Intentional | Audio Identity Blog

Our second podcast is up: listen now. (MP3, 24 minutes)

In this second of a two-part interview with Martyn Ware (Heaven 17, Human League, Illustrious and Sonic ID) we hear about Martyn’s work with sensory design and immersive experiences in the healthcare environment. Also: what role does sound play in the recuperation process, and what can architects do to make life better for both guests, doctors and insurance providers?

Curious minds want to know. Give it a listen and let us know what you think. (MP3, 24 minutes)

Enjoy,

Noel Franus

Photo by emurray

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

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

Photo by CoffeeGeek

Thinking this morning about sound and cognition in physical spaces. Yes, countless studies on sound and purchase behavior in retail environments await the curious, but let’s toss all that aside for a moment.

What’s on my mind today isn’t commerce per se, but the impact of the secondary players in our audioscape. In other words, this isn’t about the background music in a busy coffeeshop (which is unfortunately what conversations on sound in physical environments is often limited to) but the specific din of the La Marzocco humming away industriously, the chatter among patrons, the cha-ching of the cash register and the impact of these on our perceptions.

Can you imagine, for instance, how you might think differently about that coffeeshop if it took away its hardworking espresso machine out of sight or somewhere less audible? Might as well be an antiques shop, a church hall or a used books store in that case. Things go awry when our audio cues don’t match expectations. And this forces other environmental cues to work that much harder to achieve the notion of perceptive “fit” and appropriateness.

Envision a visit to New Orleans without the calliope pipes chirping away on the riverside (no thanks). A waltz through Manhattan without audible traffic (thumbs up). Or a visit to the dentist without those imposing teeth-grinding machines (way up). While these aren’t signature sounds, they’re experiential ingredients that for better or worse are part of our world. And some of them are things we can actually control.

Today (at least) I’m not alone in this meandering. Came across this New York Times piece on the role of phone conversations in a busy office: The Office Phone Call Was Music to Their Ears (registration required). In short: a busy office just doesn’t feel very busy or dynamic without all that sonic energy in the air. (Blame email and take-the-call-anywhere cell phones.)

You know where I’m headed. Today’s closing question can’t be anything other than: what primary and secondary sounds add to or detract from the places and spaces you interact with today? How? Why? What if our typical, expected sounds were subverted in some way to sound like things they’re not?

One more for you branding nuts: how are your customer’s real-world experiences working for or against intended brand perceptions? And which among those can be intentionally designed? For example, I’ll riff on the dentist-drill example; dentists work feverishly to produce a calming environment, get you relaxed, keep you happy. But then halfway through the visit that noisy beast inevitably rears its ugly head. Using a softer, gentler tool would be one step in the right direction.

Granted, it’s a small step, but those little things can add up. Together, they comprise this thing we call an “experience.” And as any of us interested in directing, producing or creating experiences knows, sometimes those little things matter.

Related reading: The Soundscape; Our Sonic Environment and The Tuning of the World by R. Murray Schafer. Enjoy.

Update: should you happen to find yourself in Belgium, check out Displaced Sounds in Leuven this Thursday March 13: “Expect unexpected sounds, exciting evenings where listening and hearing are the keywords.” More.

– Noel Franus

Ruth Simmons has an excellent piece on emotions and music at Brandchannel.com.

I’ve always defined the practice of audio identity and sonic branding as “the intentional use of music, sound, voice and silence to create a cognitive and emotional connection between people and organizations.”

Sure, I think that definition covers it, but Simmons’ piece expands on this in graceful, grokkable form. It’s valuable thinking as we grow this practice, this market, this business of choreographing brand perceptions through the strategic use of sound.

– Noel Franus

Photo credit: lilbear

The world of psychoacoustics is heating up lately, not only in our specific audio-branding field of work, but in the larger public sphere as well — it’s a topic that coworkers and friends alike seem to enjoy. Fortunately writers like Daniel Levitin and a handful of others are exploring the music-mind connection in a more approachable way than we’ve seen before. And now you or I no longer need a PhD to understand a little about the brain’s response to sound. We just need a sense of curiosity and a library card.

So, for those of you who are, indeed, curious and have a few bucks (or that library card), Oliver Sacks’ latest work is sure to please. Musicophilia: Tales of Music and the Brain is due in the US this fall. Sneak preview:

“Music can move us to the heights or depths of emotion. It can persuade us to buy something, or remind us of our first date. It can lift us out of depression when nothing else can. It can get us dancing to its beat. But the power of music goes much, much further. Indeed, music occupies more areas of our brain than language does—humans are a musical species.”

Audio bonus: the New Yorker has a 10-minute audio overview (MP3). Give it a listen and enjoy.

Marcel de Bie, keeper of the audio-branding blog The Amber Theatre, has collected dozens of resources on audio branding and identity over at his del.icio.us collection of bookmarks. It’s one of the more exhaustive collections — certainly worth a bookmark of your own.

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!)

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

I’m currently deep-diving on the subject of music and mood, and came across this over at PsyBlog—a recent study detailing the seven most common ways that music influences mood:

1. Entertainment - the most fundamental level music provides stimulation. It lifts the mood before going out, it passes the time while doing the washing up, it accompanies travelling, reading and surfing the web.
2. Revival - Music revitalises in the morning and calms in the evening.
3. Strong sensation - Music can provide deep, thrilling emotional experiences, particularly while performing.
4. Diversion - Music distracts the mind from unpleasant thoughts which can easily fill the silence.
5. Discharge - Music matching deep moods can release emotions: purging and cleansing.
6. Mental work - Music encourages daydreaming, sliding into old memories, exploring the past.
7. Solace - Shared emotion, shared experience, a connection to someone lost.

While there are countless studies on the role of music and sound influencing mood, I thought this was an easy, usable overview of the role of music in our lives. Fine and dandy, but what really got my attention was the discussion of music playing a role in helping us better process our own lives:

Many of Saarikallio and Erkkila’s findings chime with previous research. For example, distraction is considered one of the most effective strategies for regulating mood. Music has also been strongly connected with reflective states. These tend to allow us greater understanding of our emotions.

One of the few negative connections Saarikallio and Erkkila consider is that sad music might promote rumination. Rumination is the constant examination of emotional state which, ironically, can lead to less clarity. On the contrary, however, Saarikallio and Erkkila found that music increased the understanding of feelings, an effect not associated with rumination.

Now. Just for shits and giggles, let’s step back and consider the massive testing lab that is your company’s call center or your business’s retail store. Zillions of people calling, visiting you, ready to buy, and zillions of them impacted by music in the ways described above.

It’s not quite as simple as Pavlov’s dog, but clearly there’s a cause-and-effect relationship at work. Let’s hope the CMOs and COOs — the primary decision-makers in these scenarios — have enough good sense to understand that.