“Ta ra ra ta ta, I’m Lovin’ it”. A tune so simple; a phrase so ordinary. Combined together, they have etched their spot in millions of brains around the world to the point where we all hum the phrase with the same intonation McDonald’s created for their sonic branding.
Sonic branding is the creation of a unique sound for your brand that makes it recognizable through more than just the visuals. It allows small business to be creative and use the same market strategies used by larger businesses.
With the rise of digital and smart innovations, long gone are the days where colors, fonts, and photography define a brand’s identity. Today, as well as since the dawn of humanity, music and sound have played a crucial role as the universal languages in forging lasting connections across geographical, linguistic, and cultural boundaries.
Just like language, sounds and music can be composed to trigger certain emotions. Using our imagination, we can portray the company’s tone and goal using targeted tempo, volume, mode, and melody given the fact that we process musical syntax and language syntax in the same part of our brains. Additionally, the use of sound adds a further dimension to the brand’s identity and produces an additional layer of emotional response that visual content alone cannot produce.
A successful and distinguishable brand is one that optimizes its content to coordinate between the visual branding (fonts, colors, shapes, content) and sonic branding (music, audio, and sound effects). When applied correctly, a company’s branding will successfully demonstrate authenticity and achieve the goal of making a brand’s melody sound like a memory.
