Making music for brands: how audio narratives shape branding

Think of a piece of music by your favourite artist or a recent podcast episode or even a mnemonic that transported you away as you listened. What made it so distinct and memorable? Chances are it used a creative and perfectly balanced mix of smart compositional elements, timbres, voices, instruments, and atmospheric sounds.

The best audio narratives paint vivid scenes and convey emotion through music, sound design, use (or absence of) of vocals, spoken performance, and audio production techniques. Even after the sound has faded, the auditory afterglow lingers. Indeed, our ability to recall music and build associations through our emotional connection to it is remarkable.

Audio narratives are an excellent way for brands to create a memorable, authentic connection with their customers. After all, that's what people are telling companies: the vast majority of consumers (92%) want ads that feel like a story. Sophisticated consumers demand more authenticity, and audio narratives are an obvious way of creating this connection.

From a branding perspective, audio narratives reflect your brand's values, personality and creativity. The tone, style, and production quality of your audio narratives shape how your brand is perceived and remembered by listeners. Audio narratives allow your brand's unique voice and identity to shine through in a way that resonates with your target audience.

Sonic branding is effective as it is unique and ownable, ensuring your brand's auditory elements are distinct and exclusive. By creating custom sounds or musical motifs that only your brand can use, rather than relying on generic licensed tracks, you establish a memorable auditory identity that sets you apart from competitors.

When congruent with a brand's visual identity and core values sonic branding creates a powerful and cohesive brand experience across all touchpoints. This alignment reinforces brand recognition and recall, as consumers subconsciously associate the sound with the brand's visual elements and overall messaging. 

By ensuring that sonic elements are in harmony with other aspects of creative expression, brands can create a more immersive and memorable presence in the minds of their audience.

A well-crafted sonic identity evokes positive feelings and creates a sense of familiarity that consumers appreciate, rather than resist. The key is to develop sonic elements that are subtle yet distinctive, aligning with the brand's personality and seamlessly integrating into various consumer touch points without overwhelming or irritating the audience.

The sonic branding should be designed with flexibility in mind, allowing for adaptations across various platforms, mediums and contexts while maintaining its core identity. A well-crafted sonic brand can be seamlessly integrated into diverse applications, from short mobile notifications to longer brand videos, ensuring consistency.

Discover how music for brands creates lasting connections with customers.

The primal power of sound

Using a potent mix of sounds against a backdrop of audio narratives creates an emotional connection and engagement that can't be found in other mediums. That's because our response to sound is primal and instinctive – the sound of a baby crying, for example, cannot be ignored. Indeed, music resonates with our deepest emotions as humans. 

Sound also conveys emotional cues, and depending on the volume and tempo, can create distinct meanings and feelings. Imagine the sound of water - waves crashing on a beach instinctively makes people think of relaxing, while a persistently dripping tap creates a sense of unease or annoyance.

Using audio narratives alongside these evocative sounds allows brands to access human emotions and create powerful, memorable associations. According to studies, incorporating sonic brand cues can increase the chances of attracting and engaging audiences by up to 8.5 times.

Renowned cognitive neuroscientist Professor Charles Spence has conducted extensive research on the impact of sound on human perception and behaviour. Among his findings are the inherent associations between certain sounds and specific tastes, textures, or smells. For example, a high-pitched sound might be associated with sweetness, while a low-pitched sound might be associated with bitterness.

The importance of a unique sonic brand identity

Sonic brands are sometimes overlooked in favour of more obvious branding identities such as visual logos, but they form a crucial part of a brand's personality and core messaging. In fact, a study by market research company Kantar Group shows that audio branding can improve brand recognition by 76%.

A distinctive sonic identity makes your brand instantly recognisable, sight unseen. It also allows a deeper connection to your customers and sets you apart from your competitors. By creating consistency across all your audio touchpoints from jingles to on-hold messages to podcasts you reinforce your brand's personality and values.

Production values matter

Today's audiences have heightened expectations thanks to well-produced podcasts, audiobooks, jingles and radio programs that are so readily available. High production values ensure your audio narratives uphold production excellence and position your brand as highly professional and authoritative in the space.

Technological innovations like spatial audio, binaural recording, and immersive mixing are allowing brands to create ever more engaging and realistic audio experiences. 

Of course, one of the biggest tech advances in audio narratives is AI, allowing creative responses that were unimaginable, even a few years ago. AI allows seamless incorporation of audio narratives across podcasts, jingles, interactive experiences and more. This enables richer, more engaging multimodal brand storytelling. 

It is important to work with an agency that practices being artist-led and ethical – AI is a collaborative tool, not a replacement for humans. 

How diversity improves creativity

The truism 'who makes the work, shapes the work' is evident in how diversity and technological advancements have combined to birth every modern movement in music and the arts. The diverse backgrounds of creators, coupled with new technologies, have been the driving forces behind artistic innovation.

Representation matters. For example, 70% of consumers are women yet fewer than 3% of producers and engineers in the UK are women. Greater diversity in our creative workforce helps us reflect, represent and champion women in the work we make.

Brands gain an additional dimension to their marketing by sharing behind-the-scenes (BTS) content of how their work was created. This approach builds a stronger human connection between the brand and consumer, with the artist serving as the bridge.

High production values involve more than a professional studio and setup: it is the people creating the audio narrative who capture something distinctive and ineffable. Working with a team that is authentically diverse improves creativity and resonance. Diversity means authentically using a wider lens to view the world and the creative process.

Authentic storytelling requires under-represented perspectives to bring a richer variety of stories and creative styles to explain the human experience. Exploring and sharing different lived realities creates fuller, more real representations. This is good not just for your brand, but for society.

We believe that true diversity underpins social responsibility, innovation and differentiation through purpose – creating creativity and fresh perspectives. 

We create sonic brand identities, ad jingles, podcasts and more to help brands forge deep, lasting connections through the power of sound. Contact us to discuss creating an original and memorable audio narrative for your next campaign.