John Lewis is widely regarded as the ‘King’ of the Christmas ad, known for using tracks (generally covers) from up-and-coming singers. This year is no different, with the track of choice being Tom Odell’s cover of John Lennon original, ‘Real Love’. But new research indicates that track requests on Shazam have fallen substantially this year.
Data from Shazam shows that the track has gathered over 20,000 Shazams since the advert was released online last week. Interestingly, this shows a 35.5% drop in the number of Shazams when compared with Lily Allen’s cover of Keane song ‘Somewhere Only We Know’ from last year’s advert, which saw over 31,000 Shazams across the same time period last year.
Despite only being released online on Thursday 6 November, and on TVs on Friday, Odell’s track from the John Lewis advert has managed to jump straight in at number 8 in the Shazam weekly music charts.
Other songs used in adverts that are riding high in the Shazam charts include:
– Josef Salvat’s cover of Rihanna’s ‘Diamonds’, which has seen over 22,000 Shazams to date, launching the track to number 6 in the Shazam weekly music chart. The track has been used in the latest Sony 4K advert, a brand that has been known to launch the profile of musicians such as RY X and Jose Gonzalez in the past
– Julie London’s ‘Fly Me To The Moon’, used in the M&S ‘Follow The Fairies’ advert is also climbing up the charts, seeing nearly 2,500 Shazams since it’s unveiling on Friday
Miles Lewis, SVP, International Advertising Sales at Shazam says “Brands are increasingly using music in advertising campaigns to engage their audience, and there’s no time where this is more prevalent than during the Christmas advertising season. So much so, this is now one of the most popular ways for consumers to discover new music, with the brand ultimately becoming synonymous with the track. Looking at this week’s Shazam charts, the songs used in this year’s crop of Christmas adverts are set to be huge. It wouldn’t be at all surprising if the UK Christmas number one was a song from one of these adverts.”
www.shazam.com