I’ve often thought of my life as one big advertisement. My mind thinks in advertising taglines and jingles. Nearly every sentence ends in a brand thought. It’s quite entertaining, until someone doesn’t get my ever-so-witty-1980s-1-liner in a conversation.
Studies have shown that sound has the ability to unify a brands’ presence in a meaningful and emotive way. Music and voice that are aligned with a brand persona generates more favourable responses and increases memorability.
Are you hearing us?
Brand Sound, Audio Branding, Sonic Branding or Acoustic Branding means translating your brand attributes and message into distinctive audible elements that not only define your brand identity, but also connects these elements with your audiences. Humanising your brand. Creating an emotive connection. Next time you hear a song, think of where it transcends you. Songs, rhythms and melodies create connection points and by using this tactic within branding, you too can create an affinity with your messaging.
Audio encompasses many aspects, but it’s music that most often springs to mind – and forges the strongest connection in our brain. The link between music and experiences is neurological, meaning there’s a scientific reason why hearing the chorus of a certain song instantly triggers memories of a certain place or time, and all the emotions that came with it.
Source: PHMG.com
Total recall
Businesses spend a huge amount of effort, money and time in creating a brand mark that is visual, and yet our modern society is growing its audible ingestion. The University College London (UCL), London’s oldest university, announced the results of a study that indicates listening to audiobooks is more emotionally engaging than watching film or TV. Did you know we can respond to sounds up to 100 times faster than we can to visual images?
With the strength of visual recall added to the power of emotional audio, it’s no wonder that combining the two together supports a consistent brand. If we then sync an audio logo, a visual design and animation, we create the perfect storm of uplift in emotional impact and memory recall.
Branding on its own is a tough gig
There are so many visual cues that make up a brand, and your logo is just one of these cues. If a brand is going to get cut-through in our message-rich world, then we have to find a new way of doing it. Audiences are exposed to between 4,000-10,000 ads every single day. To see and consume something visually means we have to stop to do so; but it’s different with music, there’s no stopping required. My favourite example of a brand sound comes from technology, the Intel Inside 4-second grab. And whilst not a brand, how can you ignore the emotion of the sound of a modem dialling up. ICQ anyone, or am I alone in this chat room?
Sound on
I’ve longed to create a brand sound, and as Banter Group hits its fourth year, I’m on the edge of my seat being able to introduce to you, Banter Group’s very own Brand Sound. Using the strength of our Banter 2.0 branding, the incredible skill of our inhouse, talented graphic animator Brent, and a music producer/composer ARIA Judge, David Gugliotta, Banter’s sound was born.
How do you create brand sound?
The whole process started with our clients, our audiences. They aren’t 25 years old. They typically aren’t quite 60 (yet, but some are). They aren’t mainstream and they aren’t completely alternate. They appreciate the classics, love rock, enjoy a sing-along and have most definitely enjoyed some raves, dance parties and drunken nights along the way.
The next overlay was Banter Group. Who are WE? What sound can encapsulate fun and outgoing, intelligent and professional, but also a team that doesn’t take everything too seriously. It needed to translate our brand language, our essence, values, promise, and personality. I didn’t want to alienate clients with my personal music taste (The Cure, Nick Cave etc) and equally didn’t want to send them into a spiral of country or Australian classics either. I definitely wanted to avoid elevator music. My brief was full of sound references that left me upbeat and feeling good, coupled with purpose and positioning.
What do you do with a brand sound?
So where are our clients going to HEAR our brand? We’ve created the mothership sound at 10 seconds, which is reserved for presentations, keynote speaker engagements, stage performances or events. As we develop a lot of custom digital marketing courses and training sessions, the 10-second version will be an opener and closer of Banter Group’s brand. This format is also perfect for opening and closing a podcast, or a webinar – any type of audio content.
LISTEN NOW: 10 Sec
LISTEN NOW: WITH DRUMS
LISTEN NOW: WITHOUT DRUMS
The 3-second version has three variations; no drums, synthesiser and full arrangement. These are reserved for our digital applications, such as social posts. This is absolutely intentional too, as research shows that 5-7 notes are the most successful in sticking in your brain, and social will provide the repetition and frequency for the desired cut-through.
LISTEN NOW: 3-second version with no drums
LISTEN NOW: 3-second-version Full Arrangement
LISTEN NOW: 3-second-version with Synthesiser
I’m loving it…
Is it any wonder that 80’s jingles are embedded in my day to day, or that McDonalds, Bunnings, Woolworths and NRMA all have brand sounds? Banter isn’t a fast-food outlet or a global technology brand (or a brand with multi-million budgets like these below), but we are a brand with heart and purpose. Check out Australia’s audio logo index – the first study into the most effective brand audio logos in Australia, conducted in 2020:
I really hope you like the track as much as I do.
If you’re ready to take your brand to the next level with a complete brand overhaul with elements, logo animation, or brand sound, we’d love to help you uncover your audience insights and the core of who you are to make you stand out from the crowd, to make that crowd HEAR you
Contact us, we are listening.
I’ve often thought of my life as one big advertisement. My mind thinks in advertising taglines and jingles. Nearly every sentence ends in a brand thought. It’s quite entertaining, until someone doesn’t get my ever-so-witty-1980s-1-liner in a conversation.
Studies have shown that sound has the ability to unify a brands’ presence in a meaningful and emotive way. Music and voice that are aligned with a brand persona generates more favourable responses and increases memorability.
