we had to focus on adjacent messaging. We found songs that focused on women’s empowerment, hope, purpose, passion, and community.
The endcap copy would link the music to the message, as customers would subconsciously take it in.
The Ultimate Playlist became that ‘sticky’ reminder of the in-store Purses By Moms experience. Customers’ nostalgia would be activated instantly at work, in the car, or anywhere else that the radio happened to play one of those tracks.
The most important job of The Ultimate Playlist was to focus on encouragement and positivity. Paula’s tracks needed to be as close to her message and attitude as possible.
Exploring the Copy
Switching to the testimonials, here are a few examples of what the end-caps said.
Testimonial #1- Purses By Moms
Here’s another one.
Testimonial #2- Purses By Moms
Providing Life and Lift
What Dreamr Productions provided was a way for the in-store customer experience to continue after the customer had left. Hearing the music again would then trigger the memory of the stories and experience, transport the customer back to the boutique, and entice them to share that story with others.
From Appreciation to Connection
Paula implemented The Ultimate Playlist as well as the stories and testimonials. The result was excellent.
Customers not only lingered longer but were asking more questions about this bag and that.
“Who worked on this one?”
“Can I see more from Debbie’s collection?”
“How much does it cost to ship one of each to my friend in Chicago?”
Sales went up, and word of mouth exploded.
Paula was finally getting the recognition she’d always wanted. Through the success of this campaign and others that followed, she expanded to Portland, OR, and San Francisco.
Expansion for Paula meant more purse orders for more moms. It was a win-win. All thanks to music and messaging.
The Power of a Playlist
Purses By Moms is not a real company. However, the power of a playlist most certainly is. I wrote this fake case study to demonstrate the power of sonic branding for marketing and branding in general.
In real life, there are a lot of stores that use this idea, but not quite to the extent that I demonstrated.
Stores like Abercrombie and Fitch, for example, use music in an almost overpowering way. You walk into that store, and are bombarded with experience. Not only does it smell like a night out on the town (as the kids…don’t call it), but it sounds like one too.
Supermarkets take on a more subtle approach. Whole Foods plays calm, feel-good tracks promoting a healthy and welcoming atmosphere, while Trader Joe’s focuses on nostalgia and eclectic moods with its quirky personality.
Apple, a great music implementer, uses its in-store music in a minimalistic and functional way, much like the design of the store. It is meant to help customers focus on the tech, not the track.
Marriott mirrors its minimalist design. They curate background music that matches: luxurious but laid-back.
Hilton focuses on comfort and class, while W Hotels steer towards trendy, electronic, and chill to embody a more modern approach.
All of these real examples, in my opinion, could be even more. I spent a lot of time dreaming up Purses By Moms and The Ultimate Playlist, and honestly, I’m really excited about it. I would LOVE to see someone fully embrace the idea of sound bringing people together and over the finish line.
Music experiences are powerful. Sonic branding is a must in today’s marketing strategy.
Read the Entire Case Study
To read the entire case study by Dreamr Productions, click here.
Hear It For Yourself
This case study was from an episode of the Sound In Marketing Podcast, a podcast focused on spotlighting the use and transformation of purposeful sound in marketing.
Here’s the original episode link.
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