As we move futher into the digital world one thing has become appearant, marketers need to implement a multi-sensory expereince for their customers. That said, once you’ve made the decision to create sensory delight for you audience you’ll want to think about how to communicate with your clients through the different senses.

Audio branding is a process that gets marketers to think about how their brand sounds to the world. In doing this, it also forces marketers to make critical decisions about their brand, both sonically and with the other four senses.

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A while back I posted an article on what an audio mnemonic is (or as some might call it, an audio logo). Today I wanted to share with you a great example from a recent Coca-Cola spot that effectively uses their sonic logo melody throughout the ad.

Coke has always, for as long as I’ve known, been involved in creating a brand around music. One of the key features and most recognizable parts of any audio identity is the audio logo. Before you read on, have a listen to Coke’s audio logo first.

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You might already be spending lots of time and money on creating the right visual identity – which is good – but the truth of the matter is that we now live in a world where a multi-sensory experience is expected. What’s more is that some of the senses you’ve been neglecting are processed quicker and have direct connections to your emotional core.

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Last week Tristan Clopet wrote an excellent piece about audio branding on the Ad Age blog. The main question in the article was whether jingles or music licensing, aka borrowing a pre-written pop song, was better for a brand.

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Of course I’m a little biased when I say this, anytime is a good time to start thinking strategically about how your brand sounds. In all seriousness, there are times in the life of a business that make more sense to implement an audio branding strategy. In this post, I want to highlight the best times to figure out how your business sounds.

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One of the key components of creating a strong audio brand is flexibility. By creating an audio brand that is flexible will allow you to build your brand’s identity on a global scale and create a loyal customer in the process.

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A couple of weeks ago I posted an article on one of the biggest audio branding pitfalls. This week I want share a few questions you should ask your music provider in order to get the best music for your brand.

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We like the buildup in this spot created for Acura. The music gets ever more tense just before we see the car for the first time at which point you can hear a pin drop. Advertisers take notice of the use of silence in this ad. It really grabs the viewer at a key moment in the spot.

We also like the audio logo as it fits the mystery that’s seems to be a part of this spot.

Enjoy the weekend!

Whether you are a musician or not, you have probably heard the expression that music is an international language. Now as a marketer in this modern world, understanding this fact is critical. So, in this post I want to explore some research with you that will help you use music in your business more effectively to reach the global marketplace.

First off, many studies have shown that certain aspects of music carries common meanings for people in different parts of the world. What this means, for example, is that most people will hear slow music as a sad song or fast music as a happy. For global marketers this is good news since certain parts of your audio brand will not need to be adjusted for cultural differences.

Now, I’m going to contradict myself and say that the finer details in communicating emotion through music can get mixed up in translation. For instance, Eastern music uses a different system of notes and not following these rules can mean that you are communicating a completely different emotion than you intended. By not keeping track of the different cultural norms you may be inadvertently be giving someone the finger.

Testing your Intuition

To help mitigate the problems mentioned above you will want to test your audio brand assets with a cross section of our customer base. Typically, this testing should take the form of a focus group but can also be done using customer questionnaires and free association methods. We have seen some companies go as far as having separate tests done for each of their core markets. This gives them a true understanding of how their customers feel about the music that is being produced as a brand asset.

For local companies you may think this issue apply to you, but if you are located in a major city, like Toronto, you are going to have a well-mixed pot of culture to deal with.

Take the time to evaluate the sound of your company makes and how impacts the emotions your customers feel.

After watching this I get the feeling that in order to create a brewery your first name must be John?!

Nonetheless, a great track featured in this spot from Smithwick’s. In case you’re wondering the track is Learnt My Lesson Well by Kaiser Chiefs.