Everyone loves music, but not everyone loves advertising. Faced with increasingly impatient and fickle customers, some of the world’s most famous brands have been turning to music and artists to engage the public in a way they could never do alone. Why? Because music speaks to our emotions, brings people together and starts conversations. If used correctly, it can turn a one-off purchaser into a loyal fan.
“Jakob Lusensky has done a great service to all marketers by writing Sounds Like Branding. Every company should have a music strategy. Some do; most don’t. This book shows you how. It’s a five step programme – a very short stairway to heaven.” - Kevin Roberts, CEO Worldwide, Saatchi & Saatchi
Bloomsbury Publishing Plc (A&C Black Publishers Ltd) will publish the English version of Sounds Like Branding in the UK on the 18th of July.
This weekend we got a very interesting marketing study that researches key factors for success when creating and implementing a sonic/music identity. Niklas Andersson has a master of science in business and economics at the Lund University in Sweden.
Below are ten of the key conclusions Niklas draws in how to be successful when establishing and implementing your sonic/music identity.
1. Knowing your brand identity, i.e. knowing who you are before trying to convince consumers of who you are, through sonic branding.
2. Conducting a deep and thorough analysis, prior to engaging in the creation of a sound identity; investing sufficient enough of resources for this to be made possible
3. Understanding that when determining core values, tied to a company´s or brand´s identity, one must also include a consideration to them being suitable, as far as being possible to clearly and distinctly recreate as music and sounds
4. Gaining knowledge of the tastes and preconditions of certain targeted groups
5. Differentiating the transmitted core values of a sound identity from that of competitors, so that it can become clear and unique
6. Understanding that certain core values, when attempted to be translated into music and sounds, may lie very close to being perceived in a completely different, and perhaps greatly undesired way.
7. Reaching internal conviction within companies, of the reasons for a certain sound identity´s components and attributes. If co-workers are not entirely convinced of the cleverness and importance of its sound identity, they may reject it and in so increase
the risk of it rather weakening as opposed to strengthening the image of the brand
8. If possible, conducting consumer tests prior to the implementation of a sound identity, testing its perceived values by measuring emotional association
9. Enabling a sophisticated marriage between sonic and visual attributes; in so creating the sense of overall aesthetic appeal
10. Reviewing and, if needed, modifying a company´s sound purchasing strategy, in so possibly saving large amounts of resources, as well as increasing the chances of creating a unified sound identity
