Sound strategy for brands in a sound on world

Jeanna Isham, sound strategist and sonic brander at Dreamr Productions, states the case for ‘sound on purpose’ in an already noisy world.

Have you ever walked down Hollywood and Highland in Los Angeles? It literally sparkles. There is something to look at in every single direction. Even the sidewalks glitter. It is so overwhelming with visual stimulation that everything just becomes a huge ball of bright. 

When we don’t make sound on purpose in our branding, we are doing the same thing. Choosing this track and that sound to fill in a gap here or a hole there only creates scattered noise. At the very most, it’s just “good enough”.

Today, the world calls for sonic branding to champion sonic noise. Marketers should answer back with sound on purpose. Every sound your brand emits should be message led and purpose driven. It should be taken just as seriously as visual marketing as it is just as important. 

The effectiveness of sonic branding has also been proven. In a 2020 IPSOS study, marketers that used sonic cues in their marketing were eight and a half times more likely to be high performers than those without. However, only 8% of marketers even used sonic branding at all. For perspective, visual cues were ranked as only three times as likely to be high performers.

You would think that more marketers would be aware of this and be utilising its power. However, they are not. According to a 2019 HAVAS Group study, 83% of marketers rely exclusively on visual marketing. The majority of brands today are missing out on a massive marketing opportunity.

Sound is this little known and highly misunderstood super power that takes your brand marketing from "meh" to "wow" in as little as half a second. That's the power of sound. Fast, effective, memorable and action inducing. All major players in effective brand marketing.

Sonic strategy is the secret sauce that marketing masters like Coca Cola and Intel figured out long ago. And, unlike a broadcast TV commercial ad spot, sonic strategy is affordable. Sonic branding is a real opportunity for those small to medium size businesses searching for a way to truly compete with their Goliath competitors. 

All we really want as humans is to relate to others and have them relate back to us. We do this through an emotional connection. If we want our customers to relate to our brand, then our brand has to be able to do the same. 

Sound, made on purpose, in branding creates that emotional connection. It leads us on the path to fully understanding how to give our customers a truly immersive experience. And an immersive experience is ultimately what every brand needs to deliver with this new world of marketing that’s already calling for more and more.

So what does your brand sound like?