Sonic branding: How the sound of your brand can be a recipe for biz success

Global players are spending millions on creating their sonic branding. Indian companies better hurry.

Sonic branding as AdWeek put it, is the process of “distilling a multimillion dollar brand into a few seconds of sound”.

This is best illustrated in answering the question, have you ever heard the sound of Visa? 

Most would most probably say no. Well, two years ago, the brand rolled out sensory elements including sound, animation and haptic (vibration) cues to signify a completed transaction in digital and retail environments. So, while you could not ‘see’ the brand at work, you could now ‘hear’ it. The multisensory Visa branding debuted in Visa’s global advertising campaign ahead of the Olympic Winter Games in PyeongChang in 2018. The goal was to appeal to the emotions and the senses, so customers could ‘see, hear and feel’ the Visa brand as they made payments across platforms and touch-points, particularly on mobile.

Visa spent more than a year developing a less-than-a-second sound to signal “speed and convenience.” The audio mark was accompanied by a unique vibration and animation that was added to its logo. The process of developing a sonic brand identity involved “neuro-research” and spanned eight markets with focus groups and the culling of 200 different sounds, eliminating one that sounded “angry,” and several that elicited “visceral reactions”. Sonic branding is even more critical for brands you cannot see or touch … digital brands that support the growing notion of ‘everywhere you want to be’ but brands that have no physical product, shape or appearance except the logo. And if the logo is all that signifies the brand, the new thinking is to embellish the connect with the all senses … sight, hearing, even taste!

A couple of months ago, Mastercard chose to emulate its rival, Visa. It released its own sonic branding - a new sound that will help consumers recognize the brand when they make purchases with their Mastercard or when they see an ad for the brand on TV. In addition to what consumers will hear when they make a purchase (in stores, online or via voice-enabled devices), Mastercard has developed a few different scenario-specific styles of the sound, like coffee shop and taxi.

There’s also ‘playful,’ ‘cinematic’ and an ‘operatic’ versions of the sonic logo, and the brand has created different melodies for different geographies. As part of the 18-plus-month process of creating a sound that would resonate with a global audience, Mastercard worked with agencies, artists and musicians around the world, including Linkin Park’s legendary Mike Shinoda.

Business Standard