Windows Vista startup sound
Windows has yet another new startup sound. (Audio.) NPR briefly explores the role of sonic branding and their creative process for its startup sound.
My take: though it’s nice to hear Microsoft come up with nifty sounds every few years, I’m disappointed that Microsoft hasn’t leveraged any of their existing startup sounds or other functional audio in any strategic sense. Most are one-off creations.
Translation: as a company, Microsoft has probably spent millions in the last few years on all their sounds (advertising, products, etc.). And it appears that absolutely zero of that has been applied strategically across the board to create an intentional brand impression. While I wouldn’t call that outright wasteful, I would say the money could do far more for the company than it is today.
Update on 10/13: Stephen points me to a nice breakdown of the entire process over at Gaping Void. A few more clicks leads to MSNBC’s story on the subject, and MS project leader Steve Ball’s own site.
As the leader for the Sun and Java audio brands, having been through something very similar at another large tech company, I think the most compelling story in all this is that of the corporate gymnastics required to see this through from start to completion:
“There are many other things that happened during that 18 months: a few dozen people across Microsoft received a first-class education in how to listen and how to speak to each other about sound using the same language.”
I can’t stress how challenging, fascinating, frustrating and rewarding this aspect of brand work is. More later. — N
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