It’s midterm season again, and I was thinking about a topic which would soothe everyone during this stressful period. I noticed many students listen to music when they study, hence I started my research on sustainability marketing through the medium of music.
It was pretty difficult to find a song relating specifically on Sustainability – most of the music I found was founded on more general global issues which may be interpreted into several meanings. I’m not a big fan of Rap, but this is pretty good, the lyrics make a lot of sense and capture many issues in less than three minutes.
My thoughts on using music as an instrument to market Sustainability is that it could potentially be more effective than other forms of media. Contemporary songs such as the one above trigger greater mass interest. Take for example, you are at a store deciding to buy which brand of cereal. Your interest in a particular is largely based on what you SEE and what attracts you at a very personal level, which affects your decision to purchase the cereal.
Similarly, the appeal of music affects how many people are interested enough to look more into the song, and its purpose. Therefore the pop culture of today’s society is very applicable in the song I posted above. What I am suggesting is that perhaps sustainability marketing – whether it is of a product, service of just awareness of issues- should take a more indirect approach to trigger interest and action by individuals, rather than the more traditional style of claiming a certain product is ‘100% Fair Trade’ or ‘Made of recycled materials’ etcetera, etcetera.
Finally, efforts have been done to promote sustainable awareness through Music Festivals supported by popular bands who take an interest in Sustainability, as well as having music concerts being carbon neutral, or food at the event being fully home grown. An example is Scotland’s first sustainable Eco-friendly Music Festival held in May this year.