Music is a central part of the Olympics. If you’ve watched any of the Paris 2024 events, from swimming to taekwondo, you will have seen athletes walking out to their field of play with headphones on and their heads bobbing.

It makes sense athletes turn to tunes to get in the game because music is a powerful tool affecting our moods and our bodies. The right music can create the mindset that brings athletic greatness.

But this winning formula goes beyond the Stade de France. By imagining audiences as athletes, brands can supercharge their advertising by putting their customers in the mindset to connect and spend, ultimately winning their own gold medals.

Create the right mood

Listening to positive music can help athletes “get in the zone” by helping them self-regulate their mood. Athletes’ warm-up tracks tend to be positive, with uplifting melodies and hopeful lyrics. Bradly Sinden, Taekwondo specialist, says music “just gets you into that mood. Now it's like ‘I’m ready to go in there and do my business.’”

For brands, this idea is the perfect tool to shift consumer moods in ways that empower and connect with their audiences—without writing a word of copy.

Samsung and Optus did just that for the Tokyo Olympic Games, when they collaborated with MassiveMusic on Performance Enhancing Music. The campaign gave Australian Olympic athletes personalised tracks to spur on their performance, including music with isochronic tones—regular beats of a single tone—which are proven to increase focus and concentration.

In contrast, painkiller brand Panadol, orchestrated the bespoke track “The Sound of Release” for those suffering from pain. The slow, calming, major harmonies and repetitive rhythms in the track are scientifically proven to have therapeutic effects in diminishing the experience of pain and increasing relaxation.

Brands should be taking note of these examples, thinking about what ‘zone’ they want their audiences to be in when engaging with the brand.

Get the physical body involved

But it’s not all in the head, as the right track can trigger a physical response as well. When warming up for an event, athletes gravitate towards pop or hip-hop tracks with a high number of beats per minute. Music psychologists have found links between fast-paced music and increased heart and respiration rates, making listeners more alert, awake and attentive.

Music also affects our bodies through “entrainment,” where bodily movements coincide with the rhythm. The Samsung x Optus example utilised personalised tracks with a specific number of beats per minute. This was designed to coincide with the number of strides or stroke rate for a rower, pushing them forward and making them go faster.

Likewise, alcohol brands are great at harnessing the physical impact music has on our bodies. Beck’s used the power of music to introduce the beer to Brazil, where fans were used to sweet-tasting beers. Drawing on academic research that shows low frequencies make beers taste more bitter, Becks asked their audience to drink competitors' beers whilst listening to a low frequency of 73 Hz (nicknamed the ‘Becks’ frequency), to persuade them that “bitter is better.”

The right music at the right moment can impact both the body and mind of its listeners. However, to foster deeper engagement and connection, brands should explore tracks that resonate more profoundly. They can begin to think about using sound and music in ways that engage all the senses.

Make it personal

Music psychologists suggest that we encode more memories during our teenage and early adult years than any other time of our lives, meaning we recognise songs from this era more quickly.

Interestingly, many athletes chose warm-up songs released in the 2010s, when they were teenagers themselves. For example, gymnast Simone Biles listens to “Stronger” by Kelly Clarkson, hockey player Tess Howard channels “Unstoppable” by Sia, and Rebecca McGowan turns to "High Hopes” by Panic! At the Disco.

When licensing music for adverts, brands similarly often select tracks with nostalgia in mind. The use of these tracks in advertisements builds on the emotions and associations we formed when we were younger, creating a stronger emotional impact.

Think of Cadbury’s famous licensing of Phil Collins for the “Gorilla” ad, and John Lewis’ nostalgic re-records of tracks from the ’90s and ’80s such as Blink 182’s “All the Small Things” and “Together in Electric Dreams” by Phil Oakey and Giorgiio Moroder.

Music allows brands to emotionally connect with consumers — and nostalgia is an excellent strategy for this. But the best adverts are the ones which have thought about all three pillars: the physical, the psychological and the emotional. Combining all three is a powerful cocktail to create a lasting impression with your music strategy.

Brands should be taking inspiration from Paris 2024 and experimenting with treating their audience like athletes.

Answering “How do you want them to feel?” “What do you want them to do?” and, most importantly, “what music is going to best achieve that?” can propel your audience to the podium, leaving a lasting impression worthy of a champion.