Sonic branding: How to position yourself in the new age of audio?

We are reliving the era of the appreciation of audio. Yes! At the hype of 4K televisions and smartphones with superpower cameras, who would risk saying that 2019 would be the golden year for podcasts? Who would bet that the audiobook market would be growing in a number of countries and more and more people would use voice assistants? Well, it has never been easier to create and share high quality images, and yet it is the sound formats that are gaining prominence. In this scenario, one strategy is making more and more sense for brands: The sonic branding.

With so much content being consumed via audio, having a sound identity has become important to a business repertoire. Okay, jingles have always been there to prove that this has never been a neglected aspect of business. The difference is that now, with the popularity of listening formats and voice assistants, adopting a sonic branding strategy is back on the agenda of organizations.

How does your brand want to be seen – or rather heard?

Having a sound brand that represents business values, differentials, and identity can be as effective as a visual logo. It will be very useful, for example, when it comes to connecting with audiences who are consuming online content (either audio or video) and can be inserted at the opening or closing of a podcast, during live streams on social networks or in any other means of communication with sound.

The idea behind sonic branding is to expand brand identification elements into the sound format, which can be quite challenging. After all, translating a business’s values into a few musical notes and ensuring that the audience will associate the content with your business is not easy, but it can have a rewarding result.

According to research, people take about 0.146 seconds to react to a particular sound and experience emotions almost automatically when they hear a melody. So creating sound elements is a great way to convey your brand attributes to the audience and establish a deeper connection with them. Believe me, in many cases, sound can be a much better emotional trigger than image (or have you ever noticed that a horror movie is less scary when the volume is turned off?).

The advantages of sonic branding

Such a strategy can be very useful for a brand and, to name a few reasons, here is a list of five benefits of sonic branding, according to the Branding Strategy Insider portal:

1. Create a more memorable and distinctive brand identity – After all, a sound brand is a fast identifiable element, which is great for memory (isn’t that right Intel and Netflix?).
2. Amplifies a brand’s contact channels – Audio content is versatile and can be used in both online (podcasts, videos) and offline environments like a point of sale or a event booth.
3. Impacts people’s moods – Sounds convey feelings and evoke memories with great ease. What emotion does your brand want to express?
4. May be responsible for a purchase – One study indicated that the number of notes in the melody of a sound brand may encourage a person to purchase a product.
5. Increase the Brand trustability – Distinct identity elements bring familiarity and reliability to a company.

Sonic Branding In Practice

In 2019, Mastercard launched its first sound identity, which in addition to being reproduced in brand campaigns and content, was also thought to be played every time a purchase is made. One of the reasons that led her to invest in a sonic branding strategy was the increase in purchases made by voice assistants, which is expected to reach $ 40 billion by 2022.

Recently, who also launched their first sound signature was Volkswagen. Along with the dissemination of a new visual identity – already thinking about the age of electrification – the brand revealed the melody that will be used in its communication platforms.

Speak and I’ll… relax you

It is not just through sound brands that companies participate in the new age of audio. A sonic branding strategy can involve campaigns, events and other actions that stand out to the public. Even ASMR is an option! This type of content, which has become a phenomenon on YouTube in recent times, is made with the aim of stimulating sound and visual triggers that cause relaxation. Whispers, object sounds, and nail beats, for example, are capable of generating an “Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response” (ASMR), which is nothing more than a pleasurable sensation in those watching. videos.

The Serasa Consumidor, an data analysis company for credit decisions, got into that wave and released a 1-hour video tearing payment slips in ASMR format – it intended to make a reference to the “relaxation” generated by tearing a paid slip. Curious, isn’t it?

For brands, this type of content is not just a new format with the potential to win consumers. According to this site J. Walter Thompson Intelligence, the growth of ASMR is impacting the way businesses communicate as a whole. Shenandoah University professor Craig Richard believes this trend has shown, for example, that people want less stress and confusion on the content they consume and more relaxation and tranquility. As a result, some companies are investing in quieter, less noisy melodies when communicating with their audiences.

Regardless of which sonic branding strategy makes the most sense for your brand, the key is to understand that we are living in an age of appreciation for audio. The popularity of podcasts and voice assistants are just a few examples of this, and are indicative of the importance of paying attention to this (not so new) trend.

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