Moving the Masses Through Music

If you met Tena Clark at a party, you'd immediately want to meet again to continue the conversation. She's passionate. She's inspirational. In short, you'd definitely want to add her to your Rolodex and professional network of go-getting women.

DMI, a music branding company, is at the hub of Clark's businesses. The other spokes include Private Label Radio, Big Rig Interactive, 5 Alarm Music and Firehouse Recording Studios. Pasadena, California-based DMI and its supporting entities offer a complete solution for everything that has to do with music.

Clark has forged DMI's growth through a consistent vision. "I wanted to connect consumers to brands through music," she says. This is the mind-set that started the business and that sustains it. Her dedication to reaching consumers through music is evident in DMI's mission statement: "Give consumers music where they never could have experienced it before."

It was Clark's vision of herself as a music evangelist that led her to create and build DMI. Throughout her life she has embraced music and all it has to offer, from playing drums to writing Grammy-winning songs. Today, she operates DMI with the desire for people to experience music "without handcuffs."

United Airlines was one of 10-year-old DMI's first clients. Clark created a foundation for success by ensuring her music branding company managed every piece of music relating to United Airlines' communications. DMI integrated the organization's videos, Mileage-Plus Loyalty program and onboard programming into a consistent musical communications package tied to the emotional impact United Airlines was looking to make.

Listening to Clark speak about music and its impact on the consumer, you can tell she's a visionary and a professional who clearly understands the value of consumer engagement through the most powerful component of the brand experience--emotion.

It's the brands that take this seriously that receive the most benefit in consumer awareness. But Clark admits she continually fights the mind-sets of traditional brand managers that have yet to directly link the importance of consumers' emotions to the brand experience. "This is still a relatively new idea for many brands," says Clark. "When the CMO is a strong visionary, however, they are the people who will champion this part of the branding initiative."

And more companies are recognizing the power of music. Clark's company, which employs more than 70 people, has grown 40 percent over the past year. "There is no greater way to build brand loyalty than through emotion," she says. "The success of the DMI team stems from leveraging emotion via the power of music."