Nik Goodman, director of Bounce explains that sounds are recognised by the brain really quickly. It takes 0.05 seconds for the brain to recognise a sound, 10 times faster than the blink of an eye. And sounds are embedded in culture – who doesn’t know the sound from the shower science in Psycho or the theme tune from Jaws.

The advertising industry has long since known about the power of sound. Coca Cola have always invested heavily in sonic branding including the seminal “I’d like to teach the world to sing” launched in 1971.  In the 1990’s, companies such as Nokia. McDonalds and Intel incorporated a sonic logo into their branding. And sonic branding has continued to develop with the sonic brand now often built into the product. Companies and brands can feature their corporate sound everywhere, whether it is a physical space or as part of communications.

Nik highlighted that today, we live in an over communicated world and we need to cut through the clutter. Human attention is a scarce commodity. Brands should harness the power of audio because sound is a very powerful communications tool that is often ignored by brands. And sonic branding works particularly well on radio because a lot of radio is passive listening and a sonic logo can effectively cut through.

The five key takeaways for a strong sonic brand are:

1.     Distinctive – does it cut through the noise?

2.     Memorable – will consumers draw an association between it and your brand?

3.     Representative – does the sound capture the essence of your brand?

4.     Variable – can you create custom versions to suit different scenarios?

5.     Extendable – can you develop your sound across different touchpoints?