Intentional | Audio Identity Blog from Sonic ID

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New here? Welcome. I’ve spent a lot of time in the weeds lately, and I think it’s important to resurface/reintroduce “audio identity,” “audio branding” and “sonic identity” — the topic of this site — for the sake of staying grounded.

(I’m going to steal liberally from the AIGA article I wrote earlier this year to get things started.)

Most organizations have relied almost exclusively on the sense of sight to communicate who they are, what they do and why they matter. Pirates have their unmistakable skull-and-bones flag. Nearly all religions have their own unique symbol. And today, practically every brand on earth has its own visual identity. Other senses are rarely part of the equation.

Yet sound has unquestionable potential in creating impressions. Consider the sonic snippets in your life—imagine Chariots of Fire or Rocky without music, a PC commercial without that Intel Inside bongggg, or a Harley-Davidson hog without its expertly calibrated tone. Sound has a direct link to the rational and emotional parts of our brain, so it triggers recall and reactions. And much like good visual or industrial design, it also has the ability to convey value and strengthen brand reputations.

The practice of audio identity, audio branding, and sonic branding is the intentional use of music, sound, voice and silence to create a connection between people and organizations. Some of the most obvious brands that employ an audio identity include Yahoo!, McDonald’s and even Moviefone. But at the end of the day, audio branding isn’t an audio logo, a ringtone or a suite of product sounds. It’s the craft of understanding a brand’s vision and conveying it properly everywhere a brand lives. Put simply, sound is a powerful brand asset, and it’s even more powerful when it’s intentionally directed.

By day, I’m fortunate enough to work at the cutting edge of this business as director of strategy at Sonic ID, a clear and deeply experienced leader in this space. And by night, here at this site, my goal is to explore the thinking behind this evolving practice—considering the myriads of ways that brands can leverage sound for greater returns on their existing investments in advertising, experiential marketing, digital experiences and product development.

If that sounds interesting to you, keep on reading. (That article I referenced earlier is a good place to start.) Speak out. Or drop me a line. In the meantime, I’ll be jumping above and below the surface regularly as whim decrees. Enjoy the ride.

– Noel Franus

Been a while, so you’re expecting a brilliant post as payoff for the wait, right? Fuggedaboutit! Today’s post is all noise, all the time.

First off: Henry Bean’s newest film is all about the unrelenting urban soundscape. Cue VO: “Tim Robbins is a man with a mission: annihilate the noise of New York City, and bring power to the people. Noise. Coming soon to a theater near you.” (Surely there’s a musical to follow — “Noise! Noise! Noise!”)

Second: the entertaining conversation at the community-link site Metafilter that follows the movie announcement, where people share their top-five “worst noises of all time” and also offer up some clever homespun remedies for shutting up the neighbors. (Hint: plug your nose!)

– Noel Franus

Related: The Worst Sound in The World. Survey says…
Related: No Two Spaces Sound Alike. The unexpected consequence of a jam-packed jungle.

Check out Warbike and Murmur, two newish sound-art projects that deserve attention because they bring experiential nuance to life — each in its own form adds new dimensionality to a world that’s normally right before our eyes.

The Warbike, for example, makes the w-fi networks around us audibly apparent: “Almost anywhere that you go in a city you’ll be sharing space with someone’s private wireless computer network…The Warbike turns this wireless network activity into sound. As you cycle the streets, you’ll hear the activity of this invisible communications layer that permeates our public spaces. Who knew that so much was going on?”

Teaser CBC Radio clip on the Warbike below. (Full interview @ CBC here.)

Meanwhile, Murmur applies the usually personal concept of “placemaking” to public spaces: “We install a [murmur] sign with a telephone number (in a public space, such as a bus stop or park) so that anyone can call with a mobile phone to listen to (someone else’s) story while standing in that exact spot, and engaging in the physical experience of being right where the story takes place. Some stories suggest that the listener walk around, following a certain path through a place, while others allow a person to wander with both their feet and their gaze.

Fascinating works, both applicable to brands — especially brands venturing into experiential marketing: these projects provide previously unseen tethers to other people and places, illustrating shared experiences where before there were none. And of course, we consumers human beings are fundamentally social at heart. We thrive on shared experiences.

In a commoditized world, it’s the brands that facilitate meaningful social ties like these that ultimately outlast brands that can’t (or don’t even bother to try). Warbike and Murmur show us two unique ways to leverage sound and make a shared experience come to life. What can you bake into your brand’s identity or customer experience that does the same?

– Noel Franus

You knew that certain sounds can repel drug dealers and unruly teenagers. But can the sound of bees keep elephants at bay? Lucy King of the University of Oxford says yes — and that many farmers’ crops in Africa, where the research was conducted, can be saved as a result.

(Thanks Joe!) – Noel Franus

The Ghost Army is a documentary film that tells the story of a secret WWII US Army unit whose sole purpose was to create a phantom presence on the battlefield. One of its primary tools was sound.

“The mission of this top-secret unit was to create a ‘traveling road show’ to deceive the Germans about the location and strength of American troops on battlefields across Europe. From Normandy to the Rhine, they staged 20 battlefield deceptions, employing an array of inflatables (tanks, trucks, jeeps, airplanes), sound trucks, phony radio transmissions and even playacting to fool the enemy. Like actors in a repertory theater, the men of the 23rd had to ask themselves with each mission: ‘Who are we this week? What’s our story?’ Then they would put on a show, with the Nazis as their audience.

But that’s only half the story…”

If you’re a regular reader of this site you know I’m a fan of the use of sound as a means of innovation, applicable not only to brands but social problems as well. Here’s a great example of sound applied to some bigger-picture questions. Makes you wonder what most brands are missing out on if they’re not asking “how can and should the intentional use of sound make this a better ______ ?”

More:

• Ghost Army entry at Wikipedia
• NPR on the Soliders of the 23rd.
• Book: Secret Soldiers: The Story of World War II’s Heroic Army of Deception