Madison Ave. Entices Rockers

The music you heard right before the Super Bowl kickoff may be kicking off a new trend.

No, not Jewel’s lip-synced performance of “The Star-Spangled Banner,” but the Verve’s “Bitter Sweet Symphony,” as used in the latest Nike ad campaign.

It’s not unusual that Nike used a rock song--the Beatles’ “Revolution” was featured in a series of spots a decade ago, and Iggy & the Stooges’ “Search and Destroy” was in one aired around the 1996 Summer Olympics.

The hook here is that it’s a new song rather than a familiar oldie. And there’s more on the way.

Volkswagen--which made a splash last year using Trio’s new wave-era “Da Da Da”--is finalizing a deal with the English group Spiritualized to use the title track from its current album, “Ladies and Gentlemen We Are Floating in Space,” in upcoming ads for the revived Beetle. And the auto maker is in the process of selecting three other new rock pieces for related Beetle spots. Meanwhile, Microsoft has reportedly approached the Chemical Brothers about using one of their tracks.

Artists have been approached often over the years about use of current songs, but generally said no--which regularly resulted in ad agencies’ creating music that simulated current sounds. Even the Rolling Stones, who have licensed many songs for commercial use, have allowed their new songs to be used only in connection with sponsorship of their concert tours. In some rock circles, especially closer to the alternative edge, commercials have often been equated with sellout.

Now, though, more are saying yes.

“It’s so limited to what you can get on MTV or radio these days that this is becoming another avenue of exposure,” says Kathryn Malta, vice president and creative executive of advertising at Sony Music, who oversees licensing of songs for movies and commercials. “I have a lot of managers and artists calling me and saying, ‘We’d love to have the band’s music in commercials.’ That never happened before.”

In the three weeks that the Verve’s Nike ad has been on TV, the song has nearly doubled in radio play, and sales of the band’s “Urban Hymns” album have also gone from 19,000 the week before the ad aired to about 33,000 in the current sales week, which ended before the Super Bowl. (The Verve has announced that it will donate its fee for the song to charity.)

Lea Reid, the group’s product manager at Virgin Records, ties much of that sales boost directly to the commercial.

“It’s a dream come true for us,” she says. “It’s a classy ad and an amazing song. It totally takes the emotion and puts it in a compact chunk.”

For Spiritualized, which hasn’t yet broken through in the U.S., such prospects are hard to turn down--as long as the music is treated well in the ad.

“You have to look at each circumstance differently,” says the group’s manager, Frank Gironda. “It wasn’t a snap judgment. We definitely weighed the pros and cons, and felt the pros outweighed the cons. A big issue is that they’re going to get a tremendous amount of exposure from this.”

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AD AGENDAS: The people behind the commercials insist that it’s not a question of being trendy, but having the right music for the spot--something that will set it apart and keep viewers interested. And for both the Nike and Volkswagen campaigns, having something new and authentic is crucial.

“Volkswagen is moving forward and repositioning itself as a new company,” says Liz Vanzura, Volkswagen marketing director. “We didn’t want something with a nostalgic tone. The new Beetle is a modern product. And this music is modern, fresh, and yet it has a very emotional connection with people.”

Michael Folino, a copywriter at the Wieden & Kennedy ad agency in Portland, Ore., who created the Nike spots with writer Mike Smith and art director Joe Shands, is on much the same wavelength.

“We just wanted a great piece of music and the Verve track is beautiful and emotional,” he says. “It had nothing to do with the song being on the radio. In fact, when we first were planning to use it, it wasn’t a hit at all. If it has a certain edge to it and that’s what you want to convey, you go get a piece of music that fits.”

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GREASED LIGHTNING: With the movie “Grease” still popular and set for theatrical re-release, few will be surprised to hear that co-star Olivia Newton-John is working on a comeback album, her first U.S. release in five years.

What you probably won’t expect, though, is that it’s being done under the watch of Tony Brown, president of MCA Nashville and arguably country music’s leading taste-maker.

“The music she did in the beginning [of her career] is the same kind of things females in country are doing today--Martina [McBride], Reba [McEntire], Wynonna,” says Brown, who signed her to the label and is producing part of the album.

Adds Newton-John, “This is how I started. I did an album 20 years ago in Nashville and won a Country Music Assn. award. This is going back to my roots.”

The album, due in May, also features production from such hot Nashville figures as Don Cook, who works with the Mavericks, and Chris Farren, who produced Kevin Sharpe. Rounding out the collection and giving it a potential pop presence will be a David Foster-produced version of Newton-John’s 1974 hit “I Honestly Love You,” with Babyface contributing vocals.

The fact that the Australian singer been off the music circuit in recent years, Brown says, is an advantage.

Newton-John agrees. “It’s really interesting how a whole two generations of kids don’t really know me before ‘Grease.’ It will be interesting to see the reaction now.”