What is Music Branding and How Does it Help with Brand Management?
Like Sound Branding, this segment of sensory marketing helps spread the brand through music.
Sound is everywhere and has the power to attract or repel, even if it’s unconscious. Music Branding, which is part of sensory marketing, creates the ambient music for physical and digital retail spaces, evoking emotions in people and creating a unique connection between the audience and the brand.
When we discussed the 4 benefits of Sound Branding, we talked about the power of sound in brand identity. When we discussed the difference between Sound and Music Branding, we mentioned their disparities and complementarity, as both translate concepts into sound, attributes into music, data into sonic experiences, and have the power to leave a mark in people’s memories. Now, let’s delve deeper into Music Branding.
What is Music Branding?
Music Branding involves custom music curation based on the brand’s personality and character, strategic objectives, aesthetics, and the ambiance the company wants to create in its physical and digital spaces. The result is a unique proprietary radio station, a sonic vibration of instruments, combinations of musical notes (chords), song vocals, jingles, and messages that create a harmonious environment and evoke emotions that make people want to stay in the space.
"Music is emotion, and emotion is powerful!"
The process of creating Music Branding takes about a month, depending on the strategic needs of the business and the project’s scale. The stages involve brand diagnosis, competitor analysis, creation of musical personality attributes, and guidelines that inform the music curation. All stages involve the client, strategic partners, and our team of music and branding experts.
Impact of Music Branding on Brand Management
In addition to reinforcing branding, Music Branding has tangible effects on sales. A study conducted by Heartbeats International found that 35% of customers spend more time in a store when they like the ambient music, while 31% of respondents return to a location if they had a positive sensory experience.
"The robust methodology is capable of extracting data on one end and producing enchanting music on the other."
The research demonstrates the impact of Music Branding on the customer experience, their time spent in the store, and their increased willingness to make purchases. In the late 1990s, a study conducted by British psychology professor Adrian North showed how the music played in a supermarket influenced wine sales.
Over the course of two weeks, the researcher changed the ambient music in the wine aisle of the supermarket. On one day, he played French music, and on another day, German music. When French music was playing, the sales of French wines increased and surpassed the sales of German labels. When the process was reversed, the results followed the same trend.
Decades later, a study published by German researchers in 2021 reached the same conclusion. However, this time they studied the impact of sound in online stores. The article concludes that “in an online environment, auditory stimuli strongly influence customer choices.”
Music and Productivity at Work
Companies that do not have physical retail stores or points of sale can also benefit from Music Branding in the workplace, at headquarters, in offices, in elevators, at internal and external events, and in digital media. If used effectively, it can be a powerful tool for personnel management and can influence employee performance.
Music Branding Cases: St Marche and Vivo
The Music Branding projects we have carried out for the supermarket St Marche and the Vivo stores are examples of the effectiveness of this approach and our methodology, which has been tested and refined over years of experience in creating sound projects.
As soon as customers enter St Marche, they are embraced by the ambient music, gentle voice, and messages conveyed in a light and elegant manner. The brand’s voice and the author of the soundtracks accompanying their commercials is the singwriter Zanna. The meticulously aligned ambient music programming, in harmony with the brand, people, products, and lighting, creates the special experience found in these delicate and distinctive spaces scattered throughout the city of São Paulo.
Listen to the playlist we created for St Marche
In the case of Vivo, we traveled 11,000 kilometers (6,800 miles), visited 7 cities, and went to 10 stores to establish the brand’s musical styles. We interviewed 65 consumers and 50 employees, considered the profile of each region, and maintained their musical identity.
Initially, our Music Branding was implemented in 320 Vivo-owned stores throughout Brazil. Our music curation is now part of the franchise portfolio, and in a short period of time, the sonic brand of Vivo became well-known nationwide.
"The audience is attracted to music that is also associated with fashion and behaviors that define the brand's attitude in the world. The result? Authentic connections!"
Are you curious to learn more about Music Branding and how it can help you? You can delve deeper into the topic by reading Zanna’s book, “Sound Branding, the lifetrack of brands” (available in both physical and digital versions), see who we have worked with, or send us a message.
Next article
Sound Branding and Music Branding: What’s The Difference?
Você já saiu de uma loja ou algum ambiente público porque a música soava desagradável aos seus ouvidos? Ou já permaneceu mais tempo porque a música estava agradável? O som está em…
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