Could choosing the right soundtrack help to decide who is going to be next British PM? With a General Election due later this year the political parties will be thinking about choosing the right tunes.
D:Ream’s ‘Things Can Only Get Better’ worked for New Labour and Tony Blair in 1997 (and they did, for a bit.) US politicos certainly understand these things, Donald Trump is forever enraging the likes of Bruce Springsteen by nicking their tunes.
Sonic branding agency DLMDD and audio testing company SoundOut have been researching possibles against their own list of the attributes the candidates Tory Rishi Sunak and Labour’s Keir Starmer currently stand for.
For PM Rishi Sunak (with the economy, finally, showing signs of life) it’s Ain’t No Stoppin’ Us Now’ by McFadden & Whitehead followed closely by ‘Here Comes the Sun’ by The Beatles (tune owners might demur of course.)
For Labour’s Keir Starmer it’s ‘Changes’ by David Bowie followed by ‘Take on Me’ by A-ha.
DLMDD co-founder Max De Lucia says: “Music and sound have an unrivalled ability to shape our emotions, shift our perceptions of a person or a brand and influence how we think, feel, behave – even vote. We wanted to have some fun with this research, using music to illustrate how people feel about our political leaders – as well as how they could tap into the power of sound to boost their chances in the General Election.”
SoundOut’s Grace Hammond says: “SoundOut’s brand-matching technology helps us understand how people feel about a brand, and then matches their perceived and desired attributes with music to transform a brand’s appeal. It’s intriguing to get this insight into public perceptions of Starmer and Sunak, as well as the tracks most likely to help them win over the public this year.”
