Sound Marketing: The Secret Behind the Success of Modern Brands
Discover how innovative brands are winning hearts (and minds!) with irresistible sound strategies
What is Sensory Marketing?
Affecting the senses of the audience through Sensory Marketing has become a vital strategy for brands aiming to stand out in their respective segments. One of its main allies is Sound Branding, which utilizes sensory stimuli, including hearing, to create memorable experiences linked to the brand.
Sound Branding, which also employs hearing to strengthen the bond between the brand and its audience, integrates into the strategies of successful Sound Marketing. Other available resources include Music Branding, Sound UX, jingles, brand voice, soundtrack, and everything else that enables capturing the consumer’s attention through sonic stimuli.
All these tools are composed through meticulous curation of instruments, voices, rhythms, and sounds that constitute the touchpoints between a brand and its audience, whether physical or virtual.
What is Sound Marketing?
"Sound Marketing is the collection of actions, such as the creation, planning, and development of sound and musical elements, which meet the desires of audiences, with the goal of establishing communication strategies and experiences that surpass the reputation of competing brands."
Examples of Brands Using Sound Marketing
The Rock In Rio brand conveys the idea that the festival is an adventure where anything can happen, a place where you create lasting emotional memories. The concept of being an “unforgettable” experience is an essential part of the event, something they reinforce in their own campaigns.
From musicals, movies, jingles, to monumental performances, sound marketing is an essential part of what makes Rock In Rio what it is for almost 40 years in the collective consciousness of the public. After all, we’re talking about a brand whose main proposition is to promote experiences through sound. And at the heart of all this strategy is the festival’s theme music.
Aired on TV, broadcasted on the radio, and repeated exhaustively, whether in intervals between shows or before they start, the Rock In Rio theme music infiltrates the audience’s minds until it becomes inseparable from the overall experience. Verses like “Uma voz só numa canção/ Todos num só coração” and the refrain “Uô-ô-ô Rock In Riô”
But besides movies, musicals, and the feeling of collectivity as if the event is an opportunity to form deep connections not only with the brand and what it offers (in this case, shows by the world’s biggest artists) but also with other people.
The result is that the audience engages with the event spontaneously, buying into the idea that they too are part of the festival as “one heart.” Thus, Rock In Rio uses Sound Marketing not only to stand out among the competition, which has been increasing exponentially in Brazil, but also in the race of other brands to insert themselves into the space of Rock In Rio to be associated with this unforgettable experience.
Our work with the supermarket chain St Marche and Empório Santa Maria, from the same group, was responsible for translating the concept of modern and sophisticated brands into a pleasant sonic experience for users (Sound UX), who fall in love with what they hear to the point of often requesting our playlists to listen to at home.
How to Achieve Successful Sensory Marketing?
Firstly, we define the ambient music, then the verbal tone and brand voice to accompany the customers’ journey in the 31 stores spread across upscale neighborhoods of São Paulo and its metropolitan region. As a result, the chic supermarket in São Paulo ends up having a strong sound and sensory marketing, standing out in the ears of its customers much more than the competition.
"Music contributes greatly to the shopping experience. The playlist, the radio, and the brand voice are part of the 'pleasant' experience perceived and desired by St. Marche's customers."
These are just some of the many possibilities of Sound Marketing, which falls within the infinite possibilities of Sensory Marketing, which relies on sound and music as priority stimuli. The sound announcing a gas truck, the soothing music of a restaurant, Globo’s “plim plim”, the voice of a virtual assistant, the touch of a self-service machine…
All these tools are allies in creating a brand’s unique universe and not only can but should be tailored for each business and situation.
Got questions about how sound marketing can help your brand? Then talk to us!
Next article
Sound Branding Brazilian Style: Why Our Charm Conquers the World?
Explore the vibrant scene of Sound Branding in Brazil and discover how brands incorporate music to convey emotions and authentic connections.
Read more