Sound Branding, Brand Alliances With Music, or Branded Entertainment, call it what you like, these are effectively a form of advertising disguised as: a game, event, sponsorship or hospitality. Midem, the largest international music convention dedicated several sessions to that almost Holy Grail, ‘How Can Bands and Brands Work Together?’ So it is not surprising that some serious players from the brands were invited to take the stage, from Nokia to Coca-Cola (‘Top Brands talk Music Strategy’ and ‘Converse, Pepsi and Cornerstone talk Music Marketing’). Music and Brands are big business. According to the Association of National Advertisers, in 2006, the top 100 US advertisers splashed between $150 million and $2 billion just on sound-enabled media, such TV ads and the Internet. In the UK, it is estimated that in 2008 the production spend on acquiring copyright music for synchronization, that is the right to choose a well known track and use it in a commercial, hit £60m ($98.8 million). Current predictions are that in the next decade, advertisers will be looking to invest an eye-watering $240 billion on branded entertainment.

With marketers freely admitting that music makes up 50% of the total consumer experience, it may have been a little surprising for the Music Industry to learn from Emmanuel Seuge of The Coca-Cola Company “The music industry is much more open and willing to find new creative models in the way we interact with them…but at the same time it’s much more complex. The management of the artists are more smart marketeers than I am! They have a real vision of what they want to do with their artists, and the artists themselves have a point of view. Aligning everyone on a shared view is the challenge.”

This brave comment goes straight to the heart of the issue and it may be some consolation for Emmanuel to learn that he is no alone. Whilst 63% of Brand marketers use music, 56% have no idea how to measure the use of sound and music and 20% don’t even try (Resource Association of National Advertisers).

So having heard from the Brands – it was the turn of the Music Industry to take the stage. Management giants like Chris Morrison from CMO Management (Blur, Gorillaz, Grace Jones and many more) had some very important things to say about bands and brands. Morrison agreed that Brands will be involved in some of his artist projects with a word of warning: “You have to be very careful about branding – there’s a great danger of music being corporatised at this point, and I see things that certainly worry me considerably.” When asked what kind of things Morrison is seeing that he doesn’t like: “The Duffy Coca-Cola ad was abysmal, and Robbie Williams on T-Mobile was terrible…You have to be very very careful with how you associate with brands.”

One thing is for sure, simply slapping a brand logo on stages is very different to becoming true partners. And with an increasing number of events and artists now wanting to enter the dialogue and the projected figures brands are willing to invest, we have to be talking real music strategy rather than just brand involvement. We know that just like any relationship, it will need trust, honesty, shared values and vision and that will mean a shift to what can I do for you, from WIFM. Then Emmanuel, we can start to get real alliance round the table.

Ruth Simmons, CEO
soundlounge

Imagine a commercial with music so alluring and contemporary that it draws thousands of YouTube visitors within weeks with comments like “can you tell me from where i can download the song please?” and “it’s really awesome!!!”. It must have used a hit song or a track from a new artist with Record Company marketing clout, and it probably cost tens of thousands of dollars to licence, right? Listen for yourself…

In reality this track chosen for the new Canon commercial (”Blackbird Song” by Ben Cocks) was from a production music library. The truth is that it was significantly less expensive for our client than a hit song would have been. And the song’s production quality and “catchiness” is on par, if not ahead of, most higher-profile tracks out there. Read more…

The very first sonic logo I heard was at 12 weeks gestation. It was my mother’s heartbeat. The second was her voice. These two simple sounds gave me a sense of self and my first, albeit hazy, understanding of the world outside. With these audio clues, I could tell not only where my mother was but also whether her surroundings were exciting or calm, happy or sad, dangerous or safe. I even heard my mother’s language and imitated it in my own cries. From the moment I was born, I was able to recognise like-minded spirits simply from the sounds that I heard.

But I was no baby genius. This ability to detect subtle changes in mood, geography, safety and hostility just by listening is a survival skill inherent in us all. The truth is that sound is one of the most sophisticated communication tools that we possess and one that neuroscientists are just beginning to understand.

We are physiologically programmed to respond to nature. Most of us find the sound of the sea very soothing, and not just because it reminds us of holidays. Its frequency of 12 cycles per minute is actually the same as the breathing frequency of a sleeping human. Birdsong also promotes feelings of well-being. We know instinctively that when the birds are singing we are safe; when they stop, we get worried. BP have recently installed birdsong soundscapes in their toilets as part of their campaign of stimulating a sense of well being and calm for their motorist customers. Check out the number of garages that play heavy rock. As my colleague Julian Treasure remarks – if motorists are listening to sounds like that, are they ever going to drive within the speed limit?

So if getting close to nature is one way to connect with humans very quickly are brands using these stimuli to connect with consumers? The answer is yes.

Take MGM. Nothing says louder that I am ‘king of the jungle’ than the roar of a lion. In a time of intense competition and a city that felt like a human jungle, Metro Goldwyn Meyer adopted the lion’s roar as their logo.

But one brand takes us right back to Mama. Check out Audi’s sonic logo blatantly based on the human heartbeat. The ultimate endorsement of safety and life itself. Where’s my dummy?

Ruth Simmons, CEO
soundlounge

Music is one of the most valuable tools at an advertiser’s disposal. In 2006, the top 100 US advertisers splashed between $150 million and $2 billion just on sound-enabled media, such TV ads and the Internet, according to the Association of National Advertisers. In the UK, it is estimated that in 2008 the spend on acquiring copyright music for synchronization hit £60m ($98.8 million).

But brands have worked to understand how a particular target group, with shared values and aspirations, forms a loyalty to a specific brand. They have figured out how to manage and measure how we respond to color, texture, lighting, and other apparently visceral stimuli. So is sound simply the next frontier?

For the full article, please click here.

The iTunes store has changed the way listeners judge music by putting a 30-second time limit on their attention spans. Songwriters may cringe, but it’s now unavoidable. The hard truth is if a song doesn’t deliver in this short window of time, it simply won’t sell.

Working out how to sell product with 30 seconds of sound has been our focus at soundlounge for nearly 3 decades. Since commercials rarely use more than 30 seconds of music, we have to find songs or parts of songs that “sell” (i.e. make a memorable, emotional impression) in a very short amount of time. How?

1. Get to the hook quickly. Whilst romantic composers like Mahler and Strauss had the privilege of fans with hour-long musical attention spans, today’s songwriters have no such lattitude,. The 30 second sample must have a memorable ‘hook’ – a catchy guitar riff, a clever lyric, a killer beat. A good hook sticks in your head for weeks and compels you to listen to the track again and again. That’s the kind of song that spreads online like wildfire and gets chosen for that next Apple iPod commercial.

2. Create a distinctive sound ‘snapshot’. Advertisers and bands have at least one thing in common – they both need to be heard above the noise. In this area, advertisers can actually learn a thing or two from popular bands who have worked hard to consistently stand out from the crowd. Having a unique sound is part of the solution. But what if your listener doesn’t even give you 30 seconds? Many impatient listeners take an ‘audio snapshot’ of the first few seconds and judge a song based on its production quality and instrumentation.

3. Take us on a journey. Music moves us when it moves. Great songs give us something to anticipate from start to finish. They lead us along through imaginative melodies, chord progressions, and lyrical stories. 30 seconds might be short for a musical journey, but that may be all you’ve got so even a hint of oncoming change will go a long way. If your 30-second sample sounds stagnant, try varying the dynamics, instrumentation, or harmony to keep your audience wanting more.

Charlie McCarron, Sound Consultant
Ruth Simmons, CEO
soundlounge

So which tv Christmas commercial most holds a special place in your heart? At soundlounge, we have created a list of our own personal selection. Let us know if we have left out your favourite…

1. Coca Cola (Holidays Are Coming)
2. John Lewis (From Me To You)
3. M&S ( This Party Started)
4.Budweiser (Horses)
5. Coca Cola (Polar Bears)
6. Irn Bru (Walking In The Air)
7. M&S (Most Wonderful Time Of The Year)
8. Heineken (Let It Snow)
9. Kellogg’s
10. Lucky Strike

And your word for the day is…’diegetic’. Diegetic and non-diegetic are cinematic terms relating to the use of sound in a film. Diegetic refers to sound whose source is visible on the screen, or whose source is implied to be present by the action of the film. Where as non-diegetic is sound whose source is neither visible on the screen nor has been implied to be present in the action. A film’s music soundtrack is nearly always non-diegetic, creating a sense of mood and accentuating key moments in a film’s plot. In the following clip from Mel Brooks’ film High Anxiety, he cleverly plays with this convention – moving the music from non-diegetic to diegetic – enjoy.

Brian Kelly, Creative Director
soundlounge

As I was watching Sprint’s clever “What if ____ ran the world?” ads, I noticed they used no music, no jingles, nothing that would traditionally qualify as a sonic logo. Only one sound stands out consistently in each ad: the walkie-talkie-like bleep of the Sprint phone itself. And every time we hear it in Sprint’s commercials, it’s followed by a joke. By the end of each ad, we’ve heard it 6 to 12 times, and it’s no longer just a phone bleep. It’s a brilliantly timed comic device that has preconditioned us to laughter.

Of course, the same sound can mean vastly different things for different people. For the majority of us, the sound of an incoming text message is exciting, a happy beep signaling a new message from a friend. But for my mother, it’s a sound that strikes terror in her heart and gets her adrenaline flowing. For her, it means she’s received a text from my younger brother in Africa. Often his messages bear bad news – he was robbed on the street once and lost all his money. So this seemingly harmless sound evokes fear and maternal instincts in a split second. One day she told me, “I hate that sound more than any other sound.” Who knew a simple, neutral beep could stir up such an emotional reaction?

The finest sound designer can craft the most perfect sound for your brand, but context is everything. Though most of us don’t start salivating, we’re a lot like Pavlov’s dogs once we’ve been trained to hear a sound in a certain way. Sprint was smart; they trained us from the beginning to hear their phones as fun, even before we interact with one in real life. As soon as a strong sonic branding plan meets a positive customer experience, the Pavlovian buttons will be pushed in just the right ways. For 99.9% of us, this is good news. For the unfortunate alarm clock marketers of the world…I wish you luck.

Charlie McCarron, Sound Consultant
soundlounge

You know how it is on Sunday morning. Sitting back, tea in hand, lazily leafing through the papers – not really reading, just vaguely capturing the headlines. But this week, one particular story in The Sunday Times caught my eye. Beware, iPod zombie cyclists are on the rise the headline warned, followed by the image of a cyclist wearing some serious headphones but no helmet. Now that’s a worrying thought.

Here’s another worrying thought. According to my children, I have a tendency to move very rapidly from one apparently disconnected idea to another before settling on one, final thought – a trait they affectionately describe as my ‘ipod shuffle mode’. So is this the first sign of my mature years creeping up on me? I don’t think so. And I’m beginning to sense that I’m not alone.

Our 30-second attention spans appear to have evolved into something of a modern-day survival function – affecting the way we read, watch, shop and buy. We live in an age where information is more accessible than ever before, but the very amount of data we encounter makes it all less meaningful. It has also impacted hugely on the way we consume music.

In the 1960s we would invest hours in discovering the meaning behind certain music – listening to albums over and over, learning every lyric, knowing every chord. We wanted to understand every element of a song and resonate wholly with the artist. But today, we leave ourselves with little time to really digest what we are hearing and within seconds are hankering to move on to the next offering.

So before my concentration quota for the day runs out let me put this out there. Is the 30-seconds we spend on listening to a track on iTunes before flicking to the next the equivalent of a watching a TV commercial? Are we choosing music based on as little information as that, and with as much distraction surrounding it?

Answers in 30-second sound bites please…

Ruth Simmons, CEO
soundlounge

The most important piece of business advice I was ever given when I first started talking about sonic and sound branding, was from John Bartle, the first B in BBH. “Yes’ he observed profoundly, “all that theory is all very interesting but can you measure it? If you can’t measure it, it ain’t any bloody use to me”.

Those of us who were in Hamburg at the beginning of November for the first ‘Audio Branding Congress’ in the world appreciated that brands are now acknowledging the emotional importance of using sound and music in their marketing. Some are looking at imposing more rigour into the process of choosing and briefing music, but existing business evaluation frameworks are still ‘missing a beat’. It would seem that cost outlay and how to reduce that investment into procurement and production fees is still the only metric that is applied to measure the value of music by those brand guardians in charge of the process

But it was in Hamburg, amongst much sharing of sound branding concepts and processes, I realised that I owed a huge debt to John. He was so right. Understanding how to define and produce a sound identity is just the first step. For if brands are to understand the role and impact of music, they need systems that allow for comparison of costs against market rates, potential savings, process optimisation and best practices is vital. What is allocated to finding and acquiring music properties will then be an easier conversation. It has taken my team and myself at soundlounge 10 years, but it was so worth it.

Ruth Simmons, CEO
soundlounge

For further reading: Putting the Metrics into Music.