Interview: How brands can go beyond simply creating a sonic identity

With the rise in sound-on social platforms, streaming, podcasting and more, the world of communications has never been more sound-on.

In this exclusive Q&A, MARKETING-INTERACTIVE speaks with MassiveMusic’s Ralph van Dijk (pictured left), head of music, and Pete Etheridge (pictured right), director of partnerships, to explore the art and science behind sonic branding.

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MARKETING-INTERACTIVE: How would you define sonic branding, and what makes it unique compared to other forms of branding?

van Dijk: Simply put, a brand’s sonic identity is to the ears what its visual identity is to the eyes. It’s the strategic use of music, voice and sound to articulate a brand, and what it stands for.

What makes sonic branding unique? Well, the way our brains process sound is more linked into subliminal processes than conscious thought so it’s much more about emotion than logic.

MARKETING-INTERACTIVE: What are the key elements involved in creating a distinctive sonic identity for a brand?

Etheridge: The key is to think beyond ‘just a three second sting’. What you create should be a fully-rounded, strategic approach to a brand’s sound. Everything from vocals to sound design, melody and instrumentation needs to be considered. But the most important qualities are distinctiveness, rapport and consistency.

This can’t be achieved without researching the category. One of the things we always say at MassiveMusic is that we think before we play; to fully understand the brand’s strategy, and which aspect of their personality the sonic branding can amplify, before we compose a single note.

MARKETING-INTERACTIVE: How does sonic branding impact a brand’s recognition and emotional connection with consumers?

van Dijk: Brands need to exist in so many more places today and a consistent and recognisable audio asset helps a brand unite all its communication, improve attribution, and reinforce its personality. Even in short ad units or simply opening an app, sonic branding will imbue emotion. In fact, brands engaging with music and sound strategically have up to a 33% advantage in emotionally weighted brand preference.

MARKETING-INTERACTIVE: How do you ensure the sonic branding aligns with the visual and overall identity of a brand?

Etheridge: Simply put, we don’t work in isolation. We like to work closely with brand and design agencies, plus of course brand marketers from the get-go, to fully understand the overarching strategy that sonic branding can support and amplify.

It’s a collaborative process, with all parties working together to ensure the sonic and visual design marries up. Sometimes sonic branding can even help to reposition a brand, for example adding warmth to a medical or technology business, whose visual system may feel too clinical or impersonal.

MARKETING-INTERACTIVE: Can you share some successful examples of brands that have effectively used sonic branding?

van Dijk: Colgate is an interesting one. They’re ubiquitous, operating for 200 years across more than 200 markets, so the brand needed a memorable and modern sonic brand that would have global appeal across every one of its markets and cut through a very crowded category.

From their red and white colour palette, to the iconic smile in their logo, Colgate is all about optimism, so we crafted a sound that embodied that feeling of positivity, whilst being catchy and memorable. It’s led by a hummed melody - because people hum when they’re happy!

Once we landed on our core foundation, we worked with individual markets to flex Colgate’s musical DNA into different styles. For example, we created an Indian adaptation where the melody was played by a sitar to add a familiar cultural nuance while still maintaining the consistent sonic Colgate thread.

Since launch, the results have been positive. According to IPSOS research from 2022, 58% of people worldwide recognise Colgate's brand sound.

Etheridge: I think TikTok is a brilliant example, which we’re proud to have created. It’s a sound-on, sound-first space, so their sonic logo needed to feel joyful, welcoming and authentic but, most importantly, iconic. Their brief to us was to make the audio logo their most recognisable brand asset.

We developed a simple two beat sonic logo, which is fondly known as the ‘boom-bling’ - you can probably hear it while reading this. It was inspired by the 2 syllables of the name TikTok, opening with a detuned sub-bass note, and closing with an unresolved chord, which kind of leaves the listener hanging, posing the question, ‘what’s next?’.

I think the really smart move was how TikTok completely embedded the visual and sonic logos into content from their platform, which was cross-posted directly onto their rivals’ platforms. It left users in no doubt that the newest, most trending content originated from TikTok - 81% of users recognise it instantly.

MARKETING-INTERACTIVE: What role does audience segmentation play in crafting a brand’s sonic identity?

van Dijk: Music is inherently personal, so we use consumer data, not subjective opinions, to guide our music and audio decisions. It’s important to avoid making presumptions about the audience, about their likes and dislikes or behaviours. By doing the research, getting under their skin, and understanding what they’re listening to, we determine which kind of music and audio is likely to resonate with them.

MARKETING-INTERACTIVE: What happens after a sonic brand identity is created? How can a brand effectively utilise it to create a sound branding as strong as say, McDonald’s?

Etheridge: Consistency, consistency, consistency! You wouldn’t run an ad without the visual logo (well, unless you’re Tesco, but that’s a whole other debate), so why would you run without the sonic logo? It’s really important to consider how, where and when the identity will be used.

Done right, a sonic logo should feel like an enhancement to a brand’s communication, not a set of handcuffs that has to be force-fit onto the end of your ads.

McDonald’s is a great example - they have a core melody, but the freedom to re-instrument or rearrange it to suit any different mood or use case, so it never feels unnatural, whatever the tone of the preceding communication.

MARKETING-INTERACTIVE: What metrics or indicators are used to measure the effectiveness of a sonic branding strategy?

van Dijk: We use a process called 'Soundcheck' - it’s an in-depth sonic audit that provides the creative and strategic foundations for how a brand can improve their music and sound effectiveness.

The audit process is powered by ‘MusicIQ’, our AI-assisted composite metric that quantifies how strategically a brand uses music and sound relative to competitors.

We can assess music used on TV, YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, and other ‘sound-on’ media, and quantify strengths and weaknesses, identifying areas for improvement.

Most importantly, results have been empirically proven to accurately predict the impact of a brand’s music choices on consumer behaviours such as sales, repeat purchases, and evangelism.

MARKETING-INTERACTIVE: How has the rise of voice technology and audio platforms influenced the relevance of sonic branding?

van Dijk: Our world today is more ‘sound-on’ than ever. The audio landscape has been stretching and shifting over the last five to 10 years with the meteoric rise in streaming, podcasts and sound-on platforms such as TikTok and Reels.

With this in mind, never has there been a better opportunity for brands to engage with their audience through sound, whether that is through creating an ownable sonic identity, curating on-brand music guidelines or creating meaningful sonic experiences through activations or artist partnerships.

It’s no surprise that brands must work even harder to cut through the noise and deliver an effective approach to music and sound because the difference between an effective and ineffective sonic strategy is significant.

MARKETING-INTERACTIVE: What advice would you give to a brand looking to start or improve its sonic branding efforts?

Etheridge: As a first step, we encourage brands to do a Soundcheck. This will provide an audit of the way sound is being used by them and their competitors. From there we will evaluate the opportunity for sonic branding across every step of the customer journey, and can effectively co-create the brief with the client or agency partner to use sonic elements to drive the biggest impact for their brand.

In short, the sooner you commission distinctive sonic assets for your brand, the sooner you will enjoy greater ROI on your marketing.

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