In its simplest form, audio branding is the use of sound to create, or enhance, a unique and recognizable identity for a brand or product. This could be done with music or simply with sound effects. On the surface, it sounds (no pun intended) a lot like visual branding, however, whilst audio branding is a similar concept to visual branding, it is actually much more dangerous.
Audio Branding: How to Begin
As with visual branding, the goal of audio branding is almost always to create assets that will be associated with the brand in the minds of consumers, so that when they encounter those assets, they are immediately reminded of the brand. However, there is another, powerful, aspect to audio branding that differentiates it from visual branding, and that is how it makes your customers feel.
Assets
Like with visual branding, the process of audio branding ultimately produces assets; the obvious difference is that these assets are to be heard, not seen. Let's take the simplest example of an audio branding asset: the audio logo. This might be a jingle, a tune, or even just a sound. Whatever it is, ideally, it should be unique, perhaps memorable, and preferably help communicate the brand's identity and values.
However, there is a difference here, beyond the obvious, between a visual logo and an audio logo: in a lot of ways what a visual logo looks like is not overly important, so long as it is not highly inappropriate. This is because the association in the minds of customers, between the brand and the logo, is built over time. The idea that what a logo looks like is not really important might sound like sacrilege to logo designers, but in reality there are a lot of highly successful brands with visually meaningless, or nonsensical, logos. A visual logo can be used to deliberately communicate specific things, but it does not have to be; its function can be purely one of brand association. An audio logo is a little different.
Slapping a generic, or a “we like the sound of that”, audio logo on a brand, can be very damaging. Audio branding is far less forgiving than visual branding.
Emotion
Whilst visual processing takes place in the visual cortex of the brain, sound and music elicit responses in the same areas of the brain that respond to other euphoric stimuli like food, sex or drugs. In other words, sounds and music create powerful emotional responses in the listener, whether you intend them to or not. This means you have to be careful because whilst there will be association over time, between your audio logo and your brand (just as there is with your visual logo), your audio branding will also cause customers to associate certain feelings with your brand.
This makes audio branding a very powerful marketing tool, and it should be handled as such. Slapping a generic, or a “we like the sound of that”, audio logo on a brand, can be very damaging. Audio branding is far less forgiving than visual branding. So, it is vitally important that great care is taken when developing how your brand is going to sound, because when doing so, you are also deciding how your brand is going to feel to your customers. If that sound is associated with your brand, repeatedly, over time, then so too are the feelings that sound evokes.
If you had never seen it before, and I presented you with the Starbucks logo, the image of a mermaid's head and shoulders is unlikely to elicit much of an emotional response in you; it's probably also not going to make you feel like you want a coffee. Starbucks had to work hard, over a long time, to build brand association so that their visual logo would evoke memories, feelings, even the desire for a coffee, in its customer base.
Contrast that with audio: If I played you a few seconds from a piece of moody, depressing music then, even if you had never heard it before, we can reasonably predict how it might make you feel. You might not like the emotions it stimulates in you and so override them with the feeling of irritation, but sound and music can evoke an immediate emotional response in ways it would be difficult, if not impossible, for a brand's visual logo to achieve. It is right there that the problem begins, and it is a problem many brands do not even know they have.
Existing Audio Branding
The chances are that your brand already has audio branding, even if you don't know it. The use of sound or music, at any stage in your brand's customer journey, will impact the overall experience in subtly powerful ways. If you think you don't use audio branding, then ask yourself whether you have on-hold music, music anywhere in your building, music in your ads, sounds in apps or products, Podcast or YouTube intro music. How does the outgoing message on your answer phone sound? Lively and upbeat, or like an uninterested human reading a script (have you even heard it)? If you think the emotional tone of an outgoing message will not affect the customers who hear it, you may want to think again. If you think such things are not a part of your audio branding, you may want to reconsider and take control of them. At best an 'accidental' audio brand is a chaotic mix of different messages, at worst it coherently sends totally the wrong message. In terms of your brand, the visual identity (on which you have probably lavished a lot of attention and money) shapes how your brand looks, your audio identity, whether you control it or not, determines how your brand sounds, and immediately impacts how your customers will feel about it.
Where to Start
So, where to begin? Below are links to a few short explanations that give an overview of the audio branding process. The first one starts by describing five simple terms that are often used, but not so often understood. These include terms such as 'audio logo' and 'sound icon'.
Recommended explanations:
- Audio Branding Terminology
- Audio Identity
- The Audio Branding Process
- Audio UX Design
.png)
