Ad Age: Apply Sound at the Product Level
Photo by Sean Dreilinger
Ad Age’s CMO Strategy section today has an excellent piece on the strategic use of sound in…wait for it…products. Which is certainly something we agree with.
Snip:
Historically, marketers have focused more on use of sound to define corporate identity, not product brand identity — and it is more difficult to create an emotional connection to the corporate brand than to the product that the consumer can actually use or interact with. That’s why the real opportunity lies in leveraging sonic branding at the product or brand level.
This is the first Ad Age piece I’ve seen that would sit just as comfortably in a brand management, visual design, industrial design or even digital design magazine. Kudos to Donna Sturgess at GlaxoSmithKline and to Ad Age for the article.
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Very nice to see Advertising Age address this issue. Still, I would like to see an even stronger approach considered and discussed. While it is clear that sound and music associations can enhance and define an object or brand, what are the inherent, almost subliminal, sounds that define a brand?
The most progressive use of this thinking I am aware of comes from the auto industry. The sound of the engine, the quietness of the interior, the sound of the door closing.
For other objects, we could start to consider; What does it sound like when the package is opened? What does it sound like when the object is dropped? What does it sound like when you rub your hand over it?
And here I am not talking about sounds that the object makes, but the sounds the material makes when it contacts another material.
These sounds define the experience in much the same way as the weight of an object defines the experience.
Because of the subtlety of this area, it can provide tremendous benefits - however, this subtlety also makes it difficult to manage.
Joseph
Joseph