An Audio Branding Blog By TreBrand

At TreBrand we consider listening to be one of our core competencies. Over the last two years we’ve spent a lot of time listening to our clients and potential clients to find out what you want. One thing that has stood out for us is making it easier to purchase music from us legally. Granted copyright law is one tricky bugger, but I tink we’re moving one step closer to making it easier for you to buy and use custom created music.

TreBrand has moved to a royalty free model and is no longer a SOCAN, or any other PRO (performing rights organization), member. What this means for you is that there are less strings attached to where you can use our music. You’ll also benifit in some cases from not having to pay after-the-fact royalties. This second point is quite important to us as we feel you should only have to pay for our music once.

The goal with this new setup is to help make it easier for you to use our products and services. If you have any questions please contact TreBrand.

It’s no secret, mobile phones and devices are a large part of daily lives. The way consumers use them will have an impact on how you do business, now and in the future. Understanding this usage will help you develop a concrete plan to gain new customers and retain loyal buyers.

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A couple of weeks ago I was featured on The Price of Business with Kevin Price to talk about audio branding. The interview was aired on Business 1110 AM KTEK, part of the Bloomberg Radio network, out of Houston, Texas.

I’m aware that many of you missed the interview, so have a listen to the audio below.

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As a marketer you understand the difference between tactical and strategic moves – the tactical moves are the individual parts that make up an overall strategy. This is marketing 101. Without a vision for the success down the road your individual tactics will be hit and miss.

Traditionally music studios have been about creating tactical creative work. Everything from radio commercials to on-hold music. These are the individual pieces. As audio branding professionals we look at how each of these elements combine, what is the overall effect?

One of the problems with the tactical approach is that it’s hard to know which tactics to use without a strategy behind it. You end up going in a different direction for each campaign. It also makes it harder for consumers to connect with your brand. In fact, a recent study done be Katz Marketing shows that 87% of consumers can recognize certain brands by its sound alone.

Think about the difference that you can make when you ask “How can we select music and sound that will help build our brand for the long term?” Instead of “What music can we use for this one campaign?”

Individual tactics work great when you know the direction you are heading, but without a strategy behind your tactics it can be tough to move the ball forward. Just remember to think about the sound of your company over the long term and the impact that each touchpoint has on your customers.

Sniff This

Have you ever pulled a carton of milk out of the fridge only to see the date on it has expired? Then, I can only assume, you gave it a sniff because we all know the dates on these things are off by a week or two. If it smells a little off you throw it out. If it smells okay you might take a chance on it but even then you’ll probably toss it just in case.

Consumers and service buyers use the sniff test everyday. You’re probably using the sniff test right now.

Think about when a customer goes to your web site and they see something that looks ancient. Right then they’ll be giving you a sniff test – and you’ll fail. Same goes for all of your other marketing materials.

Of course the opposite is true for something that looks, feels and sounds new. People will scrutinize you less. Think about how many people, smartly or not, buy a new home without an inspection? These same people won’t think about buying an older home even for a second.

Give your brand a sniff, what do you smell?

If it ain’t broke don’t fix it

On Friday I made a post in our sticky songs section. The post used one of Canada’s favorite songs, the original theme for Hockey Night in Canada.

A few years ago the broadcasting company, CBC, decided not to renew the license for the theme song. To make sure they had a new song that Canadians liked they crowdsourced for a new song by using a competition and a large cash prize.

Crowdsourcing for an answer

Crowdsourcing for the new song worked well, however, the fans of HNIC were still attached to the original song. This is a problem for HNIC because they have lost an identity. Neither the competition or the new song helped the ratings either. In fact, HNIC has not seen good ratings until this year’s Stanley Cup playoffs.

Could you imagine Intel without its signature bong?

Many brands struggle with this issue because they choose not to make sound a property of the brand. I’ve also discussed a similar problem in a blog post called losing your brand voice.

The solution for brands is to purchase the rights to the music they choose to have in their promotions. You might be thinking that the cost of this is would be sky high but if your brand is willing to put out $75,000 for visual identity protecting your sound properties should be just as important – particularly in an age of digital media.

Love to hear your thoughts. Please post them below.

As reported in a recent post by DuetsBlog I learned that Gilbert Gottfried has been let go of his duties as the signature voice of the Aflac Duck. So, why is this important to you? Well, assume somehow you lost the original drawings for you company logo, what would you do?

Now, the question for Aflac is how will this change their brand? What are the legal issues that surround this audio brand since it is a trademark of the Aflac company? Can they just go and hire a sound alike? Similar problems like this can also occur when a voice actor moves on to other jobs or passes away as discussed in this voices.com article.

This blog post is not meant to put a damper on the benifits of audio branding. One key point I want to make is that the Gottfried sound, although memorable, is not flexible. It puts a lot of pressure on a company to use as is without change.

A few ways to avoid this type of problem:

• Select a voice profile instead of a single voice
  This should be part of your brand planning efforts when choosing a signature voice
• Own the rights to the master recording(s)
• Choose a melodic audio logo
  McDonald’s “I’m Lovin’ it” is a good example of this

Knowing that music and sound will outlive any single voice actor or brand manager it becomes vital that business mangers plan for the future. How are you planning the future of your brand?

If your company could build a table what would it look like? Unless you build tables this is an important question about your brand. This question was posed to Paul Fulberg in his book Sonic Branding: An Introduction(Amazon Affiliate). If you are involved in marketing answering this question will give you insight into how your brand is perceived by the public.

I’m going to use the example provided in Sonic Branding. If BMW were to build a table what would it look like? Most of us will agree that it would contain lots of carbon fiber and nice curves.

But, why is this important?

Well, if your brand is consistent across all of its communications and touch points it really doesn’t matter what you build, people will know what they are getting from you when they purchase your product.

Take a moment today and ask yourself what your table would look like.