Sonic Branding: Overlooked And Undervalued.

Anywhere there’s adverting, there’s sonic branding, defined as a brand’s audible identity across all channels and touchpoints, often with a short series of notes over a few seconds. Some sonic branding, such as for State Farm or Old Spice, has evolved from decades-old jingles while others, like McDonald’s “Ba da ba ba ba” or Netflix’s “Tudum,” have become synonymous with their brands.

While there are plenty of heavy radio advertisers using sonic branding – such as Lowe’s, AutoZone and Liberty Mutual – many brands still overlook its potential to build lasting recognition and connect more deeply with distracted audiences.

“Despite its proven ability to significantly boost brand awareness and engagement at a minimal relative cost, sound is frequently overlooked in corporate marketing,” a report from SmartBrief says. “There seems to be a comfort level spending on promotional campaigns, sponsorships and search ads, but when it comes to branded audio, companies hit pause. You wouldn’t question creating a visual logo for your brand, but somehow creating a sound is something less concrete.”

Citing research from System1, the report notes that when used effectively, sound can significantly increase brand awareness and audience engagement, making it one of the most influential brand assets.

Among the common misconceptions about the role of audio in brands are that it’s just an add-on to round out the emotion, as opposed to being seen for its longer-term value. Add to that the confusion between jingles and sonic branding, where the latter involves unique elements for different audience touchpoints, and advertisers’ difficulty in describing brand audio and not viewing it as a core brand asset.

“Essentially, wherever a brand can be heard, there is an opportunity to connect deeply with audiences,” the report says. “And as with all branding, consistency matters. It’s hard to build recognition by changing your brand assets every campaign. Yet many companies do exactly this with audio. The music might express the emotion of a piece beautifully, but if it’s always different, how is it communicating your brand?”

Why is sonic branding important in the current ad environment? “Marketers have more channels than ever to communicate brand messaging, and distracted audiences have more content competing for their attention,” the report says. “We have less time to earn that attention and even less time to hold it. Sound has a unique advantage because it doesn’t require a view. It works while people are scrolling, driving, shopping, exercising or simply going about their day. It’s also processed quickly, and deeply connected to emotion and memory – essential for brand recall. That allows brand audio to make a meaningful impression in milliseconds.”

Yet, an Ipsos study found that fewer than 10% of ads used branded audio, even though ads featuring it were 8.5 times more likely to rank among high-performing ads with strong attention and engagement.

The good news for marketers: sonic branding is a long-term investment designed to increase awareness for years to come, vs. being a one-time campaign or media buy. 

“Sonic assets will work continuously to connect and strengthen all marketing activities, making individual campaigns more recognizable, improving brand attribution and building familiarity with every use,” SmartBrief’s report says. “Similar to a visual identity, you can’t always point to a simple ROI calculation for sonic branding, but its value shows up in the things marketers already care about: awareness, brand lift and audience buzz. Whether you’re investing $20 million or $900 million in marketing, engaging with audiences more effectively creates significant value.”