An Audio Branding Blog By TreBrand

In marketing we’re always looking for the next best thing, however, up until now marketers have spent a lot of time working with visual realms, forgetting that humans have five senses. This is evident in how many agencies have teams of two, an art director and a copywriter. This is fine for print but the future of advertising will be much different.

In our world of audio branding we see agencies of the future having three person teams to work out ideas for marketing products and services. These teams will be similar to what we’re used to, don’t want to confuse creative minds, and they’ll be able to handle many new mediums that will be part of the future of advertising.

So what will the new creative team look like? The newly created teams will consist of an art director, a copywriter/script writer, and an expert in sensory branding.

The future of marketing will depend on agencies to engage their audiences in a new way and by intriguing the senses you’ll do just that.

Well folks it’s all over now.

Yes, the Olympics are done but one the thing has stuck with me is the speed at which advertising was created during the games. It’s almost as if marketers took a page out of Usain Bolt’s playbook.

There are a couple of examples that I can draw from and I think the most significant ones were done by AT&T and Visa. In both cases the brands used action from the sports to complete the story. For example, AT&T uses a clip of Ryan Lochte finishing a race and then the female actor goes to the fridge and posts a new goal to beat Ryan’s time.

What is important here is the speed at which the creative is put together and how it also pulls people into the ad. Will we see more of this type of advertising? I expect we will. The question is will advertising become ‘live’? (yes, I know we have direct response, but I’m thinking something grander).

Let your imagination run wild as your possibilities are almost endless.

If you are like most people over the weekend you spent a fair bit of time watching the Olympics. Of course with most big events comes big advertising. The frustrating thing because this event takes place over two weeks is that you’ll be seeing the same ad many times.

So, my question to marketers is why aren’t we doing more sequential advertising? Just so we are using the same definition, sequential advertising is a multi-stage TV or radio spot (I guess other mediums can be involved too). Think of it like an episodic commercial. I think particularly for an event like the Olympics this could work really well to increase engagement over the entire event.

As advertisers we need to think more like a hit TV series producer. How can we keep people excited to watch the next episode? Maybe you could show the evolution of a brand building up to its greatness like an Olympian.

Anyways, the point is that we should be able to make commercials that are exciting to watch over the life of the campaign instead of just the first appearance of the spot.

So much of advertising today is a cat and mouse game, always trying to catch the next trend. One such trend is the strategic use of sound or technically speaking – audio branding. We’re happy that your brands are starting to use sound to create identities but sadly we must make a plea to you the advertising professional – do your homework.

Investing in creating an audio identity for a brand can take significant investments but the returns will far exceed any initial cost. What you should be worried about is do your customers like and understand your sound? Are you communicating the right values through sound? If not, how can we close the gap?

Sadly, many of you are not asking these questions. Case in point, Samsung has a pretty melody that plays when you turn on their TVs, this is fine except many consumers don’t like the sound (read the comments of the video link above) and want to turn it off. As we’ve seen with social media, trying to force feed customers with brand messages doesn’t work very well.

Now, have a listen to Intel and you’ll instantly understand that for the last 20 odd years they’ve been able to take full advantage of their sound, however, I want to highlight an even better case, The NBC Chimes – the NBC Chimes first hit the airwaves in the 1920s!

So, my plea to you the advertiser is to ensure that you don’t just add a pretty sound to your product. Give sound a purpose just like you do with the visuals for all of your clients. Mostly we ask that you stop assuming what consumers want to hear.

Advertising is a tough game. One that requires thought and creative insights. But once you have that what do you do?

If you are a small business owner it’s important for you to remember that communicating consistently about your brand is important. You must stick to your advertising plans over a period of time. Only then can you measure your results with some certainty.

Now I still want you to go out and measure your results right from the beginning. The key is not to change your message every second day. It’s confusing and makes it a lot harder for you to asses if your program is working.

So, stick with it. Okay?

So the Patriots are set to take on the Giants in this year’s Superbowl showdown. As a marketer you’re more excited about the ads.

Just like the players on the field the game brings out the best and the worst in creative people. Most of the time it’s great creative work and other times the strategy just breaks under pressure.

The Superbowl advertising spots are among the most expensive you will ever encounter as a marketer. To me it almost seems like a city hosting the Olympic games. They pay a ton of money for recognition but they never seem to make a profit as the cost is too high.

That being said some companies have started teasers to get the ball rolling early and for less money. This seems like a great approach that should help the overall campaign reach closer to a positive return on investment.

I really like the pre-campaign done by Volks Wagon (seen below). I’m looking forward to seeing what the endgame is.

What are you expecting from the ads this year at the Superbowl?

We live in a world where corporations look for opportunities to up-sell to us at any moment. You buy a pizza, would you like a brownie with that? Well of course I would but not if you’re going to add to my bill.

I don’t know what the numbers are but wouldn’t it be easier to sell the whole package? I’m sure you can make a pretty profit off that too. And you’ll make a customer happy.

Here’s a fine example, all inclusive vacations. People love them because they don’t need to worry about anything. Apple products come ready to use out of the box as well. Do you see Apple wishing for more clients?

If you’re a marketer or business owner start finding ways to put it all in one package – no add ons please!

As you can imagine radio advertising is one of my favourite ways to advertise your services, but not because it’s a sound only medium. Radio advertising is great because it’s a low cost medium that usually plays while people are paying attention. If you are a small business you must consider radio advertising.

Below are a few things to think about before committing to a media buy. Notice I used the word committing. Radio advertising, like other forms of promotion, should be part of a long term plan. You shouldn’t expect instant sales.

How to Advertise on the Radio

First, know your market. Yes, you’ve heard this before but it is vital to your success. Each radio station caters to a different audience. If you don’t know who your customers are then it’s going to be a tough task for you to pick a station to advertise with.

After choosing a radio station to advertise with you’ll need to find the best time to advertise. Radio advertising, unlike advertising on TV, is a time based medium. So, this means you need to pick an appropriate time when your customers are most likely to be listening to the radio. In general the best times are mornings up to about 9 or 10 and afternoons from about 4 to 6. Weekends are certainly available but can be much harder to nail down when your prospects are listening.

Once you have selected a station and time to advertise your product or service you’ll need to create the radio commercial. Most stations will do this as part of the cost of advertising with them. However, do not let them write your commercial unless you want to sound like everyone else. If you don’t have the resources it’s okay to let the station do the sound work and possibly the announcing. In general, it is always better for you to create the commercial and deliver it to them.

That’s about it. Radio advertising is a great way to boost your business if done correctly. If you have any questions please ask your local audio branding consultant.

One of the most important tasks of a marketing professional or business owner is determining what position in the market you are going to take. Once you have decided what position you want the other tough task is to get that position into your prospect’s mind.

A large challenges you have is that your competition may want to occupy that sames space. First, this is a mistake – be different.

The whole point of a position is so that your customers have a place to put you in their mind. Humans naturally love to categorize things. Without a place in your prospect’s mind you’re just another business and most likely a struggling one at best. However, this challenge seems to have perplexed many organizations today since many new products and services are simply me-too renditions of the leader in that position.

That being said it is possible to create your own space even in a crowded marketplace.

Case in Point

Energizer® vs. Duracell®
The competition between these two brands has been around since the beginning of time. Okay, maybe not that long, but these two behemoths have been battling it out for a while.

Here’s how I see each organization as it is positioned.

In my opinion, feel free to argue this in the comments, Energizer® takes the long lasting route while Duracell® takes the reliable route. They achieve this by effectively communicating to their target audience via mass media advertising and other marketing initiatives.

What I want you to notice is that each brand is going after essentially the same group of customers with basically the same message – our batteries are the best and longest lasting.

Do you notice the subtle difference?

Both brands have created a position that makes it possible for each to attack the same market but be different enough that they don’t encroach on each others space.

Round Up

Positioning is a tough task but every brand, company and organization must find its own place. The benifits far outweigh the work you have to put in to find and create the right space in your prospect’s mind.

While I was doing some research the other day I ran into this video on Youtube. There is some great advertising music that many of you might remember.

Enjoy!