John Maeda’s Laws of Simplicity

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

AEG-Electrolux has installed billboards outfitted with sensors to measure noise levels. So far, they’ve deployed them in London, Berlin, Madrid, Brussels, and Milan. The billboards are part of a “noise awareness” campaign that’s actually a marketing effort for a new “silent” washing machine. The data is also viewable online. Link to AEG Noise Awareness Blog, Link to AEG Noise Awareness site, Link to more info and video at Laughing Squid

via Boing Boing

I really like this because it works on the show them, don’t tell them principle,

It’s really powerful because it uses everyday experiences, and actually empathises with the consumer, customer, PEOPLE.

It’s worth clicking on the above links too, nice follow through and on-line integration.

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?”

Free Hearing Test

Via Chroma

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.

Update: Unfortunately the Youtube video has been removed -”This video is no longer available due to a copyright claim by Lakai, Ltd.”.

But we found another feed on myspace: see below the line.

Just in case they pull this feed and create a digital marketing case study, the music in question can be found here on last.fm or type “M83 Lower Your Eyelids to Die With the Sun” into the search box at http://www.seeqpod.com

You can also get it here on iTunes (Australian store)

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This is great work. Why?

It redefines a category.

That’s what great (sonic) branding does. It doesn’t try to stand out by yelling at you louder than it’s competitors. It does so by daring to express it’s own unique voice in a unique way.

Back in my skating days most vid’s used punk and hardcore soundtracks, now the skating “sound” tends to lean to fast rock and variations of hip hop. More a soundblur than a soundtrack.

Being different is normal.

Some observations about the use of music in the US presidential campaign.

Obama’s gone down the hip hop road and is encountering some problems.

Unlike any presidential election before, the power and influence of music — and hip-hop music in particular — may prove to play an interesting role in a presidential election. Whether you like it or not, the hip-hop culture could possibly create a sea change in perception in how we see the presidential candidate in a way that no stump speech can do.
Read the article on Adage.com

Yes hip hop is perceived as edgy and young, and hip hop does appeal to some people.
The problem is that people and particularly young people get very suspicious when “old people” try to be cool and appropriate youth culture.

The second problem is that hip hop/rap music is not just a style of music but a whole musical sub-culture. Obama has to do two things:

1. Convince the kids that he “fits” Hip Hop culture and
2. Counter negative perceptions of hip hop culture.

Hillary’s branding is much simpler albeit less exciting. She has or rather her audience has chosen Celine Dion’s “You and I” as her theme song.

The real problem with “You and I” isn’t that it was sung by a French Canadian — the real problem is that, like most of Dion’s oeuvre, it’s just a crummy song. Superficially, it sounds like “music,” but it isn’t really. It’s just the product of a well-paid advertising agency’s successful formula for producing persuasive — and mildly sedative — background noise.
Via Hillary’s tone-deaf campaign

Hillary’s theme song gets my vote.
Yes it is bland, yes it is generic. But then so is Hillary (not necessarily a bad thing). She’s safe and so is this song.

So which one’s more effective and what would Michael Jackson think of all this?

I recently did a ring around to client side marketing managers, branding agencies and full service/integrated advertising agencies to find out how and why they use sound in their marketing communications.

All noted the well known fact that sound and music has an immediate and powerful impact on emotions and subsequently brand perception and consumer behaviour.
So I was very surprised to find that no-one, none, zip, zilch, zero dedicated any resources and time to monitoring the impact, continuity and implementation of sound and music across brand touch-points.

This translates to:

1. Music on hold messages that for some inexplicable reason have disappeared with out anyone realising.
2. A lack of continuity across touch points during a “campaign”. Eg: Television commercials, in-store and digital.
3. The random and inconsistent use of musical styles and voice over artists which are the consequence of “creative decisions” being dictated by content producers rather than brand values.

In short the left hand doesn’t know what the right hand is doing, resulting in

• diluted and confused messages
• negative and inconsistent brand experiences
• me-tooism that often promotes competing products and services

So what’s the solution?

Before The Campaign:
Pull together your different specialist agencies and/or integrated agency’s
departments and decide why, what and how sound will be used. And stick to it.

During The Campaign:
Conduct regular touch-point audits to make sure that every thing is still working.
Eg: music on hold, podcasts, in-store music.

Observe and evaluate the responses of customers and prospects.
If you do have to make modifications make sure they are consistent, co-ordinated across all your touch-points and still on message.

After The Campaign:
There is no “After The Campaign”.