Music is powerful. Now I know we are not all music lovers, but let’s set that aside for a moment. There is a reality that we all can see that proves music is universal, cutting across race, nationality, culture and time. Music is big, and it is powerful. Have you ever had a song stuck in your head? The same lines repeating over and over again. Sometimes you find yourself actually singing the song, but more often than not, you find yourself hearing it play in the deep recesses of your mind. No escape. Did you know these catchy songs/song fragments/tunes are called earworms?

So what makes an earworm? What makes a song memorable and more likely to get stuck in your head? There seem to be some very specific things that we can see going on in a lot of these songs. For example, according to John Seabrook, using major and minor chords in unexpected and surprising combinations can create happy songs that sound sad and sad songs that sound happy. This can help songs really stand out and be more noticeable and memorable, even in a very subtle way.

While this obviously is a great tool to understand and use in a songwriting context, what in the world does it mean in the marketing world? Well, Heraclitus wrote, “no man ever steps in the same river twice.” That is truer than ever today. Our world is changing at such a rapid pace; what is groundbreaking today can be obsolete tomorrow. In light of this, we have always got to be thinking about ways to create the unexpected. How can we surprise people? How can we provide a message that is memorable and not just more of the same old noise?

If you feel like the messages that are coming out of your business or organization are not particularly interesting or creative, The High Road Agency would love to help you craft and create something that people will remember. You can be generic and sound like everyone else or maybe you can create something completely unexpected.