At PH Audio we’re in the business of making music and voiceovers that fit a company’s image and brand. Sounding right for callers is critical and has lasting effects. I found an interesting piece of writing on ‘creative synaesthesia’ which brings me nicely onto this post: creatively, how does a company develop an on-hold marketing production or create an audio brand that fits with their branding?
Artificial synaesthesia for audio branding – an overlapping of senses
Synaesthesia is a condition in which one type of stimulation evokes the sensation of another. For example, you might see colours when you hear a particular sound.
But ‘artificial synaesthesia’, as it’s coined in the article I’ve linked to above, can help businesses to understand how consumers perceive brands. By artificially recreating and understanding how people take meaning from a particular word or sound, it’s then easier to create the most effective combinations of voiceovers, content, style and music. Ultimately, you want to be able to positively reinforce brand values in the mind of the consumer.
The fact is, artificial synaesthesia is in us all – when we’re ‘being creative’ we often have to put a relative visual to a piece of music (or vice-versa). Or, in the case of making a film / video, you’ll often accompany images with an appropriate piece of music to set the scene for the audience. The same can therefore be applied to on-hold marketing, and more so with audio branding.
A feedback quote from Lizzie on the creative synaesthesia article reads: “I like the theory that in ancient times the natural way of things was for our senses to overlap … and that modern worlds have progressively dumped constraints on us and made us section things off in compartments”.
This is extremely relevant when we’re talking about the creation of an audio brand; the point being that an audio brand needs to represent the visual brand audibly. In turn, this reinforces the values attached to the brand in the consumer’s senses; sound and vision working together.
Why is sound important for your brand?
Sound is easily recognisable and repeated. We’ve touched on how you can instantly recognise the visual brand of a company when you hear a jingle and this is relevant again here. Memorable audio branding helps us to pick a product or service out of the cluster, builds trust and loyalty, sets a mood and strengthens a visual brand. Of course, a brand says something about us as consumers; it defines us and as much as we may not like it, segments us into marketable groups. Having a memorable audio brand makes it easier to build a connection between the brand and the consumer.
Final thoughts
What colour is sound? That’s subjective, but there is a degree of science behind the theory of sound having colour. Have a look at this video on the colour of sound.
By interpreting visualisations audibly, we can begin to develop an audio brand that is recognisable, memorable and sustainable. The best audio brands will last in the minds of the consumer forever, so when putting together your audio brand, think about how you could use creative artificial synaesthesia and how your customers will perceive the way your business sounds. What will they think of and how will those thoughts positively reinforce their views of your brand and company?
Further reading on synaesthesia…
http://www.bbc.co.uk/search/synesthesia
http://www.wishfulthinking.co.uk/2006/11/20/creative-synaesthesia-if-you-see-what-im-saying/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Synesthesia#Grapheme_.E2.86.92_color_synesthesia
[...] But if you make a conscious decision to improve the way your brand sounds, you’re starting to think about strategy. After all, you’re now shaping the way clients hear you – creating associations that connect sounds to images. [...]
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