Marketing Services
Audio Branding
The information avalanche
that is hitting us everyday
constantly increases the diffi-
culties for businesses to stand
out in the midst of the noise.
We think that the addition of
sound and music to a company
or product identity can solve
part of this problem and that
the resulting 3D branding is a
strong differentiating factor.
3D Branding is the
addition of the sound/
music dimension to
the flatland of verbal
and visual identities
MUSICAL ID
VISUAL ID
VERBAL ID
A core melody can be
condensed into a memo-
rable jingle and ex-
panded as the basis of a
complex composition.
CONTACT US : IC3 Limited
June 2003
Breaking the Sound Barrier
Few people will deny that the five-note Intel jingle in all direct and co-op advertising
is a strong differentiating feature of the company’s brand. And the Windows’ start-up
and shut down melodies remind millions of users every day that Microsoft is here to
stay. But is sound the prerogative of large corporations?
Few companies actually use sound as an integral part of their brand expression. And
when they do, many chose only well know jazz, rock or classical pieces that can’t be
copyrighted in association with their brand. We think that these firms pass a huge
opportunity to stand out in the long-term, This can be done at very reasonable cost
and, therefore, also concerns small and medium enterprises.
Until around 1930, a brand was merely a name with distinctive visual features to
convey the quality associated with a trademark. In the late 1920s, leading admen
introduced the concept of brand image by connecting the mark with movie stars to
illustrate a lifestyle to which people could aspire. The rapid expansion of TV from the
1950s caused a relentless inflation of branding that has, among other things, trans-
formed children of all ages into walking billboards. How much is too much?
We think that ‘branding’ should step back to the original notions of ‘make’ and
trademark and to the basic concepts of quality and reputation. We propose to define
a brand as the concise expression of the position a company wants to occupy in the
mind of its customers, projecting the company’s identity, culture, style, values and
vision. So, branding doesn’t have to be dull.
For us, Audio Branding is not adding a third dimension to the geometry of the
visuals. There is volume; but it is the strength of original sound and music added
to the flatland of verbal and visual identities.
A brand has two main components: a name and its associated logo. So a simple
brand has two dimensions:
− Verbal identity—centred on the name and described by the position statement
− Visual identity—centred on the logo and its associated typeface, colour and geo-
metric standards
We strongly believe that a 3rd dimension will make a brand stand out.
Most IT aficionados have witnessed the increasing capabilities of graphic software
such as Adobe’s Illustrator that enables the production of amazing visuals. Some
virtuosos master such programmes to the point of producing documents from a PC
that would have required a sophisticated print shop a few years ago. Yet most peo-
ple are not aware that software to manage the composition of music has progressed
at the same pace. A musician, armed with a ‘simple’ Macintosh connected to a mu-
sic keyboard and running a programme such as Logic Audio, can produce a complete
symphony stacking up and synchronising all instruments of an orchestra generated
by a software synthesiser working in real time. So, while the graphic artist delivers a
complete glossy magazine ready for printing, the musician burns professional-level
soundtracks to a CD ready for playing on a standard HiFi system.
For Audio Branding, the challenge is to compose an original core melody that trans-
lates into sounds the characteristics of the brand, the idea behind it and its cultural,
style, vision and identity attributes. For some products or companies, it will be hard
rock, for some others, soft jazz, romantic piano, deep metallic bells, angel voices
and so one. The possibilities are practically infinite. The key is to find the perfect
match. Then, the core melody can be distilled into a very short musical signature
such as a jingle or expanded into longer musical illustrations up to complete operas
of some sort, i.e. complex compositions used as motivational ‘corporate anthems’,
advertising songs, event music, etc.
With new technologies, adding the sound dimension to a brand has become rela-
tively simple from a technical point of view. Breaking the sound barrier requires
‘only’ the talent and creativity of a good musician with a flair for ‘atmosphere’. It
seems silly to pass such an opportunity to stand out, doesn’t it?
www.IC3marketing.com tel : +44 (0) 20 8339 0709 e-mail : Henri@IC3marketing.com
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