Sound branding

sound branding - 226lab creative digital agency

What remains in memory better than a catchy tune? Often, we don’t remember what we should, but the words of anime theme songs from our childhood or TV jingles for games or foods we desired don’t seem to fade away. This happens because we have attached an emotion, a desire, to a piece of music, a jingle, or a sequence of notes, making those particular sounds indelible in our memory. This is what sound branding aims to do with a brand name, making it distinctive e immediate.

Why does sound branding work so well

In a time when we are all so distracted, so hurried, sound branding manages to sneak into our memory because it approaches us at a perceptual level below our normal attention threshold.

There are different types of sound branding—some use a few seconds of specially created jingles, some use a sound logo (or rather, a sound claim, like McDonald’s “I’m lovin’ it”), and some are indissolubly linked to songs already well-known by artists.

But which technique is the best? The answer is always the same: it depends on what the brand wants to communicate about itself, how it wants to stand out from competitors, and how much time it has to do so.

All the most famous examples

There are numerous examples of sound branding, and choosing among the most famous is not easy. Therefore, we have decided to provide an example of sound branding for each category:

  • Jingle: a famous pop star and the desire not to leave the house to have dinner ready. A jingle that captures the daily trends normalized by the pandemic.
  • Sound logo: movies and pizza on the couch? A sound logo that needs no introduction.
  • Songs already released: Cornetto Algida is not indissolubly linked to a song, but every summer, when the craving for ice cream grows, it rides the current summer hit.

How to develop an effective sound branding strategy?

Certainly, the sound of a brand should not be taken as the sole marketing strategy but should be intentionally placed in a broader context, considering the timing and interactions with the various components that make up a comprehensive brand strategy.

The first thing to do, in any case, is to establish (if not already done) what the core values of the brand to be represented are, who the target audience is, the seasonality of the product and the market, and how the brand wants to communicate with its target audience.

Reflection on the sound, then, can begin. Is it a long-term project, or is it a seasonal event? On which channels can we reach our audience? How many seconds do we have to deliver an effective message?

The questions to ask are still many and multifaceted; that’s why an attentive marketing expert is needed to evaluate each one.

And you? Are you considering a sound branding project?