Sound branding is the latest trend to come along carrying the much-ballyhooed brand moniker. While some people still seem to scoff at these concepts, the fact is sound branding has been around for a long time, it just had a different name. Companies have used jingles since the 1920’s, which according to research is the same time US radio started containing commercials; and it makes perfect sense. Listening to some droll announcer talk about your product isn’t going to get people excited. Having a catchy tune sung to them will however, and those catchy tunes get stuck in your head.
What is “sound branding”?
Sound branding is the use of sound to reinforce brand identity (Wikipedia).
As heard in traditional media
Just the other day I was in a bar, and these two older gentlemen were singing the Narragansett Beer TV jingles from the 1970s. Howard Stern famously lampooned the WNBC station ID’s in the film Private Parts, but the ID’s are an important part of the stations brand, and therefore a part of its Sound Brand. These distinctive Sound Brands stay with us FOREVER. We remember them fondly, and can quickly recall the tune, words, and tag of these Sound Brands.
Sound branding in a social media world
With TV, YouTube, mobile apps, and websites, the ability to promote your sound brand is infinite. Tying the visual aspects of your brand to the aural aspects can really put you in the forefront in today’s business world. Standing out in the world is of the utmost importance.
Sound branding is for every company and person
The biggest companies in the world have sound brands, and not all are related to jingles. Start up your computer. That sound you hear? It’s a brand. Turn on your phone, and what you’re hearing are the distinct sound brands of every different phone company (depending on what phone you have). They each contain their own unique sound brand. Harley Davidson has a sound trademark on the noise their V-twin engines make, and they applied for it in 1994! Larger corporations are aware of how important it is to build a sound brand into their overall branding platform, and it’s important for any company, artist, and person to establish a sound brand.
Each company has a different capacity for which a sound brand can work. Depending on how far your company wants to pursue new media, there are levels of establishing your sound brand. If you have a product that has a distinct sound or tune, you can build that brand up. If you own a restaurant, and want to start advertising on TV and radio, you can get a jingle to establish your brand. It’s time for companies to start thinking about how they want to develop their sound brand, and how often they want people to hear the music associated with their company.
Now I want to make something clear. I didn’t go to business school. I didn’t major in marketing, or business ethics. I am a graduate of the Berklee College of Music, and no, I didn’t major in music business. I majored in “contemporary writing and production,” and I had a few classes where we were required to write, you guessed it, jingles.
Sound branding for marketing purposes
As a musician we were told that more than 70% of the battle would be convincing a potential client the benefit of having a jingle. We had to learn to market ourselves. Writing the music was the easy and exciting part. Selling a company on “why” was the hard part. The weird thing? Why wouldn’t you want such a distinctive marketing tool? And then I started taking it a step further. Why not mobile apps? Why not distinctive ring tones? Why not build a FULL assault on a company’s sound brand. As a musician this meant a lot of opportunities to express myself creatively.
So how can I make the musicians job that much easier? By showing companies not that they might want a sound brand, but that they need a sound brand. Think of all the major corporations across every type of business platform that already have one. They give those companies a perception of being important, successful, and ahead of the game. It’s time for companies to jump on the same bandwagon, and establish themselves the same way.
Getting started
So now that you’ve begun thinking you want to develop your sound brand, you’re asking yourself “How do I get started?” Or maybe you’re a musician who wants to help some upcoming or established companies build those brands? Well the best tools are readily available to us and for free: social media. Linkedin, Facebook, Twitter, etc. We still need to connect the composers to the clients. No matter what side of the fence you’re on, you need to promote your skills, or company, and make it clear you want this type of service. Companies, there are plenty of amazing writers out there, hungry to help make your sound vision come to life. Composers, make yourself available, ready to work FOR the client, and deliver the best product you can. In 40 years, sound branding may have a different name, but starting today I hope, it’ll have a cemented reputation: As an integral part of building your brand.
Author:
Tim Hare is the Events Director at Millennial Branding and a Sound Branding Expert. He graduated from the Berklee College of Music and has toured with numerous bands as a bass guitar player.
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Dear Tim,
I agree with your idea, sounds or music always sets a tone or emotion. If we could develop a standard sound/music and we put that in our of our communication, our audience will be anchored to a certain emotion. It will be our tone of voice.
Love to see you write again. Thanks for the great idea.
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“Writing the music was the easy and exciting part. Selling a company on ‘why. was the hard part.”
True enough. There is real disconnect in the research between how much brands/brand managers say they value the power of sound to impact their brands, and how much they’re actually willing to commit in terms of marketing dollars and resources towards audio branding. In our experience, helping brands understand that there can be a real ROI when they develop ownable, recognizable, flexible and distinct audio assets for their brands. goes a long way in selling them on the “why.”
Audio branding has emerged as a discipline that isn’t concerned simply with execution. It’s concerned with the strategy, research and measurement that can help brand managers, marketers, agencies and creatives make more objective decisions about the creation and application of sound to brand identity.
There’s a wealth of research out there that can help composers and sound designers marry the art of audio branding with the science of audio branding. Educating ourselves will go a long way in helping to prepare us to educate our clients. Thanks for contributing to the audio branding conversation!
Thanks for adding to the discussion everyone!
Lee: We can develop musical standards for businesses is. Yesterday I was speaking with Perry Hewitt (chief digital officer of Harvard), and she was saying that she recognizes the sound of a Honda engine (a car brand she is very faithful to) and that when she hears one drive by she feels connected to those Other Drivers. If someone can have that kind of reaction to a car engine, imagine how anchored they would feel to beautiful and memorable melody.
Steve: You’re right on the button Sir. I don’t know if it’s a perception on under valuing (it doesn’t have that much of an impact on their market) or over valuing (it’s too costly) Sound Branding, but I know that the disconnect you speak of exists. I love what you’re saying about it, and appreciate the links.
Please send me anything you think is worthwhile reading. I look forward to learning for you guys!
100% agree with Steve.
It’s strange that so many companies see a future in audio branding but when money is discussed it’s hard to get approval. This is more of a challenge of a service marketer in general and not so much just audio branding.
I have compiled a set of research about using sound to maximize marketing ROI on our site called the Psychology of Sound…How it will impact your bottom line. Feel free to downloading it by signing up for our ezine.