Listen up: How sonic branding can drive growth for MENA brands

Pierre Carnet, managing director at MassiveMusic Dubai, discusses the power of audio branding and explains the untapped potential of sonic branding in the MENA region.

Music holds a special place in our hearts. We all have memories linked to songs we’ve heard in significant moments of our lives or associated with certain people, places or periods of time. Music creates and triggers memories, moves us – both physically and emotionally – and affects our appreciation of a moment by directly influencing our perception of the world around us.

As such, both music and sound are powerful tools for marketers and brand builders to develop tangible relationships with their audiences. Building a successful brand requires a clear identity, content that cuts through, the ability to emotionally connect with customers, a foot into culture, immersive and impactful experiences... and there’s no better tool than music to deliver on these objectives.

Global brands have been leveraging the power of sound for decades: think of McDonald’s’ ‘I’m lovin’ it’ jingle, the signature sounds of your iPhone, the iconic roar of a Harley Davidson engine or the familiar ‘tudum’ that precedes your favourite Netflix show. All of these are ownable assets that help brands enhance interaction and find a place within the lives of their customers, standing as timeless markers of identity.

Today, a sonic identity goes beyond a jingle or sonic logo – it encompasses all touchpoints, creating a coherent, consistent and ownable ecosystem that goes everywhere your brand lives in sound.

Sonic identities cover your advertising, content, retail and experience spaces, products, devices, phone lines, apps, events and more. In other words, sonic branding is the holistic ownership of the whole ecosystem across all brand touchpoints. It’s not secondary to a visual identity, but an equally essential pillar of strong brands, delivering proven increases in branded attention, recall, perceived value and market share. In an increasingly digital, immersive and multi-sensory age, a strategic approach to sound has never been more essential.

MENA brands are awakening to the potential of sound, and a handful have successfully implemented recognisable sounds: think Emirates boarding music, or the Majid Al Futtaim melody, for example. Most, however, are still thinking primarily about audio logos, anthems and sporadic activations, rather than embracing a holistic and truly integrated music strategy. As a result, over the past years, we have seen too many local brands launch audio identities that struggle to gain recognition and make a real impact in the local and global market.

But don't worry; we're here to help. At MassiveMusic Dubai, we're on a mission to revolutionise sonic branding in the MENA region. Our role is to help brands leverage the world of sound to their advantage, by building recognisable and relatable audio identities that customers can feel and connect with.

This is an unparalleled opportunity for Middle Eastern marketers: to be visionaries and become the builders of how brands of the future are using sound and music. Thanks to its young demographic, early-adoption rate of innovation and technology, high mobile usage and media consumption and the bold reforms happening to the regional music scene at large, MENA is the perfect market for brands to extract the full power of a sonic strategy.

Not to mention, as economies in the region grow and diversify, competition among brands has never been fiercer, so the need for strong, strategic and well-thought-out sonic identities has never been more crucial. Ultimately, brands who understand and tap into sound as a holistic brand tool will bear both the fruit of impact in the short-run and the lasting equity in the long-run.

Take the lead as your brand grows, by giving it a true identity in the world of sound that goes beyond the conventional audio logo, and future-proofs it for a world of enhanced interaction. No matter where you are in your branding journey, MassiveMusic can create an unmistakable audio ecosystem that equips your brand with the tools and assets to be prepared for not only traditional media - but also new immersive and interactive technologies.

Music matters. Shall we explore how we can put its power to work for you? A brand building revolution is coming to MENA, and we’re hear for it.