LBB’s Abi Lightfoot unpacks why brands might opt to infuse musical theatre into their marketing, with help from the APR, Storefront Music, Motive Music Sound, and BUTTER Music and Sound
Hot on the heels of yesterday’s Olivier Award nominations, could there be a better time to discuss musical theatre?
We think not, and therefore have taken the opportunity to explore the prominence of musical theatre-inspired campaigns that have taken centre stage for brands including Coinbase, Apple, Perfect Bar and Glad, to name a few.
With all the pizzazz of a Broadway musical, brands, in recent years, have put on their dancing shoes, warmed up their voices and got seriously stagey about their products. It’s a trend that APR’s CEO and founder, Jillian Gibbs, believes could be attributed to the “visceral” nature of musical theatre as a storytelling device.
Jillian describes musical theatre as “percussive movement, choreography, rhythm, and emotion all hitting at once,” noting that its physicality and emotion create a visceral storytelling format.
What’s more, there’s something inherently human about musical theatre that people are attracted to within an AI-dominated world. “In a landscape full of AI content and short-form sameness, I believe a musical theatre moment will always feel human. It’s physical and alive, it’s emotive, and that kind of entertainment leaves an imprint on us all.
“Culturally, it feels like an antidote to the moment we’re in – expressive, communal, emotionally-positive – reminds us to feel joy,” she continues. “Across the industry, APR is seeing hyper-optimised, ironic, or AI-assisted content produced, so a choreographed musical moment can feel bold, memorable, and genuinely entertaining.”
Beyond delivering a welcome dose of joy, the team at Storefront Musicshares that musical theatre performances also offer audiences a sense of familiarity that they find enticing.
“Ads should make the new feel familiar, and the familiar feel new,” they explain. “The key thing is familiarity, and that may be why we’re seeing music theatre and theatrical performances trending in ad music. Nostalgia helps us feel comfortable and makes us think back to good memories. Brands want to tap into that good feeling as a means to drive action.”
Storefront points to an example of its own work with Princess Cruises as an example of the trend in action. Collaborating with actress and singer Hannah Waddingham, the team knew that her powerful vocal abilities, as well as her “style and elegance”, would perfectly suit the brand and bring a score to life.
Taken together, these examples suggest that in an era of short-form content and algorithmic sameness, the genre’s humour and openness offers brands a way to command attention with something unmistakably human.
“Her musical theatre background, paired with partner John ‘Scrapper’ Sneider’s accomplished jazz trumpet background, helped shape the concept that became a throwback to the golden age of travel. It personified the classic ‘60s rat pack big band sound, and it was authentic to her which shines through.”
Hannah’s “grandeur and excitement”, paired with an 18-piece big band both contributed to the energetic final campaign affirms Storefront, as they explain, “That fresh live feeling is so vibrant that it made you turn your head when it appeared on television. By taking the familiar and making it feel new the dynamic energy pushed through the screen to make this spot stand out.”
Meanwhile, Jeremy Adelman, founding partner of Motive Music Soundcomments that musicals are “infectious” and “create a natural opportunity for comedy” that brands today are opting to embrace. Sharing two examples of work within the genre, the first is a campaign for Harrah’s casino starring Martin Short, which provided the perfect playground to have fun musically.
Directed by Cameron Harris, Jeremy explains that the spot featured its leading man wandering through a casino “singing an anthem in the most unusual circumstances”, with the uniqueness of each moment perfectly suiting the musical genre.
“That absurdist sensibility seems to peel away pretension and lower emotional barriers,” he adds. “I feel musicals may also tap into a part of the brain shaped by the social media era, where audiences are increasingly attuned to empathy through realistic vulnerability and unpolished, human moments.”
As for the second, Jeremy refers to another collaboration with Cameron which saw insurance company PEMCO opt for a character-driven musical spot. Emphasising that the director wanted “a realism-driven musical, honest, imperfect, and grounded rather than slick and punchy,” this was achieved by casting actors who had music abilities but weren’t “specialists”. They were then recorded live, and the end campaign felt real and authentic.
“There is a unique vulnerability in real people singing honestly on camera, and it defines personality in ways traditional storytelling cannot,” says Jeremy.
Looking at the wider industry, he adds, “The recent Glad spot is a great example. By not taking itself too seriously, it feels genuine, charming, and human. Musicals work best when they embrace their cringe, because in the end, real is cool.”
Just as Glad’s musical campaign found an effective way to make bin bags entertaining, Andrew Sherman, chief creative officer and owner of BUTTER Music and Sound, shares that musical theatre songs and performances are the “perfect medium” to transform something totally mundane into a “spectacle of melodrama”.
Andrew recently worked on Perfect Bar’s musical campaign starring actor Harvey Guillén, who laments his physiological obstacles by bursting into an off-Broadway musical number in the grocery aisle. “The genre’s stylistic tendencies allow us to deliver over-the-top silliness and lean into our underlying desires to dramatise even the simplest moments of our daily lives,” says Andrew.
In other words, musical theatre gives brands permission to be a little bigger and bolder, while also keeping things deeply relatable and human. In a media landscape where much content risks blending together, it allows agencies and their clients to elevate ordinary moments and make them memorable.
Read the full article HERE.