How a sound logo can make you fall in love with a brand
We’ve already said that sound branding is a translation of a brand’s values and personality into musical language using all possible channels and a sound logo in primis.
Let’s explore that a little further. A sound logo is the audio equivalent of the traditional graphic logo. It is usually composed of a brief, distinctive melody, approximately 2-3 seconds up to a maximum of 5 seconds.
The sound should harmonise with the graphic components to represent and promote the characteristics of the brand. It should be memorable and sufficiently flexible to be used at the brand’s multiple touchpoints.
Lecture aside, people are beginning to perceive the importance of a well-made sound logo that is coherent with the values of the brand it represents.
We would like to look at two examples:
The first is a sound logo that has made history, a far-sighted marketing move that brought the sound of the brand into our daily lives. We’re talking about Nokia, an excellent example in terms of memorability and flexibility. Let’s see it in action:
The second example is the French railway company, the SNCF.
This case is symbolic as it managed to transform the perception of its consumer target. In 2005, the rail company undertook a sound branding initiative with two challenges ahead of them: competition with airlines and other rail companies on the one hand (including German and Italian competitors) and, on the other, the need to subvert the opinion of consumers who negatively associated the SNCF with strikes and delays.
After plenty of research, variations and various attempts, this sound logo arrived in 2012:
The project, developed by Sixième Son, had excellent results. Just four notes were all SNCF needed to become immediately recognisable to the French people. A survey has shown that 92% of listeners can correctly identify the sound logo and 88% of those recognise it after just two notes.
Something even more interesting is that 71% of the people interviewed have changed their view of the brand, describing it as ‘attractive’ or ‘very attractive’ (source: https://hbr.org/2014/02/what-does-your-brand-sound-like/) .
Does that prove just how useful a sound strategy can be?!
Credit cover image: brand-sounds.com
