Music & the corporate brand

When I was doing brand strategy for my clients, it was our undeniable mandate to develop brand elements that connected with consumers on an emotional level. After all, that’s what good brands do. Long gone are the days when consumers purchase based on features and benefits. Now it’s all about how the brand makes me feel, makes me look and what consuming it says about me. So, imagine trying to convince a room full of 50-something male corporate executives that the package design we created for their new feminine itch brand would convey “total peace of mind”, “freedom”, and “power”. I mean really? A package??

So you can imagine my delight when I moved into the world of events. Events by nature allow the the brand to connect with the consumer through all 5 senses: sight, smell, sound, taste, and touch and in turn the consumer is able to experience the brand . Now, why did I jump from “emotion” to “senses”? There’s a strong link between the two. We’ve all been somewhere and smelled a scent that catapaulted us back to an amazing childhood memory, or heard a sound that made the hairs on the back of our neck stand up or tasted something that made our eyes close and our toes curl. Some of the 5 senses are more strongly linked to memory and emotion than others…and I’ll likely get into the other 4 senses another day, but I’m hear to talk to you today about sound. Or more specifically music.

Music is such an important element of the corporate event. Imagine an event without it…do you hear the crickets? But music isn’t just about filling the air with great songs. It should be as strategic a selection as where to hold the event. Music has to connect with the guests, it has to be relevant to the brand and depending upon its objective it either needs to recede into the background or push its way to the foreground. Either way, there is one question that will unlock the secret to creating a relevant connection: “What does your brand sound like?”.

Expect when you do ask this question to hear dead silence. 90% of the time I have to repeat myself. Most marketers have never thought of their brand in this way. Yet “Sound stimuli can provide needed cues in memory retrieval. If, for example, you listen to a certain type of music every time you studied history, you would have a better chance of remembering the facts you learned if you were hearing the same music as when you learned them”. This is HUGE from a marketing standpoint. You mean I can create a stronger connection between my brand and memory by playing music?? Sure, just think of how music/sound elevated the brand experience for Intel, Disney, Coke or any other brand that has a successful sound imprint or jingle. While I’m not suggesting that you create 4 hours of jingles to fill the audio space of the event, I am suggesting this…
Clearly define what your client’s brand sounds like, find a music engineer / DJ who understands the importance of branding through sound, and work cohesively to develop a strategic sound for your event to leave a lasting imprint in the hearts and minds of your guests.

Sources for music branding:
DJ Dave Campbell – PressPlay (Toronto)
Song Seekers (UK)