Sound Branding as its best or worst? The Vuvuzela Sound of the World Cup 2010

Posted on June 14, 2010 | Leave a comment

Everyone one of us who has seen one of the first matches of this World Cup on TV – or even on Radio – will immediately recall the sound of this World Cup: the Vuvuzela Sound (Source: http://www.boogieblast.co.za). All over the world there are already heavy discussions about this – for most people – annoying sound. Why do people not like it? It doesn’t stop, no breaks, no dramaturgy at all…a steady ongoing buzz like a swarm of bees or hornets.

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Pioneers of Sound Branding: Siemens

Posted on June 7, 2010 | Leave a comment

A few weeks ago the Sound Branding Blog was able to talk to Jürgen Barthel, Head of Corporate Design at Siemens. Jürgen Barthel is involved in Brand Management at Siemens. He was one of the pioneers to acknowledge the importance of corporate sound and is the Master Mind behind the acoustic identity of Siemens.

Jürgen Barthel who studied graphic design combines extensive experience from companies as diverse as Grundig, Rosenthal, and Siemens, as well as from his years at the advertising agency Publicis. Continue reading →

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Are your sounds becoming brand assets?

Posted on May 20, 2010 | 6 comments

Are your sound elements becoming brand assets? I found an interesting blog post by Jenni Romaniuk on Randall Beard’s Blog which is describing how you can understand, identify, and build distinctive brand assets.

She states that music, jingles, and sounds can become distinctive assets, just like logos, colors, shapes, characters, or fonts. As examples she uses the Aflac duck, the Nike Swoosh, and Mastercard’s priceless advertising. For Europeans or Germans Milka‘s purple cow or Telekom’s “di-di-di-dii-di” are equivalent examples.

For these elements to become a real asset for the brand it is not enough to be used as part of the brand identity. The specific element has to be unique and prevalent. Only then this element can help to support brand identification or even replace the brand name in communication efforts.  Continue reading →

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Can you change your brand name? The Pe(p)si case

Posted on April 26, 2010 | 5 comments

It was like a little earthquake last summer for all branding gurus who claim you should never change your brand name. To this date – especially for all big international brands the rule was: never change your name in spelling and pronunciation! One brand in all markets!

And Pepsi did just the exact opposite. It changed its brand name in Argentina to “Pecsi”.

There is even an official Pepsi, sorry Pecsi website about pronunciation and it reflects in a humorous way how people from Argentina pronounce english words in a different way, e.g. “Rocanroll”, “Daunlos”. Continue reading →

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Term 1: Acoustic Brand Management

Posted on April 14, 2010 | 1 comment

Acoustic Brand Management is the strategic development and implementation of an Acoustic Identity. This Acoustic Identity includes Sound Branding elements, sound dimensions, and the brand voice. The use of the acoustic elements takes place within the complete communication mix. Acoustic elements can be combined with the products and if possible even with the corporate communication.

Do you agree or disagree with this definition? Is anything missing in the definition we use? Please post your ideas in the comments section.

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