Dictionary definition of “sonic branding”

sonic branding

n. the association of a piece of music or a sound with a product, company, or broadcast program. Subjects: English, Advertising, Music

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Citations: 1998 Nick Coleman Independent (U.K.) (May 1) “Music: The tune that hooked a generation” p. 14: “The Wizard” served as the technical model for subsequent efforts at TOTP sonic branding: Tony Gibber’s “Get Out of That” in 1991 and, more recently, Vince Clark’s “Red Pop Head.” Remember how they went? Me neither. [1999 Martin Croft Marketing Week (U.K.) (Feb. 4) “Why jingles no longer jangle” p. 40: The RAB which obviously has something of a vested interest in the issue is attempting to update the use of sounds in advertising, and has even come up with an alternative name to the slightly downmarket jingle sonic brand triggers.] 2004 Alice Fisher Telegraph (U.K.) (Dec. 29) “Tills are alive with the sound of music”: Johnson says writing brand scores is his favourite part of sonic branding. “Writing a sonic logo for a massive company, that’s scary. Do you create a killer melody that can emotionally convey something in four seconds or go for something that’s memorable because it’s annoying. I mean, Intel’s very successful, but as a consumer, I get wound up by it.”

Posted 3 Jan 05 | Permalink | Tell a Friend

Reader comments:

Sonic Branding is more than a piece of music or sound that a brand uses in marketing. When really analysed it is everything that the brand stands for in the audio medium. It encapsulates all the values and parameters that a brand uses in visual branding, which is more than a logo or pantone colour. The value of it’s use can be measured so that brands can understand the impact that it has on it’s ROI. If you would like to know and understand more I would be happy to forward you several papers that have been published on the subject. To reduce it to this definition, is not to do it justice. Ruth Simmons

by Ruth Simmons 16 Feb 06, 1114 GMT

I’ve read papers about it when I worked in advertising and when I was writing this definition. This entry is for people who are not insiders and do not know adspeak or marketing jargon.

by Grant Barrett 16 Feb 06, 1212 GMT

Hi Grant

So how about, “ the association of a music and sound with a product, company, or broadcast program.”

by Ruth Simmons 16 Feb 06, 0235 GMT

What was the first sonic brand and what product or company was it associated with?

by Stuart Wilson 06 Jun 07, 0856 GMT

A variant of this is assocaition is an “Earcon.”

An “Earcon” is the audio branding signature that is played to identify/reinforce a product. Think of using a pay-phone a few years back and hear “AT&T;… >perdlewing<” , Duracell Batteries “Peern, peern, PEERN” or Intel’s four note cadence. You can take this all the way back to the NBC earcon, though they never called it that, which were the notes G-E-C (picture the peacock) because they were owned by General Electric Corp!

I have recorded Earcons for a variety of companies and it is very interesting how many pick very “retro” sounds. (I don’t complain… if they realize that their earcon sounds “dated” in a year, they come back to me looking for something more “progressive.”

by Richard 07 Jan 08, 0454 GMT