The Double Sync...

I was watching the Arsenal v Stoke game on Sunday (no digs, please) and one of the ads that followed the half-time analysis was a Jaguar commercial featuring 'Pot Kettle Black' by Tilly & the Wall.

I recognised it straight away as it has really distinctive riff and, more to the point, was used on ITV2 about a year ago to soundtrack a multiple-promo ad for US teen drama Gossip Girl, Celebrity Juice and Paris Hilton's New Best Friend. Thanks to nifty little iPhone app Shazam, I was able to tag it that time around and figure out what it was within seconds.

It got me thinking about double-syncs in general. It's more than likely the creatives behind the Jaguar ad did their research, knew the track had been used before but made a conscious decision to use it anyway - perhaps on the basis that the people watching at the time a teen drama/reality TV promo would be aired were unlikely to be the same demographic who would be watching during a slot appropriate for a Jaguar commercial - an FA Cup game - bar the occasional anomaly like myself!

So in this case, it was probably of little consequence. For a more musically visible brand, however, such as o2 or Apple for example, this could have been seen as a bit of a creative oversight.

From the musician's perspective, non-exclusive sync licenses are clearly a good thing as they leave syncable tracks open for future licensing and, it follows, earns them more cash. From a brand's perspective, (or looking across other types of media, from a film or television producer/director's perspective) if part of their personal "brand" relies on a reputation as a taste-maker or for identifying and providing opportunity to fresh and up & coming acts, it's important to be a first-mover.

I'm most definitely not saying that all syncs should be under exclusive licenses - just that, in some cases, investigating prior use can be key.

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