Audio Branding
31.07.2008
Audio branding, or sonic branding, as it is sometimes called, is the use of sound to reinforce brand identity. Increasingly, audio branding is becoming a vehicle for conveying a memorable message to targeted consumers – currently over 70 of the UK’s top 200 advertisers use some consistent audio branding as part of their corporate identity.
Audio branding can be particularly effective because of the powerful stamp on the human memory that sound can make, in a way that either reinforces visual images or makes a mark without visuals, e.g. on the radio, or when people are out of the room during television ad breaks.
Elements of audio branding include sung or spoken tag lines, jingles, short piece of music, and functional sounds, such as the Windows start-up sound. Other examples include MGM’s ‘lion’s roar’, McDonald’s ‘I’m lovin’ it’, and the famous ‘Intel Inside’ sound logo.
The sound logo is a key part of audio branding; usually a short distinctive melody or other sequence of sound, mostly positioned at the beginning or ending of a commercial. It can be seen as the acoustic equivalent of a visual logo, and often a combination of both types of logo is used to enforce the recognition of a brand, culminating in an audio-visual logo.
Why does your brand need audio branding?
‘Because you’re worth it!’ or rather, your brand will benefit from it. In an increasingly competitive media market, more multi-sensory branding can give your brand a memorable edge. But it’s not just about who can shout the loudest; it’s also crucial to have audio that elegantly represents your brand.
Communication via audio branding can utilise many media: TV, DVD, radio, websites, mobile phones, phone on-hold audio and ringtones are fine examples. Executed correctly, audio branding will not only raise your brand’s profile, it will strengthen it.
A recent study on audio branding conducted by GDR Creative Intelligence and Other Lines of Enquiry ranked the Top 10 ‘audio branders’ in the UK market, based on combined rankings for recognition, brand recall & likeability.
1. Kit Kat - “Have a Break, Have a Kit Kat”
2. Hamlet - “Happiness is a Cigar Called Hamlet”
3. HSBC - “The World’s Local Bank”
4. Danone - “Mmm, Danone”
5. Motorola - “Hello Moto”
6. Asda - Asda theme music
7. Garnier - “Garnier”
8. Frosties - “They’re Grrreat!”
9. Coco Pops - “I’d Rather Have a Bowl of Coco Pops”
10. Microsoft - Windows start-up sound
Want one?
Audio branding is one of the many new services VGroup is now providing for clients, as part of our integrated Communications Performance™ approach.
Our Branding and Interactive departments combine expert brand strategy, market research and analysis with technological wizardry in compositional technology, audio processing and psychoacoustics.
Talk to us about creating audio branding elements that, combined with a strong visual identity, will make your brand stand out from the rest.
Tags: audio branding, Branding, sound logo