After finding out about Coca-Cola’s clever injection of their own sonic logo in K’naan’s World Cup song “Wavin’ Flag”, many of our readers called Coke out as being sneaky and/or cheeky. So we at soundlounge are here in defense of their brilliant (if a bit devilish) sonic branding strategy.

In the brand-sphere, Coke have proven to be masters of this kind of “audio watermarking” – subtly embedding their brand’s sound in the music of their advertisements. But the idea of a sound signature is hardly new. In fact, the original master of audio watermarking lived and died three centuries ago: J.S. Bach.

Most composers think long and hard about the structure of their music. But Bach took it to an extreme new level. As both a musical and mathematical genius, he composed pieces so intricate and layered that scholars today still find secret meanings in his work. Some say he used the Golden Ratio and the Fibonacci sequence (1, 1, 2, 3, 8, 13…) as guides for his compositions.

But his most famous hidden message is just four notes: B-flat, A-natural, C-natural, and B-natural. In the original German spelling…B, A, C, H!

It’s the Bach motif! It appears in so many of his pieces that scholars agree it’s there for a reason. It was Bach’s way of “signing” his compositions. Was it vanity? Or was it just a quirky sense of humor? We can’t be sure, but whatever his reason, this recurring theme connects his pieces on a deeper level. It might not be as obvious (or catchy) as Coke’s audio watermark in “Wavin’ Flag”, but Bach’s audio watermark is one of the most popular of all time. Over 409 works by 330 composers have used Bach’s motif in memorial to this brilliant man.

Is Coke taking a few notes from Bach? Since the start of their Open Happiness campaign, they’ve “given” their melody to dozens of international music superstars. K’naan is just the most recent in a long list of musicians to use Coke’s motif.

But “Wavin’ Flag” has seen success far beyond any of the other Coke-watermarked songs. The beauty of this for Coke is that they own this hit-single melody. They can reuse it in their advertising without any licensing fees, unlike say, the McDonald’s/Timberlake “I’m Lovin’ It” scenario. Ideally for Coke, people will hear their melody in the next Coca-Cola commercial and get all nostalgic about that fun song from the 2010 World Cup.

If any brand comes close to musical genius, it’s Coke. Will their melody last for three centuries though? We (probably) won’t be around to report on it, but don’t hold your breath…

Charlie McCarron, Sound Consultant
Matt Lee, Music Supervisor
soundlounge

And the soundlounge award this year goes to…(drum roll please)…a totally brilliant piece of sonic branding from the Coke team of music supervisors. Those who have been following soundlounge’s extensive blog coverage of World Cup advertising music will know that there were dozens of contenders for the crown. However we are all agreement here, that apart from the vuvuzelas, the most recognizable sound from this year’s World Cup has come from a previously little-known Somali-Canadian artist.

Thanks to Coke, K’naan’s song “Wavin’ Flag” has reached an amazing number one in eleven countries (and still counting). With over twenty regional remixes featuring local superstars, “Wavin’ Flag” has become the most popular and memorable soundtrack to South Africa 2010.

Coke has made K’naan an international superstar by modifying his song and promoting the “Coca-Cola Celebration Mix”. But this socially conscious rapper and poet insists this relationship with Coke doesn’t affect his integrity as a musician: “I don’t work for Coke or anything; what I do is my music.” (Billboard).

So isn’t this just a piece of band-brand marketing? Whether or not listeners are consciously aware, Coke have used a technique we call audio watermarking. This is a popular and well-known trick that has been around for centuries and used by composers and producers to weave a sound/motif into a piece of music. Unlike say the Audi sonic logo, which sits at the end of a commercial, watermarking acts like an ‘earworm’, which gets inside our brains and becomes so compulsive that we go around humming it as we walk down the street and not understanding why. We effectively become living, walking, singing commercials for Coke. Whatever K’naan would have his fans believe, embedded into “Wavin’ Flag” is an interesting piece of branding, and Coca-Cola have been priming us to wave their sonic branding flag for a while now…

Watch on Vimeo

We’ve actually been hearing this melody for years in Coke commercials. But this time the branding is even less obvious than their original “Open Happiness” song. By sneaking the Coke melody into an otherwise musically unbranded song, they’ve seen incredible success in the charts. In our opinion, it’s a much more intelligent form of branding than paying artists to name-drop brands in their lyrics.

So why doesn’t the average “Wavin’ Flag” fan connect the dots? It took us a few times before the penny dropped and we started to research. It’s as if Coke wants their motif to be subliminal, so that listeners recognize the sound but can’t say exactly why they recognize it. No other hit single has captured the sound of a brand in such an effective and clever way. Even Billboard didn’t come out and say it’s the Coke motif:

‘["Wavin Flag"] features many elements of the original song but includes a pre-chorus that sets the uplifting, unified tone of the 2010 FIFA World Cup, turning the song into one that is “more open, more inviting, more celebratory”‘.

Coke has clearly been steering the ship, taking K’naan on a grand tour of 84 countries. The big question though – what happens after the World Cup? A&M/Octone Records CEO James Diener says that Coke is “invested in K’naan for the duration of his career” (Billboard). That’s a bold statement given the fickle nature of musical popularity. If K’naan loses momentum, will Coke drop him for a fresh new artist or another ‘local’ artist for the next big sports sponsorship? Until then, will they be moderating all of K’naan’s music and infusing it with the sound of Coca-Cola?

You can be sure soundlounge will be listening out for the next Coke advert. And now that you know the Coke motif inside and out, keep your ears open and let us know if you do hear it anywhere else!

Ruth Simmons, Managing Director
Matt Lee, Music Supervisor
Charlie McCarron, Sound Consultant
soundlounge

If you enjoyed our article, feel free to say hello on Twitter – @soundlounge (and @soundequity for Ruth)

A few weeks ago, we posted an article about the influential “sonic logos” of a baby’s life – its mother’s heartbeat, its mother’s voice. But what about its mother’s music? Can music be just as powerful inside the womb?

Shortly after posting the article, we were contacted by Michael Godart, whose day job revolves around prenatal music listening. He and his wife Adrianne have developed the Lullabelly, a musical belt for pregnant mothers to play songs for their unborn babies. Michael has been researching the effects of prenatal music and getting feedback from Lullabelly moms, so we were excited to hear his thoughts on the matter.

Listen…

So prenatal listening can calm babies and connect them with their parents’ voices. After birth, babies may even remember the music played to them in the womb. But now, the question on every parent’s mind – Will my baby become a musical genius? Michael shared his thoughts on prenatal music as an educational tool.

Listen…

For more information about the Lullabelly, visit lullabelly.com.

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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

The following UK jingles were voted the catchiest of all time, in a survey carried out by McCann Erickson:

1. Wall’s Cornetto ‘Just One Cornetto’
2. Shake’n'Vac ‘Do the Shake and Vac’
3. R Whites ‘Secret Lemonade Drinker’
4. Kia Ora ‘I’ll Be Your Dog’
5. Mars ‘A Mars a Day Helps You Work, Rest and Play’
6. Kwik-Fit ‘Can’t Get Quicker Than a Kwik-Fit Fitter’
7. Club Biscuits ‘If You Like a Lot of Chocolate on Your Biscuit Join Our Club.’
8. Coca-Cola – ‘I’d Like to Teach the World to Sing’
9. Cadbury’s Flake – ‘Crumbliest Flakiest Chocolate’
10. Um Bongo ‘They Drink it in the Congo

Love them or hate them, there’s always one you can’t get out of your head. Does one stand out for you?
Let us know!

What makes a jingle catchy? Some advertisers are rediscovering the power of jingles.

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It was designed to remind advertisers of the continuing influence and effectiveness of television but in fact served to highlight the remarkable power of sound branding. Thinkbox, the television marketing body for major UK commercial broadcasters, recently unveiled its very first TV advert featuring a man on a psychiatrist’s couch who is prompted to go to a “happy place” in his mind. Far from imagining a sandy beach or flower-filled meadow the patient blurts out a series of famous jingles from the last 30 years. Among the slogans are Just One Cornetto, immortally sung to Italy’s O Sole Mio, the beautifully harmonised Mild Green…Fairy Liquid and of course, the unforgettable WOAH!! Bodyform.

The Thinkbox ad has received mixed reviews, with a post on one forum claiming it “shows our minds are full of the most worthless garbage serving no function or purpose other than to drive us absolutely insane”. But for many, it provides a nostalgic, 60-second trip down memory lane. As Thinkbox says, it’s the sort of commercial that starts conversations about TV ads – which ones we like best and why we remember them above other types of advertising. So why are these jingles so memorable, so effortlessly able, decades on, to allows us not only to recall a particular time in our lives but an individual product? Read more…