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Biddleybeep!
A friend was over at the house. We were talking in the kitchen when the air-fryer made that familiar noise confirming it had finished cooking. With her back turned to said contraption, and without breaking stride in our conversation, my friend responded “Ooh, somebody’s got a Ninja.”
Her instantaneous and almost subconscious reaction got me thinking about the sound design that sits at the heart of famous brands – and the powerful recognition and recall sonic branding can engender.
People remember music
At the heart of this subject is one simple truth: human beings have a greater memory for music and sound than almost any other medium.
Everyone’s got their reference points in this respect. Think of the kick drum intro to New Order’s Blue Monday, or the second Jimi Hendrix’s Stratocaster kicks in on All Along The Watchtower. These pieces are decades old but fans of those artists essentially remember those fleeting moments forever. A similar phenomenon is at play when it comes to the best examples of sonic branding.
The power of the sonic logo
Essentially what we’re talking about here is the use of sound to celebrate and embody a brand’s identity. Moving beyond how a brand looks, how a brand talks about itself and what a brand associates itself with. The most dominant form this takes is the sonic logo.
What’s a sonic logo? Think the closing sound effect at the end of every Tiktok video, HBO’s white noise, the single note when an Apple mac turns on, the Netflix ident, Xbox’s metallic audio signature and McDonald’s ‘I’m loving it’ jingle. To name only a few.
These sonic logos last only a few seconds in every execution. But there is a tremendous amount of thinking, strategy and creativity that goes into the development of every one.
Creating a memorable signature
So many questions arise in the creative process. How do you use sound to articulate a brand’s values and proposition? How do you want your audience to feel when they hear it? What emotions do you want to evoke? Which type of sound most encapsulates an organisation and what makes it special – from electronica to acoustic guitar, ambient sound to voice? How do you create a distinctive sound signature that stands out in a cluttered multisensory, multichannel world? The more questions a brand thinks about at a deep level, the more powerful their sonic ID will be.
Diversity through sound
The impact that great sonic branding can have is worth all the work. Done well, it can create something truly memorable, with almost instant recall for millions of people. More than that, it will allow brands to increase their accessibility across of more diverse audience base (for instance those with sight or reading issues) and can rise above cultural and language barriers. You don’t have to speak a particular language to pick up the futuristic, cutting-edge vibe from the Xbox signature.
Sounds like competitive advantage
Furthermore, as the content landscape continues to shift, high-calibre sonic branding can help organisations take advantage of the rapid development in voice-first technologies, while adding to the brand’s overall resonance and consistency across all platforms.
To win, organisations need to get noticed, tell compelling stories and charm audiences – they need to outthink. But in a world that keeps getting faster, louder and more competitive, advantage is tougher to achieve. Great sonic branding can cut through the noise, literally.
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