The changing landscape of marketing means that customer engagement has taken a hit leading into the first couple of months in 2016. Also affecting the level of engagement is the rise of the Millennial and what marketers understand in order to connect with them. To  understand what it is you should be doing to enhance your brand, it’s important to first understand why customer engagement dropped this year.

Here are the top 4 reasons that brands are seeing less customer engagement in 2016:

Luxury Swiss watchmaker Raymond Weil once again is using its passion for music as the creative centrepiece of its collaboration with Universal Music Group and the BRIT Awards.

Music has always been an essential ingredient for Raymond Weil, and has been involved within the music industry for over three decades. The Swiss watchmaker is renowned for coining the phrase “Raymond Weil composes its timepieces the way musicians compose their chef d’oeuvres.”

This unique collaboration with UMG will be offering consumers a bespoke digital music streaming service. By aligning the brand so closely to the music industry in every shape and form - from exciting marketing campaigns to music sponsorship, this brand understands how the #PowerOfMusic can drive brand affinity with its consumers.

1Rebel, a new chain of gyms in London, brands itself as the "anti-gym". It is revolutionising London’s fitness and will be looking to extend this successful brand globally. It is a no-contract ‘pay-as-you-train’ boutiques, infamously ditching the typical stereotype gymnasium model.

1Rebel is taking fitness one step ahead of its competitors by using the #PowerOfMusic to differentiate and add value to its services. Music is the focal point at 1Rebel gymnasiums with curated bespoke playlists and even live music to inspire and motivate fitness enthusiasts.

Uber has achieved verb status: You don't call a car, you uber it.

The company is now introducing a new feature to its app called Trip Experiences.

App makers will be granted access to its service to give riders customised music, news and even restaurant reviews.

This new feature will see Uber leveraging music and other entertainment content in a bid to get to know their customers better using app integrations in the mobile space.

The Joy of Jazz Festival is one of the biggest music festivals held in Johannesburg each September, where music fans are treated to a stellar line-up of some of the world’s most talented musicians. This year, the festival’s sponsors decided to extend the reach of the festival to some very lucky motorists during rush hour traffic via an unorthodox and creative marketing campaign, bringing music experiences to life.

In what would be considered an authentic concert experience and extending the event’s  reach outside of the jazz festival, music fans were treated to a two-hour gig on a live jazz billboard on the corner of William Nicol and Republic roads in Sandton, Johannesburg. 

The live jazz performance on a billboard marked the start of South Africa’s premier jazz music festival, which featured more than 20 artists from across the globe and one authentic marketing campaign to reach wider audiences.

The trend of employing a music streaming service is fast becoming the latest marketing tool that retail stores are using to stand out in the crowded mobile commerce world, where more often than not, consumers are inundated with apps that get deleted as quickly as they're added or worse, have never been opened. 

Throughout American Eagle Outfitters stores, consumers are greeted by a collection of music which has been specifically curated in an effort to connect with music fans and give consumers an all-around brand experience. Now, the American clothing store is taking its music marketing strategy one step further by adding music streaming playlists to its mobile shopping app, ensuring that the mcommerce shopping experience is consistent with the in-store shopping experience.

By connecting with consumers over a shared love of music, this new music tool has kept consumers shopping in-app for longer periods and has boosted engagement and sales to its e-commerce app.

British heritage fashion brand Hunter is on a global mission to expand and integrate music into its marketing strategy in a bid to engage with festival-goers. Hunter is ramping up its ties for 2016 with music festivals and debuting new flagship stores in the highly sought-after fashion capitals of Tokyo, New York and Hong Kong.

The company is popular for its  Hunter Wellington boots and is on every festival goers must have items, so it made sense to leverage music in their marketing strategy to create an authentic connection with consumers.

Hunter’s creative director, Alasdhair Willis said: “Hunter has been on an incredible journey these past two years, gathering real momentum as we set about transitioning this 160 year-old business. During this massive transformative period,we have delivered four brand-defining Hunter Original shows at London Fashion Week.”

Shazam is one of the world’s most popular music discovery apps and is usually thought of by music fans as being one-dimensional, with their identify songs and leave function. Their latest feature is giving fans the opportunity to see what their favourite artists are listening to. The company is calling this transition from a pure “discovery” experience to a “shared discovery” experience.

The app is increasing engagement with users by keeping them within the app for longer periods, a strategy that could ultimately lead to greater ad revenue. In addition, it is possible that it might assist in picking up a few extra “referral” sales if Shazam users happen to love what their favourite artists love.

Hewlett-Packard is launching HP Lounge, a music streaming service which will be available for free to consumers who purchase a brand new HP Computer. In a marketing move to make HP computers more attractive to a younger demographic with the inclusion of everyone's favourite pastime, music.

HP has partnered up with Universal Music Group to offer all brand new consumers one year of free music to people located in Europe, Africa and the Middle East.

15 years ago, Lars Ulrich of Metallica become the most hated man in the music industry for taking away Napster. This P2P music service, created in 1999 by Shawn Fanning and Sean Parker, allowed people to get free music illegally by downloading MP3 files from other users’ computers.

Little did this couple of college freshmen know that what they had created back then would pave the way for a digital revolution of gigantic proportions with the rise of downloading services like iTunes and music streaming services. The important point though is that music fans did not want to pay for music 15 years ago, and not much has changed now.