The event: an LBB column published on 25 September 2026

On 25 September 2026, LBBOnline published « What Makes an Iconic Ad Track? », a column by Debbie Pearce, head of music at MurphyCobb.

It is not a campaign launch. It is not a formal effectiveness paper. Its value is that it captures a question advertising producers, creative directors and brand teams still wrestle with in real time: why does one piece of music make a commercial stick while another simply fills the timeline?

The column is useful because it avoids the lazy answer. A famous song can help, but fame is not the same thing as fit.

For production teams, that distinction matters. Music has to work with the film, the audience, the clearance path, the edit and the media plan. A track can be loved in the meeting and still be the wrong production decision.

The useful point: recognition is only one variable

Pearce discusses several routes into memorable advertising music: a less obvious track, a recognisable song, a refreshed recording, or a choice that seems to lock perfectly with the story.

The practical lesson is that recognition is a tool, not a strategy.

A known song brings shared memory. It can also bring cost, clearance complexity, cultural baggage and a risk that the audience remembers the song but not the brand. An unknown track or original composition can feel more ownable, but only if it is emotionally precise enough to do the job.

That is why music supervision is not a search exercise alone. It is a production discipline.

The supervisor, composer or music agency has to weigh tone, audience, lyrics, tempo, edit points, voiceover, brand presence, territory, media, versions and mix space.

For when to bring that expertise into the process, see https://www.sultasto.agency/blog/when-to-call-music-agency.

A concrete example: Monzo as reported in public sources

The LBB column mentions Monzo’s « Get busy living » platform and its use of well-known tracks including « Careless Whisper », « Baba O’Riley », « Teenage Dirtbag » and « Days Like These ».

We are not claiming to have reviewed the masters, the licences or every media version. The production point available from public sources is clearer: the campaign pushes banking into the background and lets everyday life carry the feeling.

Ads of the World describes the work as a Monzo brand platform created with BBH London, narrated by Olivia Colman and running across multiple channels. System1 focuses on the « Careless Whisper » execution, where the contrast between an ordinary work setting and an unguarded musical performance helps make the benefit vivid.

That is the important part. The music is not only there because the song is famous. It supports the campaign mechanic: money recedes, life becomes foreground.

The limitation: you cannot order an icon

There is a serious objection to the industry’s use of the word « iconic ». It often arrives after the fact.

A campaign earns that status through repetition, context, media weight, cultural timing, memory and sometimes accident. A team can create the conditions for a strong music decision. It cannot guarantee that a track will become part of popular culture.

This matters when a brief asks for « an iconic track » before the story, audience and usage have been clarified.

That request can lead to overpaying for familiarity, chasing a reference too literally, or writing a custom cue that tries too hard to be remembered. In each case, the film becomes less precise.

Music can carry emotion, but silence, sound design and voice placement also shape recall. For more on leaving space in the mix, see https://www.sultasto.agency/blog/silence-publicite-mix.

What producers should take from it

The LBB column is a timely reminder to make music decisions against production criteria, not personal taste.

Before searching, define the feeling the viewer should leave with. Identify the actual audience. Decide whether the music must create contrast, support a performance, sign the brand, lift the product moment or carry the whole memory of the film.

Only then compare routes: famous sync, lesser-known track, re-record, production music, original score or a hybrid approach.

For larger campaigns, this quickly connects to rights, budget and deliverables: https://www.sultasto.agency/blog/original-music-budget-rights-deliverables. For premium categories, it also connects to the risk of polished but generic music: https://www.sultasto.agency/blog/modern-orchestral-luxury-advertising.

The best advertising track is not the one that wins the room in isolation. It is the one that becomes inevitable once picture, story, brand and mix are working together.