With the use of sonic branding, these brands are aiming at establishing an emotional connect with their consumers, and ...
Nov 4, 2019, 09:00 IST
brands
How Zomato, MG Motor and Mastercard are using the power of sound to build a unique connect with their audience
Nov 4, 2019, 09:00 IST
With the use of sonic branding, these brands are aiming at establishing an emotional connect with their consumers, and ...
Rajeev Raja ’s unique agency,BrandMusiq has been creating MOGOs (musical logos) for brands to help them differentiate themselves- A lot of brands believe that the future is sonic and therefore having a
sonic identity is critical to reach out to consumers and build a connect Sonic branding helps build brand identity, consumers are able to identify with a simple tune and associate it to the brands- The increase of voice assistants in houses across the country has also opened up a lot of opportunities for brands to reach out to its consumers
Remember the days when a song would play on the radio or TV and you would immediately associate it with a brand? Like Cadbury Dairy Milk’s iconic ‘Kuch Khaas Hai’ jingle, or Britannia and Titan’s signature tune? Music has always played a critical role in helping build a brand’s identity.
However, while with the years, we have been hearing less and less of jingles that actually stick to our memories, brands are again trying to use the powerful tool of music to stand out in an otherwise cluttered world.
Earlier in the year,
What’s the appeal of sonic branding?
Rajeev Raja, who is known for his illustrious 25 years in advertising, is also known in the industry for his parallel career of a musician. He started BrandMusiq in 2012 to bring his two passions – advertising and music, together. BrandMusiq specializes in making the use of sounds and music to give brands a unique identity.
BrandMusiq has been helping brands come up with their MOGOs, which stands for musical logos. The last few years have seen a big uptake in the number of brands opening up to the possibilities of sonic branding. Raja feels there are a few overarching reasons for that. He explains, “People’s changing habits of media consumption is slowly leading to this change. Earlier, if a brand had money, TV would help them get the reach. But today, if you look at the media consumption habits of millennials, they are essentially looking at their phone screen, iPad or laptop. So the predominance of TV is slowly coming down.”
In the past, jingles have been effective in helping brands make a way for itself, and creating an identity. However, things are a little different now. Raja elaborates, “The 30-second jingle still has a role a play to play for brands that need TV for its reach, like FMCG brands. However, digital is now an increasingly important medium too but attention spans are very low on digital. So a 30-second piece of music becomes too long to be used online. Also with the digital explosion and more and more apps coming in, there is a lot of functional, navigational use that a MOGO can achieve for a brand.”
The MOGO that BrandMusiq created for Zomato will be used across brand touchpoints including advertising, in the app and as notifications to their partners - restaurants and delivery executives.
How brands are striking the right chord
What are the benefits that brands are deriving out of sonic branding? What is it that they are trying to achieve by investing in an audio identity? And will consumers actually be able to remember a brand by its sonic identity? A few prominent brands that have invested in sonic branding answer some of these questions.
Explaining why Zomato, that already has a very strong digital presence, think of going for a sonic identity,
The platform believes that the addition of a sonic identity will make help improve the user experience. “When your delivery partner arrives, the distinct sound would notify you to be ready at the doorstep to collect the order without looking at your phone,” elaborates Verma.
For a brand like MG Motor that entered India recently, the task was to create a differentiation for itself in whichever way they could. And sonic branding helped them do just that. Explains
And do consumers resonate with the brand’s anthem? Malhotra believes they do. “The anthem has received tremendous response from our customers and partners. It’s heartening when you hear your customers use the MG anthem as their ringtone! The Anthem is currently used across our various touchpoints including our 24*7 helpline – MG Pulsehub, all our nationwide dealerships and every piece of content that we create across our platforms including digital, TV and print.”
However, building an identity, sonic or otherwise, does not happen overnight. It takes time for any kind of brand to build a connect with its audience and Mastercard is cognizant of this fact. When asked if they have been able to achieve what they had aimed to by investing in a sonic branding,
As the digital world keeps expanding, brands will only have more and more touchpoints to build a connect with their audience. Google recently reported that there has been a 270% year-on-year growth in voice queries in India. As more and more voice assistant devices find their way into people’s homes, sonic branding is only set to get more important, to give brands an edge and to ensure that consumers remember and recognize them, whenever they see or hear them.
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