Sonic Logos

Do you know about sonic logos?

Of course you do. Maybe you don’t know them by name, but you’re familiar with the concept.

Here is the “Intel Inside” sonic logo:

Oh yeah, now we remember Sonic Logos.

What could a sonic logo do for your business?

A sonic logo or sound branding, helps associate your brand to a sound or small tune. Our sound sense is a strong sense. We associate all sorts of memories to sounds. I’ll bet you hear a song from your youth and are taken back to when you were a young child. I hear the theme song from “Bewitched” and I immediately am taken back to 1965. I’m sitting in the floor in our den, pajamas on, watching Samantha and Darin, the original one, hoping that the show would never end. I had to go to bed when Bewitched was over. I always hoped that this episode would last for several hours. I never did. But, the memory is very strong. As you can see from my little story, the memory of that sound plays a whole ‘movie memory’ in my head. The bottom line, sound is a strong sense.

If you can use sound to associate memories of your brand to target customers…well wouldn’t that be awesome?! Sounds, and particularly music, allow your target market to bond with your brand in all new ways, on a much deeper level. In addition, it really sets you apart from your competition.

What does a sonic logo do for Intel?

You immediately know the sound. I halfway expect to hear it when I power up my laptop. When I see the sticker on my laptop case that says “Intel Inside”, I immediately hear the sonic logo in my head. I’ll bet you do to. This sound, or little song, causes my memories to kick in and I immediately associate the Intel brand with the little song.

So, is it good? As long as you have good feelings about Intel, then it’s good.

Companies invest lots of money to convert their brand promise into a brand look. In most cases that means a color pallet, a font, a logo, a tag line, and hopefully, a company culture. Organizations that do all that well are usually ones we remember. The piece that most businesses overlook is their sonic logo. Converting that same brand culture into a sound. You already have a visual cue. What if you also had a audible cue? Obviously, the more senses you can involve in the perception of your brand, the more likely it will be remembered.

I’m a visual person. If I see a logo, I remember it. If a person gives me their business card, I might not remember their name, but I’ll remember the look of their card and their logo. Part of that is my line of work. I’m always reviewing and judging the value of an organization’s branding. If it’s really good, I remember it. If it’s really bad, I remember it.

However, the same holds true for sound. I might not remember the name of a song, but I remember the song. So what happens when you put a brand together with a song? You’ve got two of the five senses going. The more senses you can engage in the process, the more likely it is that your target market will remember your brand. And that’s two more than most small businesses have.

We’ll be talking more about sonic logos and sonic branding over the next few weeks. As you think about how sound fits within your corporate brand and your company culture, here’s something to listen to: the Ad4! Sonic Logo!

 

If you’d like to learn how to use a sonic logo to improve your brand, give us a call. We’d love to talk.

 

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