What if a 30-second ad could launch a chart-topping single? Once upon a time, it could - and often did.
In the golden age of TV advertising, the right soundtrack didn’t just sell products. It made pop stars. A widely viewed commercial could turn an unknown band into a household name overnight. A beautifully crafted spot could send an obscure track straight to number one. Advertising didn’t just reflect culture. It actively shaped it.
At MassiveMusic, we’ve explored this relationship in our podcast Sound//Mind, speaking to commercial directors about what makes musical magic happen. The answer is rarely formulaic. It’s the unexpected. The bold. The brilliant.
And while the media landscape has shifted - it could be argued TikTok holds the same power TV once did in terms of viewership - the same truth remains: originality is what makes an idea fly. Whether it’s a synced track in a big-budget commercial or a DIY soundbite that blows up on social, music still has the power to shape stories. And sometimes spark a movement.
Soundtracks to stardom
As music creatives, we spend our time helping brands tell their stories through sound. But sometimes the tables turn, and advertising ends up pushing music into the spotlight.
Take the Levi’s “Planet” commercial from 1995, directed by Vaughan Arnell. The soundtrack? A sped-up remix of Babylon Zoo’s “Spaceman,”. It was a pre-release version that had been tweaked by 808 State for one of their DJ sets. The mixtape of the set made its way into the hands of their director friend, Vaughan, who loved the track and placed it on the ad.
The second it aired, the song exploded, shooting to number one and making the band instantly famous, even though the full-length track had a completely different vibe. So much so, that the released version of the track was edited to include a sped-up intro to tie it back to the version people knew. That snippet of the track in the ad had captured imaginations. It was strange, fresh and futuristic - completely unforgettable.
Then came Sony Bravia in 2005. Hundreds of colourful bouncy balls cascading down the hills of San Francisco. A visual feast to the tune of José González’s haunting acoustic cover of “Heartbeats”. It was a moment of pure juxtaposition - chaos paired with calm - that turned a TV ad into a cultural moment. Director Ollie Murray points out on our podcast, it’s not just a pretty scene. It was something people felt. The music gave it a heartbeat. And González’s career took off as a result.
These weren’t just ads. They were launchpads. Cultural milestones.
But today, things are different.
You can’t manufacture a movement
In today’s always-on, multi-screened shifting media landscape, it’s the audience who drives what breaks through. Social media, especially TikTok, has changed the game. Virality is the new prime time slot. A great sync still matters, but it’s no longer a guaranteed gateway to the top of the charts.
Instead, we see a more chaotic, user-driven system. One where fans shape the narrative - and sometimes, the soundtrack - entirely on their own terms.
The cultural milestone of last year was Charlie xcx’s Brat. It’s an incredibly raw, honest and bold album. But what really set it on fire was the audience. Fans didn’t just listen to it; they memed it, danced to it, screen-capped it and turned it into a movement. Brat became more than an album. It became a mood. And no brand or agency could have manufactured that level of cultural heat.
This is the reality for modern music marketers: you can’t force a viral moment. You can’t fabricate authenticity. You can try to ride a trend, copy a format or mimic a style, but if the idea doesn’t come from a place of truth, audiences will scroll straight through it.
That doesn’t mean music’s power in advertising has faded; far from it. Music remains one of the most potent tools we have to reach people, to build emotional resonance, elevate ideas and create cultural moments that stick. But the challenge now is different. The old playbook doesn’t work.
Too many campaigns try and chase what went viral last week. But effective creativity doesn’t look backwards. It reaches for something new.
Thinking beyond the scroll
Remember the Sony ad? It worked because it was original. It wasn’t trying to be like anything else. It was playful, bold and poetic in its visual choices, and those same ideas in music took it to another level. José González’s “Heartbeats” didn’t just score the visuals. It transformed them and gave them a soul.
This is the point. Originality still wins. A hit idea - whether a song, visual or narrative - resonates because it feels like something people didn’t know they needed. It sparks curiosity and taps into emotion. It lives beyond the scroll.
We can’t just rely on algorithms or trends to tell us what’s good. We need to trust our creative instincts. Dig deep. Experiment. Because that’s how you create work that lasts longer than the feed it appears in.
Sure, not every fresh track used on a campaign will make a number one hit. But when music, visuals and storytelling collide in a way that’s bold, honest and beautifully unexpected, that’s when the magic happens.
Music, more than anything, has the power to turn a brand into a story. A story into a moment. And a moment into something unforgettable.