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

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

The use of human voice is really refreshing and personalises the experience.

The means now exist to create amazing brand experiences by connecting the emotional expression of sound to the benefits and personality of your brand, in  real- time interactive environments.

Imagine this happening in front of your stores…. powerful stuff.

“People with voices of different frequencies, rhythms or cadences will be able to evoke quite different magical patterns upon the surface of the building - a staccato chirping will result in a completely different set of visual effects to a long howl for example, blending old and new to continue animating the facade of the Minster”.

More at InteractiveArchitecture.org and Haque.

via InteractiveArchitecture.org

Love what David Byrne has to say about democratisation at 02:45

Remember when music was simply FUN?

Thanks to our mates at Rumblefish for pointing us to this.

Via Boing Boing

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

New research suggests that the type of music one listens to while drinking wine can dramatically affect the taste… taste changed by up to 60 percent depending on the vibe of the tune…

From the BBC News: 

(In the latest study,) four types of music were played - Carmina Burana by Orff (”powerful and heavy”), Waltz of the Flowers from The Nutcracker by Tchaikovsky (”subtle and refined”), Just Can’t Get Enough by Nouvelle Vague (”zingy and refreshing”) and Slow Breakdown by Michael Brook (”mellow and soft”) 

The white wine was rated 40% more zingy and refreshing when that music was played, but only 26% more mellow and soft when music in that category was heard. 

The red was altered 25% by mellow and fresh music, yet 60% by powerful and heavy music. 

The results were put down to “cognitive priming theory”, where the music sets up the brain to respond to the wine in a certain way.

Read the whole BBC News articles and recommended music to drink to here.

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.

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

Better Git It In Your Soul

“An artist featured in a new campaign pushed by the Australian music industry to discourage illegal file sharing… says he was duped into joining an anti-piracy “witch hunt”.”

Read the article here.

I won’t wade into the right or wrong arguments about file sharing but it’s worth checking out the comments on theage.com.au to get a feel for where the customer is at.

I will say that the video patronises it’s intended audience - high school students- who do understand the industry. They understand it so well that they don’t need it. Just look at Last.fm, Mog and imeem.

Lindsay gets “The Kids”.

“I’m from a punk rock band, it’s all about getting your music out any way you can - you don’t make money from the record, the record companies make the money from the record. If they can’t make money these days because they haven’t come onside with the way the world is going, it’s their own problem.”

And why didn’t the makers link to YouTube from their site so that the video is easy to share.

Don’t they get “The Kids” ?

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

Thanks to Dave Armano for the original inspiration.

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

Sound design for childrens puppetry theatre: “A Bugs Eye View” | Melbourne Museum (2004)

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.

Via Chroma

Here’s an example and a shameless plug.

View PDF in iTunes

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.

Enjoy

Marcel

…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.

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

Just great big beautiful songs.

If you’re in the US Nicole’s album is available on iTunes.

If you’re an Aussie you can order her cd from Amazon.

You can find more of Nicole Atkins and the Sea’s music here and on Last.fm.

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)

————————————————————————-

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.

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?

A big thank you for checking in to this humble blog, there’s more to come.

Also a shout out to our friends in the biz over seas especially Noel at Intentional Audio Identity and Brian at Rumblefish, Rona at Sound-Strategies and Julian at Sound Business for the link sharing, insights and enthusiasm.

Cheers

Marcel.

Melbourne International Arts Festival: “Risk Reduction”

Voice over (edit) of Angus Monfries recorded on location at Windy Hill for the Locker Room Interactive Display.

Voice over (edit) of Kevin Sheedy recorded on location at Windy Hill for the Locker Room Interactive Display.

• Your iPod
• Your mobile’s ring tones
• Your TV
• Your radio
• Your in-store music
• Your on-hold music
• Your computer’s speakers.

The whole shebang.

See the website here. Read more about it here

Most would be familiar with the role that muzak has played in the retail space (though often quite badly and with little thought).

Sound however can be used in a much more targeted and powerful way, as an attention grabber, memory trigger and differentiator in out of home (OOH) and point of sale (POS) marketing.

“Always opt for digital where available, especially if it incorporates sound and Bluetooth. Research conducted by the JC Williams Group concluded that shoppers are 5-10 times more likely to notice and recall dynamic media than static media….”
Jeff Estok, General manager sales and marketing, Global Mall Media

“Use all senses to trigger emotional impact. Emotion is the key! If your customer comes home and still talks about your brilliant and unique POS advertising you got it right. To achieve this, you should think about all human senses and how your POS campaign can stimulate the senses….”
Holger Pfeilmaier, marketing manager, LookPrint

When implementing sound in your OOH/POS it is worth considering the following:

1. Like the internet OOH is not television: Even if the delivery media is screen based. But like TV, if not implemented in a way that is sensitive to shoppers and passers by, they will switch off. We learnt that the hard way with the internet, didn’t we?
2. People hate being yelled at. OOH should invite people to engage with your brand. Whether through interactive technologies or the tone and feel of the audio content. Sonically hitting people over the head is more likely to damage your brand.
3. Technology is not the message. Content is.
4. You are not alone. OOH and POS often occurs in shared environments. Using the physical space and working together with other retailers/users will reduce the need to shout over each other and drive people away because all they are hearing is a big argument.
5. The purpose of the audio content should be clear, should support the visual content and broader communication strategy, and conform to your sonic branding guidelines.
6. Most importantly: Have fun, be adventurous and unique and evaluate, evaluate, evaluate.

Happy spruiking

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”.

If you’re unfamiliar with podcasts, think of them as prerecorded radio shows that you can download and listen to at any time.What sets them apart from ordinary audio files, however, is the ability to subscribe to a podcast’s special feed called an RSS feed and have new episodes automatically downloaded to your PC as they become available.

They also use the podpress plugin on word press which is a fairly painless to use: A volume control would make it 99.9% perfect. Read more about website sound, volume and usability here. A podcast can be a whole lot more than a “radio show”, it can be delivery platform for all sorts of branded content.Some things that don’t get mentioned in the article are the ability

• to add web/html links to podcasts which can be used to direct listeners to more resources
• to podcast Adobe PDF documents and quicktime movies and;
• to include chapters which allow your listeners to jump to the bits they want to listen to and for you to target your advertising.

or View PDF in iTunes

Go here to see an example of a podcast with links and chapters (click on “play now”) or subscribe and watch the Bollywood Dreams Episode in iTunes

Confused? Post your questions and comments in the the comments/leave a reply section below and I’ll answer them.

Happy chatting

Marcel

Old Patterns - New BeatsSpring School Holiday Program.Take a journey with ‘CJ’ and discover something special about Bunjil the eagle, and the story of Melbourne. An enchanting performance of puppetry and hip-hop dancing that tells the story of Melbourne’s Indigenous history.Directed by Rachel Maza.

More info here

Read more about it here.

A big thanks to the multimedia, production and curatorial departments who made it a great team effort. It’s the sharing of ideas, approaches and the occasional debate that makes things better than the sum of it’s parts.

A special thanks as always to Nigel for his ears and smile.

Also thanks to Aaron and Luke at Studio One for making things happen and Stephan for the magic box.

Nigel chin stroking (and admiring himself in the mirror)

Marcel being the centre of attention as usual

Shane chin stroking (I think)

Marcel getting in the mood

Nigel working so fast that he’s a blur

Another Podcasting advertiser to watch is Podtrac.com
We use them to track how you use our media files and podcast.

Companies are going to jump on to this more and more.

This form of advertising and brand alignment is powerful because the user has a choice to engage unlike the interruption based advertising of banner ads .

Some things to think about before you jump into the brave new world of ad supported content.

Station Id’s composed for the theme “The Flick and The Riff”

Station Id’s composed for the theme “The Flick and The Riff”

1. What works for you?
2. What doesn’t work for you?
3. Is it easy to use?
4. Do we make sense?

Want to know how we did it. Ask us…

It’s young, energetic, and yearning for attention and some good people to help it grow up, so don’t hold back.

Thanks

Marcel

This is an enhanced podcast meaning that you can use iTune’s “chapters” menu bar to jump to the bits you want to hear. Think of it like the skip button on your cd player (if you still have one).

You can also click on links that appear in the iTunes “album art” window.

Read the case study here

Enjoy

No iTunes? Subscribe to the RSS feed here.

Melbourne International Arts Festival: “Risk Reduction”

Some great insights were highlighted including the growing need (and interest) of organisations and brands to protect their sensory assets and property as these become more potent differentiators in the market place.

One of the examples we discussed was the pop that the Pringles tube makes when
opened. We then spoke about how this sound could be developed, refined and leveraged, I hate that word, as a consistent sonic trigger and brand differentiator, by implementing it across a range of media andtouchpoints from the packaging to advertising and digital…

The best bit came when we started talking about the crunch and noise that
chips, crackers and other foods make when we chew, how some sounds are really loud inside our heads and the feeling of awkwardness this can create when in public - the merging of sound and taste…

…you’ve got to cater for a dinner party, you’ve got a choice between the noisy cracker and the non noisy cracker. Which do you choose?

Some food for thought.

It was lovely to swap notes and excitement.

Wonderful.

Including:

1. Making it easy for your users to find and control the volume of the sound.
2. Ensuring that the sound is appropriate for your brand.
   Why is it that those clicky sounds on a lot of flash sites all sound (a)like they’re off the Matrix?
3. Making sure the sound suits your target audience’s viewing/listening environment.

I was listening to some of the iWork tutorials on the Apple website and noticed that the volume of the narrators voice was different for each tutorial.

This meant that I was continually distracted and annoyed because I had to keep resetting the volume to a level that worked for me and others.

Usually what happens in this situation is that the user turns the sound off because it has become hard to use. Unfortunately the voice over was integral to the sales pitch… oops, sorry, tutorial.

Good bye sales pitch. Good bye customer.

Find the experience here.

Authors include brand strategists, lawyers, visual designers, customer experience/usability designers and web/digital media creators and a few of us soundies as well.

It provides a nice well rounded view of sound as a brand reinforcement, communication and marketing tool.

Last time I looked I had cataloged around 100 articles on the the topic so there’s more too come.

In the meantime let me know what you’re interested in, and I’ll tag the articles so that they are easier for you to locate on the delicious page.

Enjoy and happy information overload.

Marcel

Think of it as something like Google Adsense for music.

We’ll see a lot more of this as record companies try to respond to file sharing and the need to generate new revenue streams in light of decreasing profits.

Ad supported music is a good idea in theory. However, some things need to be ironed out before it is truly viable, here’s a few.

1. How will ads be matched to music so that they reach the intended target market? The reason why Adsense is so successful is that it “senses” key words in the content and matches them to relevant advertising?Tagging of music files is one way to resolve this. Who will manage this?
   The record company, the advertiser’s agencies, ad insertion companies…
2. What control do advertisers have over deciding what music their products and brands will be associated with? How do these associations integrate with and support their broader marketing strategy and campaigns?
3. What happens if an artist has an exclusive licensing deal with a brand and they are “accidently” played alongside a competitor’s ad? Who is responsible for monitoring this?

This La Times article (via Ad Supported Music Central) explains some of the issues with marrying “bands to brands”.

What do you think?

Have you done an objective, comprehensive and multi-touch-point audit of your brand’s audio assets?

Do you have audio-identity guidelines that cover all the points of contact your customers have with your brand?

Do these audio-identity guidelines make their way into the creative briefs used to inform the development of marketing communications?

He also identifies brands who do and don’t do music and sonic branding well.

Read the whole article here

Technorati Tags: Sonic branding, Strategy

Powered by ScribeFire.

If you’re experience is anything like mine, it can be a complicated journey through Google searches and forums: Often with no joy at the end.

Why do so many companies make it so difficult for their customers to voluntarily spread their brand? Maybe they’re spending too much time reading books on solving the complexities of viral marketing instead of looking at the obvious.

So who gets it?

Wolf Blass does: they’ve got a link to the great music that everyone talks about here. It’s pretty easy to find on their website.

They could make it easier to download and also embed data in the file so that when it’s played in a mp3 player (software or hardware) the song title and album art will show up; but compared to a lot of other brands they’re doing a good job.

Apple should get it! After all one of their core businesses is playing and selling music. So you like the new iPod/iTunes ad music right. You want to find the tune to put on your brand new iPod right. How easy is it?

Not very. Apple lists the artist and song on their iPod ad site. But can you just click and buy? No.

This is how easy it would be for Apple to use iTunes and music to reinforce brand recognition and association.

Coca Cola Europe gets it: You just click on the Subscribe on iTunes which takes you to their iTunes podcast page. They could go even one click less by automatically subscribing you like this. It would be nice if their music player remembered the volume I’ve set it at, so that it didn’t deep ripping my head off. I do want to listen to the music, just not that loud.

I’m surprised that Coke’s Australian Music site doesn’t take the same approach. Actually I gave up. Too hard, too many clicks. “Why should I give Coke all my personal data? I just like the bands…” right?

It’s common knowledge that music is a powerful tool in creating positive and memorable associations.

So next time your so called integrated communication agency tells you to spend lots of money licensing music for their fancy award entry campaign, ask them whether they have a simple strategy for spreading this valuable asset. If they don’t, maybe they aren’t listening to you or your customers.

This music is a breath of fresh air.

When in doubt go back to the source.

Technorati Tags: Music, Grime, Authenticity

Powered by ScribeFire.

1. Consistent
2. His beliefs are unequivocal
3. He is unmistakable, totally unique

My dad and I were gushing the other day about his integrity, his passion, and his ability to communicate. To cut the crap..

When it comes to sonic branding, Johnny Cash unwittingly wrote the rule book.

His song “Man In Black” says it all…
Get it here on iTunes.

As for the words and music: the restraint is awe inspiring.

Everyone from jingle writers to copy writers could learn a thing or two by listening to the “air” in his songs.

Check it out

Powered by ScribeFire.

Technorati Tags: Music, Branding, Communication, Sonic Branding

“Can you tell the shops to do something about the music they play, it makes me want to leave”!?

and

“Please fix the on hold music that I have to listen to, it drives me insane”.

So what is the music and sonic character of your organisation doing to your customers, employees and your business?

Is it damaging or enhancing your image?

By the way that’s what I do: make you sound good, that is.

Marcel