In honor of our Music & Marketing issue, Ad Age decided to survey the execs at agencies who are responsible for educating their teams about the latest musical trends, are responsible for pairing brands with bands, and are just generally regarded as tastemakers at their shops.
Our group of experts were:
Josh Rabinowitz, SVP/Director of Music at Grey
Hilary Craven, Cultural Partnerships Director at 72andSunny
Stump Mahoney, Executive Producer, Director of Music at DraftFCB, Chicago
Bill Meadows, VP-Executive Integrated Producer/Music, Talent+
Public Works at CP+B
Rani Vaz, SVP/Director of music and radio BBDO New York
David Muhlenfeld, VP/Creative Director, The Martin Agency
Colin Jeffery, executive creative director and Managing Partner at
David & Goliath
David Rockwood, VP/Community at GSD&M
Favorite Music App
Vaz: Digital Concert Hall: Berlin Philharmonic.Jeffery: Pandora and OurStage. "I use Pandora on a daily basis. OurStage promotes new music, it's a great way to discover emerging acts."
Rabinowitz: Shazam.
Rockwood: Soundhound.
Best Song in an Ad in Recent Times
Mahoney: Jake Bugg's "Lightning Bolt" for GatoradeCraven: Google Chrome spot featuring song by The Meemies
Meadows: Fitzpleasure by Alt-J for the Windows Phone Nokia Lumia 928
Jeffery: Coldplay's "The Scientist" by Willie Nelson for Chipotle
Tune You're Most Embarrassed to Have on Your Musical Device
Muhlenfeld: "She Wolf" by Shakira. "I keep trying to trash it, but the cover art always stops me."Rabinowitz: Neil Diamond and Barbara Streisand "You Don't Bring Me Flowers". "If you grew up in Brooklyn you'd understand)."
Craven: "Weird Science", Oingo Boingo
Mahoney: "I really don't have anything I'm embarrassed by. I have guilty pleasures that my hipster friends might give me heat over. That would be something like Nicki Minaj's 'Va Va Voom.'"
Pick for Best Music Video of 2013
Rockwood: Arcade Fire "Reflektor"
Meadows: Janelle Monae "Q.U.E.E.N."
Vaz: Django Django "WOR"
Muhlenfeld: Two-way tie between "Thrift Shop" by
Macklemore & Lewis and "Spring Break Anthem" by Lonely
Island