Intentional | Audio Identity Blog from Sonic ID

Off-topic. Sort of:

Invention.
Trimpin: The Sound of Invention…

the sound of invention from Peter Esmonde on Vimeo.

Amazement.
Sonic technologist Woody Norris on ‘inventing amazing things’ at TED…

And finally, comedy.
Sweet Georgia Brown + Traktor. Because you can’t not laugh.

Enjoy — Noel Franus

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Found myself referenced in a recent Ad Age/CMO Strategy piece on music and brands. It’s a writeup on the Heartbeats International report, which if you haven’t seen it, spells it all out:

• 97% of brands believe that music and sound can strengthen their brand.
• 41% believe it can do this by building a consistent image of their brand.
• 27% believe it can help make their offer unique from competitors.

I’m going to take a second to follow up on that. The obvious conclusion (stated so well by writer Charlie Moran) is that sonic branding and audio identity is “worth a hell of a lot more money than you put in, because it’ll be fortifying what you’ve already got.” For the most part, he’s referring to television and the agencies working with tv. Which is a sensible starting point.

But wait. There’s more. Peel back the onion and you’ll see that in every global brand, right now at this moment, decisions are being made about music and sound that have nothing to do with television or catchy jingles. For example:

• A facilities and maintenance manager in suburban Dallas is selecting the background music for a corporate briefing center, sales area, or other customer-facing space—spaces devoted to the generation of revenue.
• A phone-systems integration manager outside of Boston is choosing the music and voices that millions of conference-callers will hear when they dial into virtual meetings. Meetings with captive, often influential audiences.
• A programmer/developer in India is hurriedly selecting the blips and bleeps that will be a core part of his/her company’s mobile devices.
• A marketing team in EMEA is outsourcing the selection of music (walk-ons, background tracks, demo audio) for their annual 20,000-person event to a company that’s also responsible for such things as food and Powerpoint creation.

Forget television. Forget sonic logos, audio stings and mnemonics. Toss aside the jingle. These people don’t need any of that; they’re responsible for some of the moments that can make or break the user experience, the guest experience, and the feelings we have about a brand.

What guidance will you give them? How prepared are you to get them jazzed about the brand? Who’s funding their operations? Who do they report to? Why should they care?

Been there before, as both a client and consultant. It’s never easy, but brands do live everywhere. Everyone who manages them needs the right guidance and/or tools. The same guidance that feeds mainstream media should be able to play out for many other uses as well.

Anyone who invests in, produces or directs a sonic branding or audio identity effort should keep this in mind. Treat it like a good, hardworking investment and it will perform like one.

– Noel Franus

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I have a new article posted at iMediaConnection.

The idea: sonic branding and audio identity can and should be about creating intellectual property—protectable assets that grow in value over time. (Think NBC, McDonald’s, Intel, etc.)

As a cheat-sheet for you, I’ve identified four questions that any brand organization, large or small, local, national or global, can ask to begin creating that capital right away.

1. What is your return on music and sound today? Most companies spend millions and expect nothing in return…which creates the mindset that this is a cost, not really an investment.

2. Do you sound as unique as you are? Great brands inspire us. They solve problems, they make meaning. Yet most brands sound alike: generically upbeat, harmlessly acceptable and usually…forgettable.

3. What’s your emotional identity? How can/should you use music and sound to unleash the otherwise unexpressed emotional DNA of your brand?

4. How elastic is your brand? If you really want your brand’s sound identity to thrive everywhere it lives, ensure that it’s flexible enough to stretch, twist and grow across multiple touchpoints, markets and cultures.

And there you have it. I should mention that at Sonic ID we’ve used this framework successfully for our clients. Of course you’re free to do your own thing, too, and if that works for you then I’d probably enjoy hearing your story.

Happy reading,

– Noel Franus

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It’s up: Sonic Convergence, our first-ever ‘live podcast,’ is off the press and available for listening online or download.

In this show we get to the nut of sonic branding and audio identity—what’s possible and how we push the envelope. After all, we may wake to the clock radio, we tune into our iPods, we have our favorite artists. But most of us really understand very little about music and sound. What I explore in this show are some of the answers to a question: how can we leverage the power of sound for valuable brand experiences?

Guests Martyn Ware and Brian Schmidt are some of the world’s top creatives in doing just that. Ware is founder of Heaven 17 and the Human League, creative director at Sonic ID, and a sound designer with recent installations at the NY MoMa and the Venice Architectural Biennale; Schmidt has been the guiding ’sonic spirit’ for audio in the Xbox and primary composer for multiple game titles for Sega, Sony and Electronic Arts, in addition to hundreds of arcade, console and pinball games. Together their work has been experienced by hundreds of millions of people.

Listen online or download the podcast. Questions, comments and suggestions for future shows are most welcome.

– Noel Franus

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I’ll be hosting a live podcast on Monday on the topic of ’sonic convergence.’ More specifically, the art and science of designing immersive experiences.

With me will be: renowned soundscape designer Martyn Ware (London) whose work spans from founder of Heaven 17 and the Human League to a sound designer with recent installations at the NY MoMa and the Venice Architectural Biennale; and Brian Schmidt (Seattle), who has been the guiding ’sonic spirit’ for audio in the Xbox and primary composer for multiple game titles for Sega, Sony and Electronic Arts, in addition to hundreds of arcade, console and pinball games.

This will be a live podcast, meaning you can ‘tune in’ live and participate in the conversation (via IM+Skype). (You’ll also be able to listen anytime after the show as you would a traditional podcast.)

Show details: Monday January 26, 9:30 a.m. Pacific time, 12:30 p.m. Eastern, 5:30 London time.
Show URL: http://www.smallplateradio.com/042/

Please join us. Many thanks in advance to Small Plate Radio for making it possible.

– Noel Franus

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Image by onkel_wart

New year, new traction. Budgets may have tanked in the last year, but that doesn’t mean we should be standing still, ignoring the fine-tuning and maintenance that’s required to maintain strong brands.

I’ve talked with a number of companies that feel stuck—stuck to do anything other than maintain status quo in all aspects of the business. And that’s simply not necessary. It doesn’t cost much to spot a problem and understand how to fix it.

At Sonic ID we focus exclusively on the intersection of brands and sound. So I’ve compiled a quick list of five simple, decidedly easy options for improving the performance of your brand by exploring your costs and returns on music and sound, and how to boost the value of those investments in your brand. Comments/additional ideas welcome.

1. Embrace the bottom line.

Times are tight, and budgets are, too. Every last dollar in your CMO’s control is under the microscope: brand positioning, brand programs, traditional advertising, online media, guerilla marketing and so on. With most companies, however, there’s an elephant in the room regarding the dollars spent on music and sound across those touchpoints. People are hearing your brand on television, on the phone, on the web and at events, and what they’re hearing directly affects their perceptions about your company. What’s the cost of reaching those ears? If you don’t know, you should. Ask your peers, internal departments and agency partners. The sooner you can define that bottom line, the sooner you can make informed decisions about future spending.

2. Assess performance.

Once you’ve quantified your budgets, you can measure effectiveness. As with all brand-level funds, these should be performing as investments—not throwaway costs. Think NBC, Intel or Nokia; does the sound of your company articulate your core values and attributes, or are you just making a lot of dispensable noise? Music and sound affects what we think, say, feel, do…and buy. It should benefit your brand. Now’s a good time to listen to the brand across your mediascape to see what it says about your company.

3. Take a snapshot.

Assessing brand perceptions through the lens of music and sound can take time, especially if it’s a competitive review. But for powerful easy-bake results, a ‘sonic snapshot’ of your company can be conducted from your desktop. Using the web it’s relatively easy to find commercials, events, webcasts, podcasts, demos and other sonic evidence of your brand in the wild. What to look for: does your brand sound consistent, or chaotic? Unique or generic? Flexible or staid? Collect, compile and assess.

4. Harness the power of quick wins.

A revision to your company’s visual identity can affect hundreds of touchpoints and cost millions. Sonic identities are no different—the process of seeding, growing and strengthening perceptions takes work. There are, however, some simple fixes you can put to work right away: the music and sound deployed in your call center, online media and networked technology (computers, iPhones, mobiles, ringtones) are relatively inexpensive and easy to update, versus the extensive effort required to spread the sound of your brand across your next few tv campaigns. Identify your low-hanging fruit opportunities and move on them.

5. Don’t wait to plan for the future.

Now’s the time to think long term; what does your brand sound like, where should this live, and how should it evolve for maximum brand value? Yes, the economy sucks, but nothing lasts forever. Someday those budgets will free up, and when they do, you’ll be the one who approached the Powers That Be in your organization and said: “I’ve spotted a problem—we’ve been spending $x per year across the enterprise on this with dubious results. I can solve the problem and improve the performance of our investments. Here’s how.” When budgets open up, it’s better to be prepared than not.

– Noel Franus

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I’ve written an article that appears in the December 08/January 09 edition of UK-based Brand Strategy magazine.

The takeaway: music is a horrible liar. Brands that sound generically alike and eager to please fail to convey a sense of authenticity and trust. The funds that brands and their agencies put towards music and sound should provide stronger returns.

Feel free to download the piece — feedback welcome.

– Noel Franus

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Keeping it light this week as we tackle the big to-do list that precedes most holiday breaks.

Our friend and Chicago-based sound designer Joseph Fosco pointed me recently to Auditorium, a Flash-based sound discovery game that’s worthy of your attention for at least an hour of your time (preferably sometime later this week, post-Turkey and cranberries, when you’re not billable or accountable to others).

Auditorium is created by Philadelphia’s Cipher Prime. Happy exploring.

– Noel Franus

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NPR’s weekend programming has picked up a bit on the music front. I find myself listening and pulling breakfast together for the family and then stopping in my tracks — standing there waiting to grind the coffee, but I can’t because it’ll drown out the radio for even just a few seconds. It’s a ‘driveway moment’ in the middle of my kitchen.

One of their latest stories features Todd Machover at MIT’s Media Lab. He’s making composing accessible to the least likely of creators—people with chronic illness and very limited movement.

“One of my students made an interface so Dan [Ellsey] could use his head movements and the infrared controller on his head to actually draw the lines and colors that we use for our Hyperscore software. He wrote a piece that was transcribed for symphony orchestra and is absolutely dynamite.”

Machover’s student used the same controller on the young man’s head to create a hyperinstrument that understands the movements he can make and compensates for movements that are difficult for him.

“He changes the sound of the piece; he changes the emphasis; he changes the texture; he changes the accents; he changes the color of the piece,” Machover says. “When he’s playing the piece, he’s a different person.”

The implications are certainly intriguing. Guitar Hero, Wii Music and Machover’s Hyperscore all point to a future in which the act of creating music is becoming drastically more accessible than it’s ever been.

We may not be creating works of genius. And some friends of mine with heavy music credentials may argue that we risk suffering from the oversimplicity dumbing us down to some degree. (Along the lines of Is Google Making us Stupid?) But if this enables a shred of creativity and play for folks who otherwise just wouldn’t go there, it represents a portal of opportunity that hadn’t been there before. And that’s a very good thing.

Happy reading/listening. I’m off to grind the coffee.

– Noel Franus

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For those of us in the US, the race is finally almost over, and the polls close tomorrow. Gasp. Exhale. Let’s assume ‘your guy’ wins. You’re having an election party to celebrate and can hire any musician or band to play. Who do you hire, and what’s the first song they play?

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I’m back after more than two weeks away. Here’s five inspiring links to get things rolling again.

Does music sound better today than it did 30 years ago? Sonic ID’s very own Martyn Ware leads a podcast conversation with experts Tom Dunmore (Stuff magazine), Rob Kelly (Strongroom studios), Stephen Budd (artist/producer manager) and Tim Lawrence (culture writer). Facilitated by B&W.

Bowers and Wilkins Senior Design Engineer John Dibb recently led a “sound tasting” at Abbey Road Studios: “On a personal level I felt the same satisfaction I felt as a teenage speaker designer, and still do as a professional, when someone really gets how important sound is and how getting the illusion closer to reality is such a magical thing.” Here’s the story.

Brandchannel.com has a good writeup on the use of sonic branding and identity in India — with quotes from our pal Marcel de Bie and my former Elias frontman Martin Pazzani.

Mascara has gone electric. Unfortunately the sound of Estee Lauder’s and Lancome’s new electronic eyeliner is a “hum as annoying as a vibrating cellphone.” I can only assume this is not an intentional attribute of either brand.

And finally…nice Frontline World story about a Mozambique singer who’s saving lives by singing about…latrines.

– Noel Franus

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Let’s skip the brandspeak and business chitchat for the morning and cut straight to the music. A few of this week’s musical-radar tidbits:

BoingBoingTV has a good interview with Big Peter of New Orleans’ Hot 8 Brass Band, one of a handful of smokin’ second-line bands in the city today…including the beloved Rebirth, the Dirty Dozen and my personal fave the Treme Brass Band. Watch:

Meanwhile, the kids can’t seem to get enough Man Man — especially the Ballad of Butterbeans. This Philly-based band is like Tom Waits with an espresso and a trampoline. This is the music your sedatives warned you about.

And finally, Birds & Batteries‘ Ocarina has quickly become my earworm of the week. Beatrix and I drove around town running errands all day yesterday, but it wasn’t a total waste because I had Ocarina on repeat-repeat-repeat. The song’s a scintillating throwback to 70’s-80’s keyboard album rock — which I’m not normally a huge fan of — and the simple, transformative lyrics make this a left-brain+right-brain treat.

Happy listening.

– Noel Franus

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I’m not Canadian. But I do likes my hockey (go Sabres) and I grew up near Lake Ontario, which makes me almost one-quarter Canadian.

So I get it when people refer to the “Hockey Night in Canada” theme (formerly used in CBC hockey broadcasts) as Canada’s second national anthem…after 40 years in use, it’s more than the signal for the start of a show. It’s Pavlov’s dog on ice — for an entire country.

A few weeks back CBC blew its licensing negotiations with the theme’s composer; lo and behold the competing network CTV came in with a sweeter offer and swooped it away from the CBC.

In nabbing the rights to the theme, CTV removed decades of identity and authenticity from CBC. Just like that.

CBC will have a new theme in place this fall, but the Ottawa Citizen calls this a New-Coke move that’s bound for mediocrity at best…not because of what the new one is or isn’t musically speaking, but because of what the old one represents.

The Ottawa Citizen doesn’t stop there: “CBC committed a litany of business mistakes from surrendering a valuable asset, to tampering with an established brand, to trampling all over the customer experience.”

To-may-to, to-mah-to: you say it’s a song, I say it’s a valuable brand asset. What I’m wondering is why on earth the NHL didn’t jump into the negotiations; they’re the product. They should manage control of the emotions associated with the product — not leave it to the highest bidder who can do with it whatever they wish.

Take it away, YouTube:

– Noel Franus

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We define “sonic branding and identity” as the intentional use of music, sound, voice and silence to create a connection between people and organizations. Often one of the easiest ways to illustrate this is with the audio logo or sonic logo — the short identifier that brands often use as a brand signature or mnemonic. Mention the Yahoo! Yodel or the Intel Inside bong and people get it.

That’s the upside — but as with all good things, there’s a downside too…the risk of the C-word: commoditization. Today, for example, you can download your very own “sonic logo” in minutes for a few bucks. Yep, we’re talking stock photography, only with guitar.

More serious, however, is what the sonic logo can’t do. It can’t reflect the full breadth of a brand and its intentions in the experiences that matter most to customers. Once you step back and consider not what your brand sounds like, but how people experience it, the game changes. While many brand impressions are first seeded in advertising, it’s the first-hand experiences that customers have with your products or services that form lasting impressions.

For example, Harley customers don’t love the brand because of its commercials (do they even advertise?). They do, however, appreciate the unique hum and vibration of their hog, which you can hear from blocks away. This has nothing to do with sonic logos, advertising or even traditional marketing, yet this sound is a powerful brand asset for the folks at Harley.

Other product experiences that are driven or enhanced by sound (top of the mind) include the Apple and Windows startup sounds (as well as their error sounds); Nokia and Palm mobiles; heck, even a can of Pringles has its own sonic drama which is arguably more powerful than formal marketing.

Cities themselves have their own sonic identities, too, which we’ve written about before. Take the entire soundscape of the city of New Orleans. Or “Mind the Gap” in the London Underground.

Even Ford is getting into the game by quieting the rattles inside their cars, something BMW’s paid attention to for years, and which has a big impact on the balance sheet.

I get the feeling a sonic logo might not address that issue very well. But this is, however, something that sonic branding practitioners — and experience designers of every flavor, really — should be capable of doing. Solving problems. Building engagement. Making meaning.

This is what clients should demand with every sonic branding effort. Not just what can I sound like?, but how can I build brand faith everywhere my brand lives…across the end-to-end customer experience?

Otherwise you might as well grab that logo by the download. It does, after all, play a useful role. And hey, it’s fast and cheap. What could possibly go wrong?

– Noel Franus

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• The dynamic duo at Audiobrain is featured in this month’s Fast Company. Nice job — great to see sonic branding and identity taking center stage in mainstream media.
• Martin Pazzani at Elias Arts has an interesting thought: too much music can dilute your brand. He’s right.
• And finally, my Sonic ID partner Martyn Ware (who’s populated this space recently) has an interesting new blog and podcast over at the Bowers and Wilkins website — part of its Society of Sound Lab. (Warning: clicking may suck you in for an entire afternoon.)

All for now. My podcast number two is going up this week. Stay tuned.

– Noel Franus

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Professor Adrian North, the undisputed heavyweight in researching music’s effects on consumer behavior, has a new research hit. His latest finding: music enhances wine taste.

“White wine was rated 40% more zingy and refreshing when (such) music was played, but only 26% more mellow and soft when music in that category was heard.” Translation: sound affects perceptions — what you think, say and feel.

“Cognitive priming theory” might encourage winemakers to put music suggestions on their labels, says Prof. North.

I think that’s a great idea — and one that’s no doubt music to the ears of music marketers and licensed-music libraries. But I have to admit I wonder exactly how many people sense a need to hear their winemaker’s music suggestions. (Personally I’m all for it, but I’m far from an ideal demographic.)

On the other hand, all winemakers and retailers have a need to sell more wine. Let’s take it further and explore the role of music and sound at the actual point of purchase: what you hear affects what you buy and how you feel about that.

On a related and entirely self-serving note, we at Sonic ID are working with a fascinating luxury brand to explore creative options that address just that concern. Stay tuned for more in the coming months.

– Noel Franus

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The world’s atwitter over Muxtape. My friends at Mule and Substance suggest it’s the next sliced bread, but I’m still kicking the tires waiting to be really wowed. (Update: wow factor increases with use.) Nonetheless, your humble DJ Franux has given it hist best global-blues-funkytown mix — check it out or give it a spin and make your own. Happy Friday.

– Noel Franus

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The Singing Revolution looks like a hit — this is the story of 30,000 Estonians who quite literally sang their way to freedom. Matt Zoller Seitz of the The New York Times sums it up best:

“Imagine the scene in ‘Casablanca’ in which the French patrons sing ‘La Marseillaise’ in defiance of the Germans, then multiply its power by a factor of thousands, and you’ve only begun to imagine the force of ‘The Singing Revolution’.”

Coming soon to a theater near you…

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I’ve written another sonic branding / audio identity feature for the AIGA: “Sound Value: Creating an Audio Identity for Cisco.” It’s a case study, so there’s a bit more meat in it than some of the introductory pieces I’ve offered in the past.

I’m excited. As part of the vendor team, it’s clear to me that Cisco has some tremendous opportunities to leverage sound in ways that few companies can.

The creation of a systemic plan that accommodates Cisco and its wide brand portfolio — including Linksys, WebEx, Scientific Atlanta — means Cisco understands their opportunity isn’t to thoughtlessly infest our world with sonic logos, noisy ads and cute ringtones, but to increase brand linkage and emotional depth across these touchpoints in ways that visuals cannot or do not.

Looking forward to hearing this evolve.

– Noel Franus

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