Intentional | Audio Identity Blog

Just discovered the companion site to This Is Your Brain on Music, which has hundreds of audio samples cited in the book, loads of author interviews and lots of other brain-bending goodies. (Thanks, Martin!)

UX matters has a nice writeup on sound and the user experience. Most of us would agree that today product sounds are generally poorly designed and amount to a confusing mess of noise pollution — turn it off! But the problem doesn’t stem from sound, per se…it comes from a thoughtless implementation of it. Here’s a look at some opportunities for designing effective experiences via music, sound, voice and silence.

I’ve always believed that design should solve problems. Same with sound — sure, it can entertain, motivate, inspire, etc…but ultimately it can and should be used in a way that benefits us all.

Case in point: a new DOT report suggests that honking can solve 90 percent of all traffic-jam troubles. Click below for the story.

This recent article at South Africa’s bizcommunity.com covers the basics — music influences perceptions and behaviors. Not necessarily groundbreaking, but it’s important that the drum’s always beating, and we’re all thankful for that. If you’re new to audio branding, take a few minutes and read up.

I’m back from a solid week in the mountains of Western North Carolina with the family — completely unplugged and wholly refreshed. Now it’s back to the grind, but not before a look at the link of the day…

Rock On: 12 of the Best Music Social Networks: “Internet radio may be facing uncertain times, but many musical social networks continue to thrive. If you’re in a band, these sites are essential for promoting your music: take note, and sign up for as many as possible to maximize your reach. For fans, meanwhile, we’ve included some great places to just listen to music. We won’t mention the obvious one, of course: MySpace remains the hub for music on the web.”

The review skips out on my personal favorite, the Rhapsody-driven Yottamusic, which does one thing and it does it well: easy, useful access to whatever music I want, when I want it. Then again, I’m 36, which probably puts me far out of the loop with respect to the typical online music audience. In other words…whaddoiknow.

As a practice, the business of “Audio identity” or “sonic branding” is still somewhat new. But it’s growing, and the blogosphere is a good measure of that. I’ve recently discovered three worthy English-language sites devoted exclusively to this topic:

http://juliantreasure.blogspot.com/
London. “Julian Treasure’s blog starting out from his book Sound Business but also covering anything relating to the way sound affects human beings — and the way business can harness the power of sound for better results.”

http://theambertheatre.blogspot.com/
Australia. “A blog on sonic branding and the use of sound in marketing and branding” by Marcel de Bie.

http://sound-strategies.typepad.com/
London. “Do the opportunities for engaging with music and sound offered by new technologies create more profound experiences or are we under seige from so much meaningless ‘clatter’?” A sister site to http://www.sound-strategies.co.uk/.

Got more? Do share…

– Noel Franus

“Before you run out and spend millions on a song by Lennon and McCartney or try to discover the next Coldplay, take a step back and ask yourself if you are trying to entertain your consumers…or if you are trying to build a consistent, differentiated, own-able and emotionally powerful brand experience.”

– Elias Arts’ own Martin Pazzani in the most recent issue of Advertising Age, making the case for original music. It’s a thoughtful and needed piece. And the issue of own-ability — especially in our low-risk, milquetoast, me-too world — is one that resonates deeply with me. In my humble opinion notable brands aren’t afraid to differentiate, but they’re few and far between.

But perhaps the most salient bit of the article comes in the form of Martin’s three-question look in the audio mirror…three considerations every CMO and brand leader should ask if they want their brand to be perceived the way they expect their brand to be perceived:

1) “Have you done an objective, comprehensive and multi-touch-point audit of your brand’s audio assets?

3) Do these audio-identity guidelines make their way into the creative briefs used to inform the development of marketing communications?”

Painful considerations, but (speaking as one who’s been there, done that from the client side of the world,) this is a necessary step toward building your brand.

– Noel Franus

One of issues we work with regularly is that of sonic dissection: how do you take a brand, distill its essence down to a few words, and compose music that fits like a glove? Simply put: you can’t. At least if you’re hoping to nail it. As my friend Fritz put it, you can’t take the Beatles and span their career as a band into one particular song; neither can you do the same thing in pinpoint fashion for any organization.

What composers can do for a brand, however, is link up with strategists of the branding, design and experience flavor to develop a larger audio palette, or constellation, that adequately reflects an organization’s core identity. This palette serves as the foundation from which all linked brand communications are built: sonic logos, advertising, product sounds, etc. (Daniel Jackson describes this moodboard process in further detail in his book Sonic Branding.)

Getting to that point of clarity, however, is always an interesting challenge: there is no objective timber, rhythm, or melody that matches up seamlessly with the fairly common brand attributes of, let’s say, “global,” “innovative” or “reliable.” But indeed there are particular types of sounds that can evoke a particular response: a feeling, an idea, a memory, etc.

David Byrne and Daniel Levitin (he of the superlative This is Your Brain on Music) recently sat down for a chat, and they explore this very issue — the hows and whys behind the things we hear and how we perceive them. Fascinating! (Seed Magazine Video below, article here.)

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