This could be put to great use as a mnemonic/trigger in integrated drink driving and speeding campaigns. For example placing them near schools. Interruption can be a good thing.

Lancaster, California has a musical road that has been pock marked with special grooves that sing out a tune.

Made by Honda as part of an upcoming advertising campaign, the road plays “The William Tell Overture” and for best results the company advices you to drive over with a Honda Civic because the company says that the road was tuned specifically to the tires and wheelbase of a Civic.

The juries out as to whether it’s a great piece of marketing or just plain annoying. (More on Google)

However the residents want the road back in original tar because many drive past out of key. …for best results the company advices you to drive over with a Honda Civic because the company says that the road was tuned specifically to the tires and wheelbase of a Civic.

The  choice of The William Tell Overture strikes me as odd for such an innovative brand and it isn’t compelling enough to motivate people to drive a Honda Civic in order to hear it in key.

What do you think?

More musical roads here.

via Rintonia

I was recently interviewed for an article about sonic branding for Brandchannel.com.

You can read the article “India Turns Up the Volume on Sonic Branding” here.

The comments section is also worth a read, as it illustrates the confusion that still exists around what sonic branding is and isn’t.

A very big thank you to Preeti Khicha for the opportunity to participate, and for taking the time to explore the exciting and growing area of sonic branding.

Enjoy and let us know what you think.

Marcel

Muzicons go right to  the heart of the power of music - its ability to communicate emotion - succinctly and directly. 

They’re already a great personal branding tool - and with a bit of tweaking, mashing and imagination could be turned into a powerful communication tool for brands.

If the creators could make it easier to integrate into blogs, and social networking sites like the iLike Facebook application they could have a real winner on their hands.

Here’s my muzicon for cool. (Apologies if it doesn’t show - Wordpress/the Muzicon site/flash are bit flakey for some reason)

Music Credits

Artist: Barry Adamson
Album: Oedipus Schmoedipus
Song: Set The Controls For The Heart Of The Pelvis

Get it on iTunes and Last FM

via Mashable

Making the simple complicated is commonplace; making the complicated simple, awesomely simple, that’s creativity.
—Charles Mingus

Better Git It In Your Soul

Do not ask what sound, music and silence can do for you.
Ask what it can do for your customers.

How can sound, music and silence make their lives easier, more pleasurable, more interesting?
How can sound solve their problems?

Is your brand sound track insight led or trend driven?

Thanks to Dave Armano for the original inspiration.

“Are your marketing initiatives insight led or trend driven?”

I really like how Seth Godin prefaces the viewing of this video with the following statement.

Safe for work, audio is okay.

As our media and ad spend becomes more diversified it is important to consider the appropriateness of audio content in different environments.

For example, if your target audience spends most of their time accessing your on-line content/ads in the workplace, is it appropriate to have sound? And if so what is appropriate and how can the user protect him/herself from an embarrassing audio onslaught?

Where and when sound should be used is just as important to your sonic branding strategy as the type of sound you use, and of course determining this always starts with your audience.

Enjoy the silence.

Sonic branding is a lot more than an audio logo, or well thought out brand sound track.

It is the total impact of sound across all your assets and touchpoints.

Noel over at IntentionalAudio.com has posted a very insightful article on the impact of environmental sounds on your employees, customers and brand.

He also provided a great list of books on music psychology and related topics which I’ve placed on de.licio.us where you’ll also find a lot of other resources related to sonic branding.

You can also read more about how we approach environmental sounds and “bleed” here.

Mark Cohen over at Ad-Supported Music Central points us to an article by Martin Pazzani.

…a growing number of marketers are beginning to see the benefits of using audio… They use music and sound as an integrated, planned, strategic communication tool rather than a lowly production afterthought.

…I have seen brand recognition and awareness, ad recall, Web visits and consumer information calls all increase by double digits by using the same carefully selected brand-based music in all TV and radio ads for a year. This level of consistency was not boring or creatively limiting, but rather, it followed the basic principals of branding that have long been used in the visual world: consistency and differentiation.

Read the whole article here

Well worth a read if you’re interested in the art and science of sonic branding and moving beyond the jingle.

The great thing about this consumer driven “viral” is that the author, Mike Solomon makes it easy for others to contribute and get involved. Download the Garageband file here and the audio file here.

Product sounds are a very powerful and often overlooked branding tool. Read a great article about sound in industrial design here. This viral exploits their potential perfectly.

Nokia remix anyone?

via Core 77