A new survey from Entertainment Music Research says that UK customers are generally positive about brand / artist associations, which is just as well, given that their research was being presented at a Music Week conference on brand / artist associations - it would have been a bit of a depressing event if the research had revealed such partnerships are universally loathed.
The survey said that the vast majority of consumers are either positive or indifferent to brands sponsoring music - though certain specific partnerships were viewed more negatively. 51% of those interviewed thought brands sponsoring or partnering with music was a "great or good idea", while only 12% said it was a "bad or very bad idea". Teenagers were most positive about brand music associations, with 59% of that demographic rating such partnerships positively.
Regards specific past brand / artist relationships, 62% thought Gap's association with Madonna was a good fit and 66% rated positively Apple's association with U2, but only 17% thought McDonalds 2003 tie up with Justin Timberlake worked, while 44% said they thought it was a "bad fit".
Kind of stating the bleeding obvious, the research report concluded that certain things were necessary for brand / artist relationships to work: awareness, appropriateness, fit, emotional connection and optimised content. So, now you know.