Sonic branding is a way brands can activate emotion and memory in a way that visual or textual cues can’t. Think of how jingles can get stuck in your brain for years, how familiar the Netflix “ta-dum” is, or how hard it is to say Hot Pockets without signing it.
For strong sonic branding, there has to be an emotional fit between the audio identity and the brand itself. So how do you find that fit? Let’s dive into how you can discover your brand’s audio identity with these tips:
- Ask Yourself What Sets Your Brand Apart: While this doesn’t work for all sonic branding, sometimes audio comes from a brand trait. An example – Tostito‘s new sonic logo is made from the sound of their jars! What sounds are associated with your brand and consumer experience?
- Use the Catch and Release Theory: Your brand marketing should be “easy to think of, easy to buy, and easily thought worth it.” Just like a “catch and release” fish. So brands should compose an audio identity and sonic brand to help capture and hold the attention of their audience
- Watch out for the Familiarity Fallacy: There’s how you think your brand is, and how it’s actually perceived. Marketers and stakeholders spend so much time thinking about their brand, naturally they think everyone else does, too. So you have to avoid this Familiarity Fallacy by digging deeper to learn how consumers know/discover you.
- Measure the Impact: Market Penetration + Effectiveness + Personality = Impact. Think through your brand’s definition of success in all these areas then measure responses qualitatively.
Audio Content Labs are a bunch of sound geniuses. Check out their full article for the science being how consumers relate to audio and a deeper explanation around sonic branding.
