Sounds like a winner

Photo by kyle smith on Unsplash

I am burned out on COVID-19 coverage, so now for something more fun. Sonic branding.

This short article by the consistently wonderful Tom Vanderbilt discusses how sounds are increasingly playing a role in brand experiences. Thanks to engineering, products often are quieter than they used to be, although this isn’t always a positive for a brand. Drivers of high-performance cars want to hear the sound of the roaring engine – so much that carmakers often pipe this sound into the interior artificially through the car’s speakers. Quiet dishwashers are sometimes perceived as less effective than their noisy counterparts.

Ticking car clocks are entirely frivolous, but they say something important to the consumer about quality. The sound a lipstick container makes when you click it open and shut shouldn’t mean anything but it does. Mastercard has joined the ranks of brands that have a sonic identity, which its CMO believes will help it “win minds and hearts.”

Here are some additional tips and examples that illustrate the value of having a distinct auditory signal that is associated with your brand.

If you want to learn more, this book, a companion to a BBC series, is a broader discussion of how sound and music affect us, as humans.