At D&AD Festival last week I saw a range of talks, but one of the standouts for me was a talk by MassiveMusic on the power of sound.
In this talk Ed Trotter (head of business development, Europe) and Rick Sellars (head of creative direction, EMEA) took the audience through an audio journey of sonic branding, from an early jingle for Wheaties, taking in Intel's The Wave, SEGA's startup sound and going all the way through to the likes of Disney Plus and Netflix.
We've known for a while that sonic branding is super-important, but I must admit this is the first time I've seen a talk dedicated to the subject, followed by a Q&A in the foyer (which, somewhat fittingly, you had to wear headphones to hear). This feels particularly poignant as we have just launched our Sonic branding category in the Brand Impact Awards.
(Image credit: Future)
What were the key takeaways from the talk and Q&A? There were several, but I'll outline some of my favourites here:
01. There's great opportunity in sonic
(Image credit: Future)
First of all, it's important to note that brands aren't actually achieving correct attribution through their sound (Unless, of course, they're McDonald's). Ed and Rick asked the audience to identify a logo – was it for Kia or Volkswagen? Most people seemed convinced it was Kia. It was Volkswagen.
Ed and Rick shared a study by CloudArmy that asked people to identify the correct sonic logos of a number of car brands. Only 10% were attributed correctly.
This means there's a "great opportunity for sonic sound and branding to become a potent force," said Ed.
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Ed and Rick pointed out that many brands seem to think they need to have five-note sounds (we're looking at you, Intel). "As more and more brands are engaging with music, there's a lot of homogeneity," said Rick. "It's the bing-bong apocalypse," added Ed.
MassiveMusic did the sonic branding for TikTok, and Ed and Rick used this as an example of a brand that has gone against the five-note grain. "There's a lot of the brand in the sound," they said. "There's a tick and a tock, there's even a dog bark – happy accidents do happen."
Ed gave the example of Leffe's latest identity, which they worked on with JKR. This is slightly dissonant. "The way this dissonance resolves is the key to the drama of the sonic logo, it's like a miniature story in the space of two seconds!" Ed told me later.
"The sound and visuals work really seamlessly well together," said Rick.
05. Sonic branding is gaining traction
(Image credit: Future)
"When I started, I had to go out to people and tell them why they need sound," said Ed. "Now, the conversation is 'I see that I need sound, I just don't know what to do'."
At the moment, there aren't really any sonic branding people who are integrated into a larger agency, "I haven't seen that happen," said Rick. "But I don't know why not."
Rick is keen to emphasise how he wants designers to be braver in re-framing clients' needs as we enter a new era for the role of sound. "Now's the time to step back and break the conventions that have been established," he said.
"I'm hoping that through the work we are doing, we can start to challenge people," he added. "We can say, 'Is this what you need? Can we do something more interesting?'"
I personally look forward to seeing where sonic branding goes next.
Rosie Hilder is Creative Bloq's Deputy Editor. After beginning her career in journalism in Argentina – where she worked as Deputy Editor of Time Out Buenos Aires – she moved back to the UK and joined Future Plc in 2016. Since then, she's worked as Operations Editor on magazines including Computer Arts, 3D World and Paint & Draw and Mac|Life. In 2018, she joined Creative Bloq, where she now assists with the daily management of the site, including growing the site's reach, getting involved in events, such as judging the Brand Impact Awards, and helping make sure our content serves the reader as best it can.
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