Archive for June, 2010

Brand, branding, visual branding, brand recognition… we hear a lot of that when people talk about advertising or marketing. But have you ever heard of sonic branding? I know I hadn’t, and coming across an article about it woke up my curiosity.

These are tiny snippets of music that have great impact on our psyche. They instantly remind us of companies without the help of any other element. They transcend language and are less than 5 seconds long. No idea what I’m talking about? Play this 4 second video. Arguably the most popular sonic brand to date:

But where did this come from?

Sonic branding originates from what is known as leitmotifs in the world of music composing: musical themes associated with particular characters, places, or plot moments. We owe this to Richard Wagner, responsible for making leitmotifs popular back in the 1800s with his operas. In them, Wagner identified every character with his music. Everyone has heard his opera music at least once, and when I say everyone, I mean every-one. Let’s do a childhood flashback with Loony Tunes.

In “What’s Opera, Doc?” they use Wagner’s “Ride of the Valkyries” song to identify the plot setting. Here is the original:

From art in opera to business, leitmotifs have made their way into the advertising world with sonic branding and have built a multi-billion dollar industry around them. Corporations spend millions trying to manipulate our minds to recognize their sonic brands. The Nokia tune, Windows start-up sound, McDonald’s “I’m loving it” tune. As soon as you hear one of those you are instantly reminded of the company. Sonic branding pioneer company, Cutting Edge Commercial, have been doing this since 1999. They say anything can be brought down to 5 second snippets of music and be identifiable.

So next time you want someone to remember you, maybe having your own personal sonic brand might help.

BBC News – Sonic branding: An earworm to your pocket.