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Sonic Boom

Ting ting ti ting? goes every Britannia ad. And while you may not remember every biscuit brand that the house of Britannia has, that catchy tune does remain in your head long after you have switched off the TV set.

Ting ting ti ting? goes every Britannia ad. And while you may not remember every biscuit brand that the house of Britannia has, that catchy tune does remain in your head long after you have switched off the TV set. Same is the case for every Intel ad which signs off with its customary five notes of ?pam pampam pam pam?. When Tata DoCoMo released its first ?Friendship Express? ad in 2009, it was the passengers featured in the ad who were whistling a very unique tune. Today, the phonetics-based soundtrack is what perhaps helps the telecom brand stand out in a very cluttered market.

Even though the audio in the audio-visual medium of advertising is not talked about as much as the visual part, the fact remains that it is indispensable to television and radio advertising. Sound or sonic branding is a broad term which encompasses various sound formats that can be associated with a brand such as signature tune, jingle, background music, tagline, background song and brand theme. In India, some of the most memorable examples would include the signature tunes of Titan, Britannia, Raymond, Nokia, Liril, Vodafone, Airtel, Tata DoCoMo and some of the jingles/songs of television commercials of yesteryears such as Hamara Bajaj, Sabki Pasand Nirma and Lijjat Papad. But, sadly, despite having a decent share of sound sonic branding examples, this space still remains relatively unexplored in India compared to western countries where there are agencies devoted to the art of creating sound branding.

Says Paul Bay, founder of UK-based sonic branding agency Citizensound, ?Many companies who profess to offer ‘sonic branding’ , focus only on the music for the ad. There are companies who produce sounds for the ad agencies and clients, providing acoustic accompaniment to the visual message of advertising. This in itself is important, yet it relegates sonic branding to an executional role in the brand process, not helped by the fact that ad agencies are primarily visual agencies. Sonic branding is so much more than a jingle. Historically, branding has effectively been visual branding. Pantone Colours was king and the ‘visual brand book’ ruled, but no longer. All the senses are now being accepted into brand thinking, which is not surprising, given that human beings are sensory beings, not just visual ones.?

Bay feels that if brands truly want to create ‘consumer experience’, that experience has to be multi-sensory, not just visual. He adds, ?Sounds reach the sub-conscious, trigger memories, provide comfort and shift our emotional state. Understanding how people ‘hear’ brands is as essential as how people ‘see’ brands. This is even more important now in what is the visual branding chaos that is Mumbai, London, New York and beyond. So sonic branding involves intense research, a strategic plan, clear execution across all possible sonic channels that can impact stakeholder perceptions, and constant reflection and monitoring.?

There are various nuances involved while creating sonic branding. According to Bay, in the West, sonic branding agencies bring in the expertise as the traditional ad agencies do not understand and give much importance to music. He says, ?We spend time presenting at conferences, and running internal workshops with clients to help raise the understanding of the business benefits of a more strategic approach to how they sound. We help many agencies and clients on the briefing process and help get it (sound) thought about much earlier in the process.?

In terms of the nuances of deciding music and sounds, Bay says that much comes from insights on consumer perceptions and the over-arching brand strategy. All of this is then filtered through the brief to the right choice of sonic creatives.

?We have a wide range of composers we work with (from Copenhagen to Bangalore) and sources of existing music from around the world. e use the world as our sonic palette. We crowdsource the sounds,? he adds.

Agrees Shouvik Roy, director of New Delhi-based brand design agency, Brand Planet Elephant, ?Every brand has a verbal and a visual identity?the first step in deciding what music should articulate its sonic identity. Sonic identity has several components like genre and feel selection, origin of music decision, pace, tone and rhythm components. These components form the sound brief and are then used as a guide for all applications. It is also decided whether there would be use of words/lyrics in certain applications. The tighter the sound specifications, the more cohesive is the music.?

Roy is a member of the International Community for Audio Branding and his case study on audio branding was the first case from Asia which was featured in Journal for Audio Branding.

Adds KV Sridhar, national creative director, Leo Burnett, ?The music for a TV ad depends on the personality of the brand and the mood of the film. Sometimes, sound is used to enhance the mood of the film. In other cases, signature tune dictates the personality of the brand. For example, we have used a signature tune for Tata Capital by Shankar- Ehsaan- Loy (music directors) and the film culminates into that. Thus, visual has to compliment the sound in such cases. Another example is the Fair and Lovely tune which depicts transformation.?

Prasoon Joshi, executive chairman and regional executive creative director APAC, McCann Erickson Worldgroup, says that sound has to be an integral part of the brand message. ?It has to do justice to what the brand stands for,? he says.

There are no particular categories of brands that lead themselves to having a signature tune, say experts. According to Bay, every brand has its sound or sounds. The sonic vibration created by a brand can resonate deeply with consum-ers. The exciting thing is that more and more brands are now hearing (as opposed to seeing!) the potential. Roy feels that every brand that has an prominent audio interface needs a signature tune. The interface is not just TV, but several others like on-hold tune at customer service, showrooms and retail spaces.

A big spin-off today is download of signature tunes which allows the brand to carry on a dialogue with the consumer beyond the ad. That was recognised by telecom service provider Airtel when in 2002 it got an entire ad campaign made around its signature tune composed by AR Rahman. Not only did the ad become popular, the signature tune was at one time the most downloaded song at 150 million times. When Airtel recently went for a rebranding strategy, it used this learning to come out with a new signature tune, again composed by Rahman.

?Our new tune retains the essence of the original but uses a musical style that will be loved by listeners the world over,? said an Airtel spokesperson. ?We?ve not committed to any language on this. It?s just syllables and scatting on it so it?s got a younger vibe.

The whole idea is to have celebrations and fun.?

Sonic branding is evolving at a different pace in every country and in India, it still has a long way to go. Roy feels that sonic branding is very much in its infancy in India. ?I think the scene would change over the next few years. But, this depends on two critical factors ? availability of branding professionals who ?understand? music and its nuances, and clients who are willing to invest in this,? he says.

Says Bay, ?Sonic branding is evolving at different speeds in different markets partly due to a lack of clarity on what it is. If India goes the way of the US and just focuses on the jingle, it would be missing a massive opportunity to build phenomenal consumer experiences. Just as the logo of a brand is only a part of the visual experience of the brand, a jingle is merely one part of the soundscape that the consumer hears.?

To be sure, while ads made in the eighties and nineties were heavily dependent on jingles, now they seem to have lost their relevance. Sridhar says that jingles which sound like ?nursery rhymes? have definitely lost appeal.

?Television has evolved tremendously and there are more sounds now. Jingles have now become songs, peppy words, catchy phrases, slogans, etc. Jhingalala for Tata Sky is a good example of that. As a nation, we are ?voice people? as we love sound and we love to talk but the sounds that we need now are more evolved,? says Sridhar.

Roy echoes the same sentiments. ?Jingles (with words and limericks) are being fast replaced by tunes and ?songs? with lyrics that do not convey a product attribute/benefit (for example, Vodafone?s You and I lyrics versus Nirma?s Doodh si safedi, Nirma se aiye).?

Joshi feels that sonic branding is evolving organically in India. People have started recognising the power of sound branding and subliminal messaging is become increasingly important. However, he says, ?While earlier it was happening by default, now it is happening by design. People are consciously giving more importance to sound. Sound engineers and music directors are extremely important in creating advertising.?

Amongst Indian examples, two of the best cases of signature tune are Titan (an old brand which has retained the same signature tune for over two decades) and Tata DoCoMo (a relatively new entrant in the telecom category which created a distinct sound identity for itself).

While on the learning curve, there are some great international examples of sonic branding that India can take a cue from. Says Bay, ?British Airways has used the same music for years and it is clearly as important as the visual identity, if not more so. The music emits sophistication, comfort, calm and security. When the brand moved to BBH, the agency and the new BA boss made an error by dropping the music from the ad. Frequent flyers were not happy, so in the next ad the music came back.?

Another of Bay?s favourites is BMW. ?When you close a door of a BMW, it sounds like a BMW. It sounds reassuringly expensive, solid, crafted. Do the same with an American car, or a French one…not quite the same. At BMW they have an acoustic division focused purely on making sure the sound of every part of the car is ?on brand?. This adds much to the ?brand experience? of a BMW,? he says.

Sridhar?s favourite are the Marlboro ads which have always used country music with a feel of the outdoors. According to Roy, Audi has invested in an exhaustive sonic branding exercise. He says, ?Some of the output is exemplary and some applications look a bit distant and complex to implement.?

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First published on: 15-02-2011 at 02:08 IST
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