Skoda just came out with a new TV commercial for the Skoda Fabia VRS. From a sound and music perspective this spot is quite a revolution and image shift for Skoda. The spot “Made of meaner stuff” can be seen above.
Compared to the previous spots, e.g below one from Australia, Skoda shifts gears and wants to reposition itself “meaner” and more attractive to the male target group.
What I find very interesting that Skoda is not …implementing its Sound Logo at the end of the TV commercial (Does anyone of you know whether the Skoda Sound Logo has been used in Australia or UK? please comment). So far in Germany they have always used the Skoda Sound Logo at the end of the spot. As it can be heard in the german TVC below.
When you compare the german and australian spot with the new one you can hear that there is a misfit when thinking about a consistence brand image. Moreover, with the new music there would be a clash with the existing Sound Logo. I guess that’s why Skoda did not use the Sound Logo.
This case underlines the importance of life-cycle management of Sound Branding elements. And it adds to the discussion about the Audi Sound Branding Case and the question how flexible or consistence a Sound Branding should be?
PS By the way the TV spot from Australia, especially the end, reminds me of a spot from BMW…
Sound Branding Blog 
See my comments on Audi Sound Branding Case.
Strategy is so important. In addition to brand analysis and audits, care should be taken to think about effective implementation. A style guide is useless if it’s too inflexible – or if there’s no commitment to consistency on the part of the brand. I think part of our job as “audio branding specialists” is looking for potential problems in the methodology of implementation for our clients.
I think the Skoda examples show how sound can be used to reposition a brand – but it appears that there was no effort made to adapt the audio logo – something that could have been done easily. In fact, I think by giving the audio logo a “tougher edge” to make it congruent with the new positioning, Skoda could have actually emphasized the shift even more.
A missed opportunity, in my opinion.
Thanks as always for giving us some “sonic food” for thought.
Dear Steve,
again ;) I fully agree with you. The skoda motif is so clear and could be easily repositioned with a different sound charcater. That would be beneficial in two ways: further building up brand recognition (“I have heard that motif before..”) and adding new image dimensions.
Maybe Skoda or the agency read our comments ;)
Cheers
Karlheinz
Execution is key to success. You can plan all day long with hundreds of strategies but if the execution isn’t their what’s the point?
An audio asset in my opinion needs to be flexible enough to withstand permutations as the brand changes with time. So, I agree with both the comments above and the article it’s a missed opportunity by Skoda.