Did you know that most of the sounds that surround us are not by chance? The sound of bubbles when you open a Coke, the sound a Pringles bottle makes when you open it, or that drum roll from Twenty Century Fox… All these sounds are known as audio branding.
If you are starting to create your own business, you may be interested in knowing what corporate identity is and, specifically, how to take advantage of sounds and music to create your own sound identity.
What is corporate identity?
Corporate identity is a set of elements and characteristics that a company uses to show itself to the world, through which people will identify it.
With the corporate identity, the mission, vision and values of a business are reflected, so it is important to configure and outline the brand image that your target audience has.
Brand Identity elements
To create the corporate identity, you need to keep in mind some of the most important elements:
- Visual identity: Visual identity is represented by the logo and the typography used in it and in all documents and websites related to the business.
- Color identity: Color identity refers to the colors that will represent the company and is as important as the logo. What’s more, many companies are recognized by their colors rather than their logo.
- Audio brand: And we come to an essential part many people forget: audio branding, which represents your brand acoustically.
An audio branding example we can give is one of the latest Coca Cola ads.
In a very original way, throughout the ad you can hear the sound a Coca Cola makes when it opens and also that famous little sound we all make when we take the first sip.
Pay attention to the end! There you can listen to all the auditory identity of Coca Cola.
Music and audio branding
Music and, specifically, auditory language has the same importance as the rest of elements.
Audio branding has the power to connect thoughts, convey emotions and make easier to remember what the viewer has just seen and heard. That’s why music and identity have a lot to do with each other.
In addition, many studies in this regard have proven that, when a brand image is accompanied by an audio, it tends to impact viewers much more than the image alone would.
For example, what would the start of Netflix be without these two recognizable beats? Do you think you would log in to see your show with the same feeling if you didn’t hear this sound burst?
If you feel interested in starting to try different sounds that can represent your brand, here we recommend several programs to create beats with which to start producing them.
Building and audio branding
- Think about your brand values
What does your brand represent? This is the first question you have to ask yourself when planning your brand audio.
When thinking about this, you should also keep in mind your target audience and the nuance with which you are going to communicate with them.
Do you want a more serious tone for an adult audience or a more relaxed tone to approach a young audience?
- Emotions you want to convey
What emotion do you want to express with your brand? This is something you can’t leave for last, as it will define the style of your brand and, therefore, its auditory identity.
For example, the legendary melody that appears with the castle at the beginning of the Disney movies transport magic, illusion and a fairytale feeling. Ideal for children who want to feel happy and intense emotions at the same time.
- Keep an eye on your competence
Learning from your competence is a very important process in the marketing world and it could not be less when talking about audio branding.
Before selecting the sounds that will define your brand, carry out a study to find out what music your most direct competitors identify with. By doing this, you will know if you are on the right track to attract your potential customers.
- Explore different sounds
The best way to find the sound that will differentiate your brand from others is to not lock yourself into a specific type of sound. Remember it can be anything!
To do this, you can explore different auditory forms such as a few beats, a short melody, several piano notes or even someone’s voice.
For example, do you remember the audio branding of EA Sports? It’s in the game!
Benefits of having an audio brand
- Enhance memorization
It is more than proven that sounds activate the memory part of our brain, so representing your brand with a sound will make it easier to remember your business.
- Convey and connect emotions
Sounds and music are also a bridge to our emotions. Use this to your advantage and think about what emotion you want to express to your consumers when they hear your brand music or sound.
- Improve user experience
The fact of having a harmony between all the elements that represent a brand translates into a better user experience.
- Increase brand loyalty
Sounds create emotional links with consumers the visual identity can’t. Almost unconsciously, thanks to auditive branding, they will feel more familiar with your brand as they consume it.
Many musicians are dedicated to creating different melodies and sounds for a wide variety of brands. Do you like this profession? The best thing you can do is learn how royalties work and how you can make money from them.
Audio branding and advertising jingles: are they the same?
The answer is no, although they are the concepts that are most confused in the audiovisual marketing world.
First of all, we are going to explain what a jingle is: A jingle is a tune created expressly for advertising purposes.
Let’s go back to the Coca Cola example, so that you understand it better. You already know what the sound identity of this brand is, right? Well, now we are going to show you a jingle that they made together with one of the BTS members, Jungkook, called “Turn Up Your Rhythm”:
Now you understand the difference between the sounds that represent a brand and an advertising jingle, don’t you?
As you can see, musicians don’t make a living only from albums and concerts, they are also dedicated to composing music for video games, advertising, cinema and many other formats in which music plays an important role.
And what about sensory branding?
We could say audio branding is part of what is known as sensory branding.
Sensory branding seeks to express the brand to people through any sense.
Other examples of sensory branding:
- Music in a clothing store
- Food establishments offering samples
- Cookies smell in house selling
- Let you touch the devices on a mobile store
And that’s it! Now start to investigate, explore the infinity of sounds that you can find on the Internet and create the perfect audio branding for your business.
