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