Amplify your brand identity with sonic branding: 4 top tips
The majority of people are primed to react to sound, which makes it a critical branding opportunity. Learn how to use sonic branding and take your storytelling to the next level.
Customers have been trained to consider ‘branding’ as logos, messaging, imagery, slogans — you probably know which energy drink will give you wings before you take a swig. However, there’s one massive branding element that too many brands overlook: sound.
Strategically weaving music and sound effects into consumer touchpoints is essential for amplifying your brand’s identity. Because, at the end of the day, music isn’t just a nice-to-have — it’s more. It’s a powerful tool that boosts brand recall, evokes strong emotions, and gives your brand character in a crowded market.
Using music in this way is called sonic branding. Like visual branding, it employs unique motifs and patterns to express your brand’s identity. Done well, a customer or client will immediately know who the brand is, just by hearing a few seconds. Done really well, sonic branding draws out individual emotional states, memories, impressions — auditory stimuli bed themselves deep within your audience’s brains.
Brush up on sonic branding by clicking below. Then, keep reading for some best-practice tips.
1. Use sound to convey personality
Just like your logo or color palette, the music you choose reflects your brand’s personality. Think of it as an opportunity to narrate your brand’s story. If your brand embodies risk-taking and adventure, consider music to match that thrill, the sense of exploration, the wonder.
On the other hand, a brand focusing on wellness would be best suited to music with a more chilled, nurturing vibe. It may sound simple, but choosing the right music is nuanced. Check out this 30-second spot LeBron James did with Calm — the music manages to convey the epicness James brings, while remaining true to Calm’s status as a meditation app.
The key is to ensure the music isn’t just a background element, but something that makes your brand more. That’s why Epidemic Sound provides a unique sonic branding experience: The Epidemic Sound System.
On top of bespoke creations and sound supervision, quick picks and full-on workshops, Epidemic Sound’s Music Curation team also offers a comprehensive Sonic Branding Playbook. It’s a complete music strategy development that covers profiling, guidelines, playlists, and long-term planning, transforming music from a tactical choice to a strategic asset. Interested? Learn more below.
2. There is no sonic brand without consistency
Coca-Cola doesn’t splatter all kinds of color over their assets — they know that red is their identity nowadays. The same goes for sonic cues, building connections between certain styles and sounds with your brand.
Broadly speaking, it’s best to employ similar styles of music or themes across your assets, whether they be social media posts, above-the-line ads, or in-store experiences. This consistency helps your audience associate specific moods or sounds with your brand at a subconscious level. The best examples of this make the aural links to your brand objective rather than subjective — it becomes less about how ‘good’ the music is and more how well it complements the brand.
With that in mind, a sonic brand can even be flipped on its head, like the below KFC ad. The style of music is clearly not KFC’s usual fare, and the audience knows it. The metal genre and aesthetics are played for laughs, subverting the viewer’s expectations of the Colonel’s decades-old brand.
3. Bake music in from the beginning
One common mistake that brands make is treating music as an unhoned afterthought, leaving selection, placement, and the legal aspects to non-experts. The soundtrack can make or break your content, one ill-placed sound or song scuppering the entire project’s emotional impact.
To avoid this, bake music into your project during pre-production — even as early as a first-draft script, storyboard, or shot list, if you have a clear idea in mind. This will reduce the risk of including an asset that feels disjointed. Squash that risk further with a defined sound strategy and dedicated music partner — someone who knows your brand inside-out, translating that intimate knowledge into musical output.
Beyond that, planning musical choices early avoids last-minute or rushed decisions. If you’re up against a tight deadline, low-quality or unlicensed music might creep onto your project timeline. It’s rare, but it does happen — these cases can sink a brand’s image and reputation.
4. Balance trending sounds with authenticity
You’ll no doubt see brands jumping on viral bandwagons or slapping trending sounds on their content. Sometimes it works, and other times…not so much. Lean into a trend if it fits your brand’s sonic identity, but don’t force it. Doing so may backfire, coming off as insincere or disconnected from your brand’s true identity.
It pays to look at this long-term, too. E-commerce company Asendia found that 43% of Gen Z customers would be less sensitive to significant price hikes if the brand in question were authentic. It’s worth noting that this was UK-based research conducted in 2023, during a near-40-year inflation high for the country. Authenticity doesn’t just make your brand look good — it can directly impact your bottom line.
Gone are the days when jingles were the be-all and end-all of brand recognition. Now, more sophisticated soundtracks and data-driven musical insights have taken their place, cutting through the noise in a digital world littered with distractions. When used thoughtfully, sound can bolster your brand’s identity in a way that visuals alone can’t.
That’s what BabyBjörn did with their Always By Your Side campaign, leveraging sound to complement their visuals and tell a rich, authentic story.
Music is a universal language, but it has endless dialects. Find the right lingo with Epidemic Sound and take your sonic branding, campaigns, and content to the next level.
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