Sonic branding: How it works and why every brand needs it

TikTok has completely remixed the music industry, and 9 in 10 users agree that sound is vital to the TikTok experience. Despite its importance, many brands don't have a sonic identity and are having to learn to focus on their music-first or sound-on approaches like never before.

However, this shift actually presents a key opportunity for brands: a chance to own the sonic space, gain advantage over competitors and enrich their brand identity even more. From re-imagining jingles and product sounds to engineering original music, it's more important than ever for brands to optimize their sound in the same way they would focus on their brand guidelines, color scheme and creative identity.

So how can brands cut through the noise and develop their own sonic identity? TikTok Sound Partner MassiveMusic has developed this handy guide to help brands get started. They've also given a sneak peek at their process and how they've helped brands grow through sonic branding. Let's discover how!

What is sonic branding?

Sonic branding is a holistic approach to a brand’s use of music and sound across all relevant touchpoints. This includes a sonic DNA (or brand DNA) track, a sonic logo, various track adaptations (based on the clients' needs and touchpoints), UX/UI sounds, a music library, and so on.

The power of sound in brand marketing and communications is well documented and backed by various points of research and data. Research shows that sonic cues are one of the most effective distinctive assets for gaining branded attention: a study found that brand linkage and recall increase by over 8x when distinctive brand sounds are leveraged in ads, compared to other elements like slogans and logos.¹

Music resonates with us on a human level: it can change how we feel and can impact what we say, wear and buy. It can evoke emotions, alter perception and trigger recall.

Music and sound are among themost effective toolsto capture the attention of your audience, boost distinctiveness and build mental availability. So why do so few brands use them strategically? It could be because they represent uncharted waters for marketers: the music industry is often seen as complex or fragmented, and music as risky or expensive. So how should you approach it?

Let’s start with something very familiar to all brand builders: the visual identity. If you're thinking strategically about your visual identity, tone of voice, typography and photography, that’s exactly why you should be thinking about your sonic identity too. Your journey in music and sound follows very much the same roadmap. Let's take a look at how the process usually works.

First: audience research and strategy

This is where we understand your current and future consumers’ behaviors, habits and interests to find the key insights to build your music and sound strategy around. The concept born from the brand DNA is designed to be comprehensive and flexible. Here we define where and how your brand should use sonic branding.

We dive deeply into your brand, your industry and future trends to arrive at key insights. Collaborative sonic mood board sessions help us align creatively so we can translate insights into a strategy and production brief.

Next, we're ready for creative and production

This is the part so many of our client-partners call the highlight of their week. We share clips, samples and songs to help you think about your brand in musical terms.

This is also where we try to remove subjectivity from the choice of music, by using MassiveBASS (Brand Attribute Sound System), the world’s first data-driven sonic branding tool that matches your brand archetype and values to music. Created in collaboration with SoundOut, MassiveBASS measures how well a sound is remembered, how distinctive it is, whether it's appropriate for your brand, the resonance of each brand value and a recall score according to 500,000 consumers. This way we give our composers musical guidelines while also informing the creative direction to create an ownable sonic identity backed by science and strategy.

After creating, testing and iterating a range of possibilities, we arrive at your main sonic assets.

Let's expand with adaptations and extensions

In the strategy phase we developed audio touchpoint mapping; now, we start to create and plug the soundscape into the map. The potential is further unlocked as internal and external creatives, product, experiential, social teams and others build ideas to leverage the sonic identity in their work.

Time for implementations and guardianship

This isn't the end of the process—more like a new beginning. Here we agree on a list of short-, mid- and long-term deliverables, create guidelines and hold staff workshops. The objective? To roll out the music across a range of touchpoints, ensuring consistency and effectiveness to build brand equity.

So that's it—with these steps from ideation to implementation, you now have a comprehensive approach to branded music and sound.

Where does the sonic logo fit? 

You may have noticed we haven't yet touched on the process for creating a sonic logo—the typical 2-4 second sound that becomes synonymous with your brand and instantly recognizable over time. This is because a sonic logo shouldn't be created in isolation or seen as the sole focus of your sonic branding efforts. Rather, it's one element of your wider brand ecosystem and is intrinsically linked to the other sonic identity work outlined above.

A good sonic logo is sophisticated, detailed and, most importantly, has a story and a reason to exist. It speaks the same language as your other assets while also standing on its own. It's therefore important to approach the sonic identity process holistically, and to see the sonic logo as just one piece of the puzzle.

Just like any good visual logo, a good sonic logo has a legacy and tells us about a brand in a matter of seconds. This means it can live on TikTok, the radio, TV, and wherever else, regardless of what comes before it—whether that’s a piece of branded music, a licensed track, or just silence.

TL;DR: Proven benefits of sonic branding

Investing in music and sound can make all the difference in the (branding) world. If you want to:

• Increase brand recognition

• Positively alter perception

• Increase emotional recall

• Create brand consistency

• Differentiate from your competitors

• Save time and money in the long run

…you should consider having an ownable sonic identity.

TikTok as a sonic touchpoint

Audio consumption is now at the forefront of media, marketing and creative strategies (think audiobooks, music streaming platforms, podcasts, smart speakers, earbuds and, you guessed it, TikTok).

When it comes to navigating the fast-paced universe of TikTok sound, you as a brand can make a difference with a 360 degree sonic identity in place—whether you’re developing audio-first creative concepts, creating tailor-made music and sound for TikTok campaigns, or licensing tracks.

  To read more about MassiveMusic's research on sonic branding, click here.

1. The Power of You: Why distinctive brand assets are a driving force of creative effectiveness 2020. Ipsos Views