When music elevates Renault Group’s brands upmarket

The invisible Art: how sound shapes advertising perception 

In an advertising film, everything seems visible: the idea, the direction, the lighting, the sets. Yet what connects with viewers instantly is not always what they see—it is often what they hear. Over time, music has established itself as a fundamental component of the creative process: no longer a final touch, but a decisive factor in shaping the audience’s overall perception. 

As Laurent Aliphat, VP Advertising & Brand Content, Renault Brand, puts it: “Music reflects the ambition that drives a creation.”

This ambition is expressed at an almost invisible level. The very same creative idea can take on a completely different dimension depending on the soundtrack that accompanies it; becoming more premium, more contemporary, more emotional, or, conversely, losing much of its impact. 

The Renault 5 advertising campaign perfectly illustrates this conviction. By drawing on the world of Daft Punk through the track Instant Crush, the campaign transcends a simple commercial message and becomes part of the broader cultural landscape. Music instantly creates an aura of modernity and desirability around the product, reinforcing the vehicle’s appeal and elevating the brand image.

An emotional shortcut in a saturated world 

In a landscape where attention is increasingly fragmented, music captures audiences from the very first notes.

In just a few seconds, a soundtrack can establish a mood, create tension, and convey a promise. Like Renault, both Alpine and Dacia fully embrace this ambition: sound has become a strategic entry point that helps audiences instantly understand the message while significantly amplifying the visuals impact.

Sound branding: a context-driven choice 

Unlike a traditional marketing approach, Renault Group has not defined strict sonic territories associated with each of its brands. Nevertheless, certain musical sensibilities naturally emerge across campaigns over time. 

As Laurent Aliphat explains, “There is no fixed musical grammar that we systematically apply.” 

The logic is different. It is built around each individual film, depending on the story being told, the vehicle being showcased, as well as the cultural references and zeitgeist of the moment. This approach provides significant creative agility. It avoids locking brands into repetitive codes while ensuring overall consistency. 

Over the course of successive campaigns, certain recurring patterns nevertheless emerge, gradually shaping a recognizable sonic identity, one that remains authentic and distinctive without ever constraining creativity. 

A few examples illustrate this approach. For the launch of the E-Tech 100% electric range, the choice of Electricity by Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark felt like a natural fit. Likewise, for the advertising saga of the Renault Mégane E-Tech 100% electric, She’s Electric by Oasis provided an obvious and compelling way to convey the vehicle’s energy and dynamism. And when it came to evoking travel and adventure for the global launch of the Renault Espace full hybrid E-Tech; an SUV designed for long journeys and exploration; the song Voyage, Voyage served as an immediate and universally recognizable reference. 

In each of these cases, music does more than simply accompany the visuals. It illuminates them. Rather than merely accompanying the images, music unlocks their meaning, creating an immediate understanding and a deeper emotional connection with the story being told. 

Reinventing Pop Culture: the signature of Renault Group 

One of Renault Group’s hallmarks is its ability to draw on popular songs and, through reinvention, give them a more cinematic, immersive, and premium dimension. 

For Laurent Aliphat, musical choices often begin with well-known, unifying tracks that are deeply rooted in the collective imagination. But they are never used as-is. “When the foundation is strong, it’s the arrangement and production that create the quality.” 

A familiar song can therefore acquire new depth, emotion, and sophistication. Arrangement, orchestration, rhythm, and performance: every detail plays a role in transforming the audience’s final perception. 

The reinterpretation of Spacer, French singer Sheila’s iconic hit, is a perfect illustration. Reimagining with a philharmonic orchestra, the track takes on an entirely new dimension, retaining its instant recognizability while gaining elegance and refinement. This approach has become one of the recurring pillars of the Group’s musical strategy. 

Whether transforming the raw energy of Metallica’s Nothing Else Matters into a stripped-back choral piece or giving Robert Palmer’s classic Johnny and Mary a contemporary twist through Victor Solf’s electro-chic interpretation, Renault consistently follows the same creative philosophy: taking familiar cultural references and elevating them into distinctive brand experiences.

This shift is subtle, yet decisive. It allows the brands to elevate their image without losing their connection with audiences. Premium positioning is not built through distance or exclusivity alone, it is created by deepening emotional connection. 

By reinterpreting familiar cultural references and elevating them through exceptional craftsmanship, Renault Group strikes a delicate balance: creating a sense of aspiration while remaining accessible and relatable. The result is a more powerful emotional experience—one that strengthens both brand desirability and audience engagement. 

When music reveals a brand’s DNA 

While Renault Group has not established any formal sonic territories for its brands, certain musical sensibilities naturally emerge across campaigns over time. 

For Renault, music is closely tied to modernity and contemporary culture. In recent years, many Renault campaigns have drawn inspiration from iconic figures of the French Touch movement, helping to build an image of innovation, creativity, and forward-thinking design. Artists such as Daft Punk and Justice have become powerful cultural references that resonate far beyond the automotive world. 

The launch of Renault 5 E-Tech electric perfectly illustrates this approach. By incorporating Instant Crush and connecting with the creative universe of Daft Punk, Renault did more than select a soundtrack. The brand aligned itself with a globally recognized musical legacy and reinforced its vision of modernity with a distinctly French signature. 

In this context, music becomes far more than an accompaniment to the visuals. It acts as a powerful expression of brand identity, conveying values, positioning, and aspirations in a way that audiences can instantly feel. Through these carefully curated cultural references, Renault strengthens its emotional appeal while affirming its place at the intersection of innovation, design, and contemporary culture. 

For Dacia, music serves as a powerful vehicle for closeness and authenticity. The challenge was to strengthen the brand’s emotional dimension while staying true to what makes Dacia unique: a brand that is genuine, clever, and proud of its heritage. 

This strategy was brought to life through a distinctive and large-scale cultural localization approach. 

By tailoring musical choices to local cultures rather than imposing a universal soundtrack, Dacia created campaigns that felt more personal, relevant, and emotionally resonant. Music became more than a storytelling tool, it became a way of building genuine affinity with audiences, reflecting the brand’s commitment to building genuine affinity with its audiences. 

For Alpine, the approach is more sensory, more visceral, and firmly rooted in the emotion of driving. Music is used to convey the intensity, precision, and demanding standards of motorsport, while also expressing the lightness and elegance that defines the brand. 

The A290 campaign provides a striking illustration of this philosophy. The film opens with a music box interpretation of the instantly recognizable theme from Serge Gainsbourg’s Initial BB, or rather, from Antonín Dvořák’s Symphony No. 9 “From the New World”, performed here by the Bulgarian Symphonic Orchestra, the very piece that inspired Gainsbourg’s iconic song. As the story unfolds, the music gradually builds in power and momentum, culminating in the full orchestral version, which brings the film to a close with grandeur, emotion, and a sense of elevation. 

As for the film dedicated to the A390, the synchronization of Gabriel Fauré’s Requiem, which musically enriches the film's dystopian imagery with depth and emotional resonance. 

As Alexandra Madiot-Gasse explains: “In every case, music does more than say something about the products. It gives voice to what the brand wants people to feel.” 

How cinema serves the brand 

This level of ambition is directly inspired by cinema. Laurent Aliphat often cites directors such as Quentin Tarantino or French film directors Guillaume Canet, and more recently Gilles Lellouche, whose films treat music not as a complement to the story, but as one of its central characters. “We approach our musical choices as key pillars of our brand storytelling.” 

Music is no longer simply there to accompany the visuals; it helps create a complete experience. It enables campaigns to become part of a broader cultural conversation and to transcend their purely commercial purpose. 

Ultimately, music has established itself as a language in its own right, a strategic asset and a powerful differentiator for the Group’s brands. Its impact is immediate: it creates emotion, reinforces perception, and supports the upmarket evolution of our brands. 

As Laurent Aliphat puts it: “In a world saturated with images, sound has become our signature.” Because today, more than ever, what our brands make people hear says just as much as what they show.