From Article in Post Magazine June 1, 2009


SONIC BRANDING
Ron DiCesare

Sonic branding is on the rise. More and more companies are recognizing the value and power of audio. Even though the concept of audio identifiers is nothing new, there are countless new ways to harness the power of sonic branding.

New York City's Audiobrain (www.audiobrain.com) is smart about what they do. Owner/ executive producer Audrey Arbeeny names Microsoft's XBox 360, Virgin Mobile USA, McDonald's and four Olympic broadcasts for NBC as recent projects.

Audiobrain goes beyond short mnemonics and has a much broader approach. "Sound branding is the strategic development and deployment of a consistent voice and point of view of a brand," she says. "We are there putting in the foundation of the house, sonically speaking. Everything else gets built on top of that." On most projects, Audiobrain is involved in the sonic development very early on. "Most of our clients bring us in at the very beginning when the concept for the logo, or visual, or the product is being designed," says Arbeeny. "We normally get brought in from the client or a branding firm or a design firm, so we are dealing with the corporate identity people and the brand managers directly. We work heavily on the strategy side, so if there is something strategically the sound needs to accomplish beyond creatively, we are looking to include that within our sound."

Arbeeny realizes that sonic branding creates a clearer objective for their clients, resulting in efficient use of time and resources. "It's important for a client or an advertising agency to understand how sound branding can be used and to have a tangible guide to follow. That actually makes everything much clearer and much simpler than when you 'one-off' everything. A client can then share and revisit assets so that they are not going back every time on each project starting from scratch."It's really just a smart way to develop sound," she continues. "We create a framework that identifies the key iconic elements, like for the XBox 360 — it's the breath at the end. And then every sound that comes after it gets put through this filter, or criteria, so that these attributes are spoken over and over again. It's a blueprint, and to me, this is so logical because you are not only creating a consistent experience of a brand with the consistency of sound, but you are also getting a better return on your investment. That's because your sound assets are appropriate and are on brand so that many people can use them throughout your company for many different things. Ultimately, it's less expensive over time, contrary to what people normally believe."

Today's ever-changing world creates ever-changing media and outlets for a brand. "It's important to realize how transparent things are and how quickly things go from one medium to another," shares Arbeeny. "Things go from being a commercial to being on YouTube, then it's on on-demand, it's on mobile. Therefore, it becomes extremely prohibitive to use other people's music, for example. You might be okay in one environment, but not in another. That's why for Major League Soccer, we created their own brand theme. So now, it can be used for ring tones, iTunes, when they walk on the field, a tag for TV broadcast; they can do what ever they want in a variety of media. There are no barriers and there is no liability for them. The more we get into many different forms of [media], the more important it will be to create your own audio assets. And it's important economically to create sustainable and sharable assets that are your own. And that is why this is becoming an even larger industry."
Arbeeny stresses the importance of audio assets. "We create and help our clients find what space they can own sonically, what is unique to them, and what differentiates them from their competitors. Sound logos are of tremendous value, but it goes beyond that. Many people don't think that the music they hear on hold is sonic branding. They don't think that the voice of customer service is sonic branding. For example, I called one company's call center and the voice they had on hold sounded like a 70-year-old chain smoker. It was so off brand from what that company really was that it was very surprising. So, yes, this applies to sound branding. It doesn't have to be musical, it could be a voice, it could be sound design, or whatever. The point is, does it communicate the brand benefits, is it on brand, is it memorable, is it unique enough, is it extendable? That's why our specialty is creating a framework and long-term strategic approach to creating valuable and shareable sound assets.

Sums up Arbeeny, "One key point is that people are going to use sound anyway, whether it's for a commercial, or in a product, or a voice on hold at a call center. Therefore, why wouldn't you want it to be the right sound? Why wouldn't you want to take that extra step to find out what you sound like? This is a very important communication tool."