How to make a brand sound well and which avenues to explore? Before we immerse ourselves into the musical world, let´s define what sound branding actually is. An instant brand representation through a unique soundtrack that anchors reliably in the minds of your audience. Using various audio assets such as simple rhythmic jingles, popular songs, vocal or non-vocal sounds, etc. The choice is endless. Which asset you choose will depend on the desired effect you are trying to achieve. According to Romaniuk, individual audio assets affect brand popularity and uniqueness to varying degrees:
How do sound assets impact brand popularity and uniqueness?
However, the need for sound branding is still unconsciously ignored by many brands. Mostly focusing on perfect visual communication – the beautifully crafted logo, original typography or stylish colour scheme. To top it up, leading brands bet on the use of various mascots, hoping to highlight their specific character. Kind reminder, a mascot primarily appeals to the visual sense. And here comes the sound element to play.
The 2019 Ipsos survey showcasing shares of the target audience’s attention to individual brand assets:
Target audience attention to brand assets
Research evidently suggests that audio brand communication elements are guaranteed to perform best, increasing the audience’s attention 8.5 times!
Pitch perfect brand sound
Sonic branding undoubtedly helps to grab your audience’s attention and skyrocket your awareness. Decluttering information and visual overload, sound branding is the sweet music to your ears and brand. Did you know that music can penetrate customers’ subconscious even when doing another activity? And that´s the ultimate advantage. Simultaneously entering consumers’ minds without their approval.
1. Building brand loyalty through sound
Evoking much stronger emotional reactions than images, sound is the perfect communication tool. Try watching a horror movie muted, or swapping it with funny music? Fear will go away. Instantly. The same applies reversed. Listening to dramatic sounds can be unsettling. Thus, sound is a powerful tool for influencing human emotions and (unconsciously) creating long-lasting connections and brand loyalty.
2. For memorable brands
A catchy name, a claim, visually striking logo are all a part of your crusade for a memorable brand. To back it up, let´s bring science to help. Data shows listening to sound or music can activate the memory part of the human brain and promote the development of memory structures. Smart, right?
3. Sound branding completes the brand character
We live in a digital space these days. And brands too. Nearly all our interaction with customers happens online. Websites, apps and social media are the brand’s channels of choice. Coming with several pitfalls, the biggest one is undoubtedly the elimination of personal contact. Too many visuals create communication noise and deflect and unify all brands over time. To reiterate, sonic branding can breathe brand a new life, make it more interactive and create an original character. Connect with your buyer personas through multiple senses. A win-win scenario for both sides.
4. Accelerating brand experience while increasing engagement
Have you ever found yourself singing or “humming” a tune or sound brand logo without realising it? If the sound is simple and memorable, it will have a lasting footprint in people’s minds. Upon next brand contact, it will be subconsciously familiar and closer to them, which automatically translates into higher trust and activates the Call to Action.
The musical rainbow of sound assets
It´s much easier to create visual assets in communication than sound ones. Graphic outputs are tangible and identify the brand to consumers. But sound assets? What are they? Everything from non-musical sounds, movements, voice, the colour of sounds or final mix styles associated with a given brand in communications. Surprised?
Sounds that convert
Non-verbal sounds (a subcategory of sound assets) are short sounds and noises, or simple musical motifs (e.g. the well-known Intel inside, Telekom and others). Their job is to arouse attention, and emotion, and captivate and identify the brand.
Of course, there are also attention-grabbing sounds that are not associated with any brand, such as the fairly standard imitation of a ringing telephone. Conversely, there are unique ringtones relevant to specific brands, such as the familiar Opening melody with the lush summer marimba sound that is significant for iPhone ringtones, or the sound associated with turning on a Macbook or logging out of a Microsoft account.
The power of voices
Interesting fact: human voice is an excellent brand vehicle. It doesn’t even have to be visible through speech, it can also be so-called paralinguistics, i.e. non-verbal sound expressions: coughing, laughing or sighing.
The voices of presenters or actors can attach themselves to a brand in the same way as so-called station voices on the radio and thus become the sound of the brand. The same way faces of celebrities and influencers are their visual identifiers. The voice is therefore easily recognisable by the target audience.
Mixing it up with different styles
Creating a sound style is not only about using a particular sound characteristic and colour (e.g. you can easily distinguish a wood knock from a metal knock, an old piano sounds different from a synthetic imitation of this musical instrument). The resulting sound is underpinned by mastering, i.e. the final mixing of movements, voices and music.
Furthermore, styles also refer to creative work, for example, the rhythm of speech, music, sounds or combinations of these. And what about our diverse Spotify playlists, Youtube albums, or IG reels? We are all unique, but we have a common passion. Passion for music.
Dividing music brand assets into 3 categories:
a) Jingles – for someone annoying, for others catchy, these short musical forms are mostly used in ATL media or social networks. In branding, they serve to identify the product, a product line or an entire brand. Who doesn’t love the McDonald’s famous I’m loving it voice-over whistle?
b) Popular songs – picturing oranges and fresh citrus smell when hearing the first notes of Happy Day’s latest ad? Then they did a good job. The use of well-known tracks in brand communication and branding is a powerful weapon. Ideally an original one. A perfect example is the Three Little Hamsters song, which we will be humming for the next decade.
c) Background music – labelled as the weakest tool of this trio. However, its strength lies in time. Settling in your subconscious timelessly while creating a strong connection with a brand.
The untapped potential of sound assets
According to the exploratory ANOVA test, certain sound assets perform better than others. The highest score goes to popular music and jingles in FAME (popularity criterion), while sounds and busyness yielded lower scores. At the same time, however, the results show a great deal of variability, and creators can also reach for weaker performing sound asset types when creating a complex package of sound assets.
Whatever combination of sound assets your brand chooses, think about consistency and regularity of communication. Even though the sound is an easily remembered medium – creating the desired associations and recognition takes time.
