Dimensions of Music: The Effect of Music/Brand Congruity on Advertising and Brand Evaluations.

Abstract

This research investigates the role of background music in the process of attitude formation. Specifically, this paper examines how the fit between a piece of music and a brand in a product evaluation setting may affect attitudes toward the brand and the advertisement. Based on the theories of Mandler (1982) and Berlyne (1972), this research proposes that a moderate congruity between the music and the brand will lead to more positive evaluations of the brand and advertisement than either high or low congruity. In the first part of the research, a scale is created to measure how people describe their perceptions of music samples. A framework to measure the dimensions of music is developed by determining the number and nature of the underlying dimensions (calming, dark, energizing, jazzy, and sophisticated). In the second part of this research, an experiment is designed to test the effects of music/brand congruity on advertising and brand evaluations under conditions of high and low cognitive capacity. This experiment uses the dimensions of music scale to create conditions of high, moderate, and low music/brand congruity. Music/brand congruity is determined by the degree to which people tended to evaluate the music and the brand similarly on the dimensions (calming, dark, energizing, jazzy, or sophisticated). Implications of the scale development and experiment are discussed, and further research is proposed.