Brand on the run

Call it corporate jingoism, but many large firms swear by a company song for rallying the troops. Or just selling stuff, writes Rhymer Rigby

Although he has since left Asera to set up his own company, Phillip T Scarborough must look back fondly on his time there, with a special place for the day he was asked to pen the company song, "Asera Leads the Way". Set to Robert Palmer's Eighties soft-rock anthem "Addicted to Love", this business ditty boasts verses such as: "The e-biz show/ Not so long ago/ Was a crazy dream/ Now Asera's bright/ Like a star at night/ With a golden gleam." It's small wonder that, as Scarborough's website asserts, "The company's executives were blown away." And his legacy lives on in the San Francisco business's corporate culture: Asera remains a place where the guy on the switchboard enquires after your wellbeing before informing you that: "Here, every day is a good day."

Perhaps surprisingly though, far from being a recent excess of West Coast "ideation", the company song has a surprisingly long pedigree. "IBM, like many companies, had such songs in the first half of this century," says a spokesperson, "and they were used at sales rallies and other company gatherings." Though with titles like "March with IBM", "Ever Onward" and "Hail to IBM", one has to wonder just what the company's rallies and meetings involved.

Nearer to home, and the London-based online solutions outfit Bluewave will admit that, yes, it has a company song, called "Dive Right In". "People have taken the piss," says its group marketing director, Pad Bray, "but we don't take it too seriously, we just join in and have a good laugh." "Dive", continues Bray, was composed because a soundtrack was needed for a corporate video, "and we had a choice of pay someone £5,000 or do it ourselves." Experience, he says, has shown that "it's the lyrics which become the comical thing. We wanted the words to be in the background, but they became real solid lyrics and people really started to listen to them."

It shouldn't be imagined that the IT community has a stranglehold on corporate crooning. Ask people which old smoochie they associate with KPMG and chances are they'll answer: "Our Vision of Global Strategy". Despite the strong association in most minds, this is not, however, an official song: "It was done by a US intern in our Swiss office," admonishes a spokesman. "It's naff and disgusting and we disown it complete- ly." Maybe so, but rumour has it that it's available as a mobile ringtone. Not wishing to be outdone, over at PricewaterhouseCoopers, they have not one but two unofficial songs. "Three years ago when Coopers & Lybrand and Price Waterhouse merged," explains spokesman John Bunn, "a number of people were challenged to come up with something to celebrate the merger." Thus the company's Dutch arm produced "Your World", while its US business plumped for the rather more strident "Downright Global". Comments Bunn, "It's just a bit of fun really, quite enjoyable. They're by no means official and we don't have to learn the words."

In fact, says Mark Rogoff, of Renegade Cow productions, a business which creates company songs, customers range from SMEs to the likes of Wal-Mart, and uses vary from novelty ditties to motivational theme songs with an intended audience of thousands. "I have seen this in action with my own eyes: it works. The natural attraction to music is evident and companies really should use this tool to their advantage."

So is there a more serious side to all this? Well, yes, as Rogoff says, there can be a very powerful association between sound and brand. Think Levi's and "Grapevine", Peugeot and M People, the James Bond theme tune. Although it's been important for years on radio, the audible side of the brand is set to grow in stature, especially as new delivery channels emerge.

Back then to the company song. It probably is a good idea to have a catchy tune for your stakeholders to listen to while they're on hold, associate with your brand values and find themselves unwittingly whistling in the shower. But the problems usually begin when you start adding words – then it can all become a bit like your dad trying to be cool. As Bray says, "You can't really do anything but laugh when someone sings: 'All you need to do is plug in your server.' "