From Frank Lloyd Wright’s organic architecture to the sticky burrs that inspired Velcro, nature has often played a role in creative design. What can the natural world teach us about brand recognition through the creative use of sound? Let’s take a look at one of nature’s best musicians who has a knack for sonic branding – the bird…

A male bird’s song may sound like a simple melody to the casual human listener. But to a female bird, this song acts as a revealing personal profile. Just a few notes will disclose a wealth of information concerning his mental health, testosterone levels, diseases carried, etc. Unlike a guitar-strumming human singer who easily melts the hearts of his groupies, a male bird undergoes intense scrutiny when singing to a potential mate. If a bird’s song misses the mark, it’s a reflection on his character, and the female will fly off to try her luck with another singer. On the other hand, if his performance meets her expectations for a suitable partner, he has won her heart and her trust.

Like a bird’s personally revealing song, quite a bit is divulged about a company through the music and sounds they choose to represent their brand. This means a brand’s sound choices may be a liability or an asset when trying to win the hearts of consumers. If a brand’s sound is not consistent across all marketing campaigns, or inconsistent with the company’s image, the consumer will likely question the brand’s credibility and “fly away” to the next product. On the other hand, with the right music supervision (a service provided by dedicated sound consultants like soundlounge), a consistent and well-crafted sound can strengthen any brand.

In addition to a consistent sound, both birds and brands need a distinctive sound to set them apart from their respective competitors.

The Distinctive Sound of Birds and Brands

With the highly critical ear of a female bird, you would think she could easily distinguish males of her own species from males of another bird species. But some research is showing that this may not always be the case, especially in lush environments like rainforests, where many species coexist and compete for the airwaves.

Zoologist Nathalie Seddon studied the songs of male Amazonian antbirds and found that various subspecies of antbirds sing differently to make it easier for their female counterparts to identify them (Seddon 2005). These results are fascinating, because bird songs were previously thought to evolve and diverge because of a separation effect. In other words, birds develop different “accents” by being isolated from each other, like North Americans and Australians. But instead, in Seddon’s study, these birds are all in one place. Her findings promote a relatively new theory of birdsong evolution, that different songs develop out of a necessity to be uniquely identified among a rainforest full of noise.

This finding may come as no surprise to marketers, who make it their duty to ask, “What makes our brand unique?” It’s incredibly important to have an answer to this question before setting foot in the commercial jungle, where brands with a confused sound will be “outsung” by more clever marketers. Noel Franus and Martyn Ware’s presentation “Demystifying Sonic Branding and Identity” makes the point that in the natural world, as well as the advertising world, “those that innovate to be heard will thrive.” It’s true – sound can be an excellent tool for setting your brand apart from competitors. But careful decisions must also be made along the way to ensure the customer hears the company’s core values in all sound and music choices.

If your brand is struggling to find its unique sound, contact us at soundlounge. We’ll help your brand sing above the rest.

Charlie McCarron, Sound Consultant
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Why Brands Should Listen To Birds is a post from: soundlounge

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The ‘sound of the brand’ is more than the melody within eight octaves. It is not just about genre or lyrics. Nor does it necessarily relate to the choice of artist or a musical identity. The sound of the brand is about values, behaviour and how this is communicated. It is about reaching and engaging with the emotional touch points of the listener – a process that requires a deeper understanding than embracing their contextual touch points.

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What is sonic branding? is a post from: soundlounge

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Music production is evolving. Upcoming artists are turning from record companies to the Internet for financial support from investors. But what does this mean for music licensing and music copyright? soundlounge explores the changing world of making music.

It’s a lifestyle that millions aspire to. Private jets, five-star hotels, adoring fans and a top music production team. But it seems that for an increasing number of upcoming artists the reality of forging a career in the industry is far from the glamorous existence of times past. Like many other sectors, the music production industry is being forced to adapt to a changing economic and social climate. Gone are the days when a talent for singing or instrumental skills was enough to get a band noticed let alone to the top. Now artists are increasingly adopting a head for business and taking an entrepreneurial attitude towards their profession.

A recent article in The Times newspaper explores the impact of this growing structure within the music market citing the emergence of websites such as sellaband.com and slicethepie.com. Unveiled in 2006, sellaband.com supports upcoming bands by encouraging them to sell ’shares’ in their group to investors. Bands which successfully sell 5,000 parts are then rewarded with their own producer, studio time and support from industry experts to help them record an album. Similarly slicethepie.com allows bands to raise money directly from music fans and gives them the chance to be involved in the music production process. Fans who invest in their band or artist can earn money reviewing tracks as well as enjoy perks such as free album copies, their name on album sleeves and a share in the financial returns from record sales. Slicethepie.com has also essentially created a stock exchange of its own, allowing investors to trade shares of their music between other holders within the market domain.

Although slightly different in their processes, both websites hark the dawn of a new ‘free-market’ approach to music where fans have a different kind of control over the success of their favorite artists. Speaking to The Times, Martyn Shone, guitarist for UK band Honey Ryder revealed he and the band’s singer Lindsay O’Mahony had been selling shares for £3,500 each. “Shareholders receive a dividend on future profits on CDs, downloads and licensing deals,” he told the newspaper.
So what does the introduction of these new approaches mean for UK music as a whole? It may be wrong to claim they represent the development of a new platform within the music industry. Rather, they are almost like an online casino where venture capitalists can gamble over the possible success or failure of a particular band. Despite this, it would be a mistake to ignore the impact that this kind of music production will have in the future. Honey Ryder told The Times that much of their group’s revenue will come from songs being played on television and film soundtracks. But could selling off music rights on a shares basis complicate the business of music licensing and music copyright clearance?

Currently, the principle contractual rights owners of a song are the publishing companies who own the intellectual property rooted in the musical composition and whoever owns the master sound recordings – be it the record company, studio or musicians themselves. These new business models raise interesting questions regarding who would hold sway if a large number of people each owned a ’slice’ of a song. Could a situation arise whereby 100 stakeholders needed to be consulted on the terms of a deal or licensing agreement? And on whose shoulders should the final decision-making rest? Have we solved the problem of music investment only to be faced with another – namely one of who has ultimate control over a piece of music?

Whatever the future holds for the industry, it is important that artists continue to look carefully at their contracts to ensure they retain the moral right and absolute consent for any secondary clearance of rights, such as synchronisation for advertising or film. Without this, companies such as soundlounge that facilitate and place music in advertising may find it harder to reach a deal for a desired song – and bands could miss out on additional revenue streams and new platforms to make themselves heard by a wider audience.

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Music Production in a Changing World is a post from: soundlounge

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In the summer of 2007, dance duo Groove Armada sent shockwaves through the music production industry by opting out of a deal with a traditional record label. In April 2008, the duo, who have become a household name thanks in part to the use of their music in commercials, instead signed-up with Bacardi making them the first mainstream group to turn to a major brand for investment. Considering the majority of digital music is downloaded for free, through the expansive networks of user to user file shares – it is not difficult to imagine that as record companies’ profits suffer amid the current economic squeeze, the emerging trend of band-brand partnerships will continue to develop.

The one-year deal has sparked a mixed reaction from fans. Although the majority are in support of the partnership and feel the pair is a good brand fit, some have expressed surprise that the group would choose to associate so freely with such a major commercial corporation. But speaking to the BBC, the band’s Andy Cato defended the move. “You’ve always needed big business to get your music out there,” he explained. “That help used to be major record labels, now it’s all kinds of different things. If you say one corporate pound is any more or less corporate than another, then you’re wrong,” he added. “What is a record label if it’s not a commercial brand?” So how long will it take for other global brands to become the major investing foundation of the music industry? In some ways the ball has already started rolling.

In 2005, Toyota launched its own hip-hop record label Scion, while two years later coffee giant Starbucks unveiled the Hear Music label that produced the debut album of all-female group Antigone Rising. But while these are still relatively small endeavours in terms of music production there is clearly further scope for brands to seize the opportunities to work with the industry. These possibilities hail an exciting time for music production. The sound of the brand is becoming an increasingly important part of its promotion, a fact demonstrated by the success of the strategic use of music in commercials such as M&S and Sky HD But if brands want to make a success of their partnership with an artist or band they must have a good understanding of what their music represents and how their talent developed.

Throwing money at a project is far from enough, with brands instead needing to spend time working hard with those who have managed to get the best out of the musicians in the past. Brands must ensure they are seen by fans as a facilitators, helping groups and singers achieve things which are just not possible with a traditional record label. By working hard at aligning themselves with an artist, a brand can help ensure that the confidence of both the fan base and consumers of their products is in no way compromised. To form an alliance of this sort and find a “brand fit” between a sound and a product is no random act. It is a careful balance between the rigours of science and the art of creativity which can be used to make certain that music and brand complement each other and thus trigger success for both parties.

To start to unravel any of these complicated issues we only need return to the original reason why anyone would choose a brand rather than a record label to promote them. Fans are no longer listening to a good piece of music and heading out to the shops to buy it – they are instead logging onto the internet and downloading it for free. If fans are not prepared to pay, then, just like any other business, music production will become harder to maintain and artists will be forced to look elsewhere for support and sponsorship.

However the future of the music industry evolves, it certainly looks to be an exciting one –meanwhile, it’s important to recognise that the sound of the brand is seldom about sponsoring a pop star or rock group or even an promotional event. Corporations are turning to support from “sound of the brand” consultants, like soundlounge, to provide them with a complete and integrated understanding into how their musical investments can be maximised by resonating honestly with the fan and the consumer

Have you noticed any other band-brand partnerships? Which ones work? Which ones don’t? Share your thoughts.

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Investing In The Sound Of The Brand is a post from: soundlounge

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It would seem that choosing the perfect music for a commercial is such a rare and special occasion, that we almost speak in reverent, hushed tones when we discuss its success. But with at least £40million being invested in copyright music a year in the UK alone for commercials (which works out at roughly 15,000 ideas that are executed), it would not be unreasonable to ask why so many ideas fall into anonymity, neutrality and are just plain uninspiring. Music & image partnerships such like Leftfield & Guinness, Dvorak & Hovis, or any of the of Waitrose tracks that genuinely and consistently reflect its quality and values, and should give us the foundations to learn.

Another exceptional partnership is the much-feted winner of this year’s Cannes Lions Grand Prix, ‘Gorilla’, created by Juan Cabral at Fallon. ‘Gorilla’ has become the most successful campaign in recent years, with over 10 million hits on YouTube and 93,000 references on Google. With so many devotees, what is it about this particular film that has us all so captivated and spellbound?

Craig Davies (Global Creative Director at JWT) and Chairman of the Cannes Lions Jury described Gorilla as: “a courageous piece of work that defies the conventions of confectionary advertising”. He continued, “ What Gorilla does is to challenge all those assumptions and subverts them all and says chocolate is about pleasure. It’s a great piece of entertainment…. Everyone is waiting for that moment – everyone wants to drum along.”

What is amazing is that in all the reviews and accolades, no one seems to be discussing the actual track itself, ‘In The Air Tonight’ by Phil Collins; the role it plays and why that song works better than any of the other contenders. (Did you know that there were at least 7 other tracks considered for this film – all with amazing drumming sequences? – see below). This track is featured throughout the commercial and whilst even the most visual of people in advertising attribute 50% of the experience of a commercial, to the sound, why are we all so apparently reluctant to analyse music in any debrief in order to understand just how it worked? It would seem that when it does work, we almost treat it like a religious experience, not be questioned but spoken about in hallowed voices. And when it doesn’t work – we all bow our heads.

Watching the Cadbury film with the tracks that got away, it is clear that ‘waiting for the drumming’ is only part of the magic, because while some tracks work, others simply don’t even get close. In the case of Gorilla, the ¬relationship between the music and imagery, combined with the actual moment when the two connect, is almost an exquisite synergy of elements – the moment we see, hear and connect is inspirational. Why with such an abundance of creative excellence around is finding and using music that works with the visuals shouldn’t be such a hard thing to replicate?

With their follow-up, ‘Trucks’, Cadbury/Fallon used the same creative formula and creative team. It would seem that they opted not to go the obvious route and invent something like a ‘trumpet playing gorilla’, but decided to create an ad that had a similar sense of the ‘unexpected’. However comments on this film vary from “Does anyone actually get this crap?” to “The good people in the industry are unimpressed and everyone in the industry knows that this ad fails”.

The consensus appears to be that the reason the Gorilla works is the delicate combination of what we see and what we hear and the emotional connection that makes; that moment when the experience ‘hits the spot’, which is after all the guilty pleasure of chocolate. It could also be that we have a protagonist to connect with – a personality that reaches out to us, whereas with ‘Trucks’, we only have a series of ‘faceless’ airport vehicles. To be fair, we do get a glimpse of a driver’s arm or hand but that feels like more of an editing oversight than a genuine reaching out to the viewer.

Both commercials use great tracks. Both use music that actually scored off the page ‘love- scores’ in a recent music industry survey, so the public loved and adored these tracks long before Fallon served them back to us covered in chocolate. The truth is we were already open to the visual ideas. The music in both commercials had already primed us to look up at the screen by acting as semantic and somatic markers – powerful, unconscious associations. It is clear that the music carries these visuals from the opening bars, but that doesn’t answer why the Trucks film does not win our hearts in the same way as Gorilla.

It may come down to a basic question – how and where do inspirational ideas manifest themselves? Are concepts like Gorilla, so visionary that the people behind the idea would almost have us mortals believe it is the result of divine intervention? It’s true that great creative minds do have the ability to distill complex ideas down to their essence and seem to understand innately how to express ideas in ways that rest of us can only aspire. But what makes an idea original?

The ‘Gorilla’ idea itself is one that appeared in a sketch from the Mighty Boosh. So is it possible that all inspiration comes from some form of plagiarism, where we ‘borrow’ elements from another existing idea and adapt them, which in itself is the essence of creativity – seeing things in a different way. But as much as we creative souls all want to be recognised for our art, the truth is that ultimately we work for the brand and our job is to create environments to sell products. So as an employee what it comes down to, is there any way we can do our jobs better with sound. Is there a way that we can dissect out these elements in order to understand how ‘genius’ can be replicated?

Looking back we can see that great music choices work like metaphors for the brand off the screen; metaphors that make us feel good about the brand, so that when we just hear that track in another context or environment, we feel great about that product all over again? These creative teams have created sound assets for their brands, music that goes on connecting long after we have reached for the remote control. So, what can a creative team to do to use music to increase the odds from 1 in 15,000? Are there any ground rules that we can apply?

We know that:
• There is more to just liking/loving a song for it to work with a visual – it’s a good place to start but it won’t provide the whole picture.
• Loving the music has to go beyond the inner sanctum of the editing suite. The consumers also have an emotional investment in music, which may affect their subsequent buying behavior.
• Music should support the visual whether directly or ironically. If it is only to act as sound wallpaper, large sums of money spent on big tracks, for the sake of a big track – ARE a wasted investment.
• All music should take a film to a whole different level and add another emotional dimension, regardless of whether it is library, original composition or a copyright track.
• Unlike a feature film, commercials don’t enjoy the luxury of time – creatively we have a meager 30/40 seconds to make our point and connect. The advantage of a well-known track is that they will do this in seconds.
• Great tracks will prepare the viewer for ‘what they are about to receive‘ visually, but they can only do so much. Music will never substitute for a poor visual idea where its role is to fill the silence by simply using music to hit the synch points.

A large iPod collection is a good place to start to find ideas, but it would seem that there is the illusion of what feels like a good idea and what actually has all the right components is something completely different. We have to allow enough time to be creative enough to get past the “I need a piece of music that works with this visual” way of working and then we have to be brave enough to go for a second opinion outside the editing suite before we go on air, by asking the people who will actually buy the product.

Music and the visuals have to work seamlessly together; when one outshouts the other, it can be de-stablising to the whole experience. We literally feel out of synch. Sound and vision must have an almost symbiotic relationship with each other. It may seem an obvious conclusion, but perhaps it is only through the perfect convergence of all these elements, that we will begin to see commercials as successful as Gorilla on our screens more often.

…or of course, we can all continue to choose a track that seems to ‘work’ and hope and pray that something miraculous will happen!

Brian Kelly, Creative Director
Ruth Simmons, Managing Director
soundlounge

Choosing Music – Is It Magic & Miracles, or Just a Wing & a Prayer? is a post from: soundlounge

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