10 good pieces of advice on sound branding management (2)

Promised 10 pieces of advice for managing sound branding in the companies. Here are the last five. And remember; its not rocket science or breaking news - just things that I have seen companies tend to down prioritize or simply overlook.

Involve your target group

Do you know which touch points your target groups wants to hear sound? Or do you only think you know it? Music and sounds can easily become disturbing and annoying in the wrong setting, which will create strong negative association to your brand. Know your target groups, test your touch points and be willing to make adjustments along the way.

Create attention!

Customers are not as educated in recognizing branded sound and music as they are with recognizing visual marketing communication. Create awareness and attention and teach them to listen for your brand. One way could be to create an awareness campaign, a competition or involve them in creating, spreading and interacting with the music. 

Don’t stop – but consider buying earplugs

When you are inches of smashing every loudspeaker playing your branded music in the best Jimi Hendrix style, your target group has only started to pay attention. It will take time before your target groups have got the message and will begin to recognize and recall the brand from the music. Buy earplugs and keep going. 

Sound is not static

Implementation takes resources and time; so remember to take it into account when planning the process. When the implementation phase is done the music still has to be managed. Adapt, play, expand and co-create with your target group and remember that music is alive, evolving and dynamic – not static, complete, and lifeless.  

Accept that nothing stays for ever

Although your target group may not grow tired of it as quickly as you, their perception and preference will change due to new trends, media, behaviour, and normal mere-exposure and wear-out effects. Test your sound brand once a year; is it still contributing to your brand equity and brand image in the way you want? And are the touch points still the right ones?

10 good pieces of advice on sound branding management (1)

“How-to”s are so popular these days, so I made my own sound branding management guide.

Here are the first five advices to sound branding management in your company. It’s not rocket science, nor ground breaking revelations, but it is none the less things that some company still overlook or downgrade. So it cant hurt to repeat it again!

Get it right the first time
Find a sound branding company that has developed methods to control the creative development phase and standardized, objective tools to develop the music that fit your specific brand. A sound branding company should be able to document how they create the music from your brand input. It could be on the base of corporate values, a corporate vision, brand associations, a specific feeling or sensation etc.

Go beyond personal preferences
Decision should be based on objective information such as test results. Avoid discussions of personal preferences by testing the sound samples before making a decision on the final version. Tests could be brand-sound fit, association congruency, emotional profiling, sound-brand personality perception etc. But, pay attention to gut-feelings. Not everything that works can be measured, music touches emotions and sometimes it is not possible to explain why it is right/wrong.

Control the implementation process
Choose a sound branding company who provides Sound manuals. It’s a way to document the choices made in the process, visualize the project to other involved parties e.g. within the company and manage the sound cogently. A sound manual should minimum include a description of the creative development phase, a description of the music and how should sound like in the different touch points (e.g. in commercials, online, in telephone systems etc.) and who the responsible person(s) for the sound branding is(are). One could also include; situations where/if it is allowed to make music variations, and when and how it should be measured and benchmarked.

Be a big-spender, it will pay of
As with all things with quality and high value: It costs money. If you want music to be cheap, you will get cheap music. Customers are critical but not ignorant when it comes to estimating quality; they will sense the difference. Of course price and resources invested should match the level of ambition.

Educate your employees
Music can be hard to “grasp” and not everyone in the company may support it. Music will never be successfully implemented if it never gets out. Be sure to create support internally and educate them in how they can use the music in the touch points they are working in. For example if music is implemented in retail remember that the staff is going to listen more to the music than the customers. Involve them and turn into music-ambassadors.

The other five advices will follow shortly. Stay tuned!

ps. Please leave comments - Im interested in your opinion and feedback about the five advices!

Sound + Logo = Sound Logo?

Did you miss out on the Audio Branding Congress or my presentation on Free Association Profiling? Here is a quick update on the presentation - also keep an eye out for the ((ABA)) Yearbook 2011/12 where the conference paper will be published.

Free Association Profiling is an exploratory study conducted under the ExSL project as a pilot test. 

The objective was to explore possible new ways to profile sound logos. It is still under development and debate. There are already different tools for profiling sound logos for example emotional profiling using Geneva Emotional Music Scales. 

A study on sound logos and brands' pay-offs using this scale was presented last year and can be read in the Audio Branding Yearbook 2010. This time we wanted to take a step back and challenge some common assumptions that these tools are based on. 

Based on Network Association Theory (Collins & Loftus, 1975) the experiment considers which associations consumers actually attribute to sound logos. One way to use associations as evaluation method is to look at number of associations, valence and origin (Krishnan 1996). Related to brands, the theory can explain how sound and brands can be linked together in the mind of the consumer/listener. 

The  setup had a full-factorial design where all sound logos were presented to all participants. The part with self-categorization was discarged from presented analysis as we are currently doing some further analysis on self-categorization.
The selection criteria of sound logos from the pool of 50 logos were 1) (estimated) level of previous media exposure 2) tempo, 3) expressive characteristics, 4) included the use of real sounds/effects or not.

Findings show no indications on correlations between a sound having a significant associative space and the amount of associations elicited from the sound. 

Associations towards media related sound occurrences, communicative, or functional sounds seemed more common, which has been suggested by Nikolai Graakjaer (2008), since sound logos share many characteristics with e.g. interface sounds in computers, ring-tones etc. 

We found that heavy marketing efforts are necessary for establishing a brand-sound link. We saw no strong brand-links in these 10 popular sound logos - not even the most common/used sound logo in Danish advertising space. 

The method can be used to give sound designers an idea of the associative meaning of the sound(s) they are composing and "visualize" the sound logo.

Free Association Profiling shows how consumers associate the sound logo without direct reference to the brand and visualize if the sound has a associative space that contribute to intended (and meaningful) perception of the brand image.  


If you are interested in the presentation slides? check out SlideShare 

A closer look at the case submissions at the Audio Branding Congress 2011

I have been taking a closer look at this year’s case contribution to the Audio Branding Congress to see what they have been up to this past year; which products are popular, which procedures are used and what kind of customers are represented?

Of the 13 cases presented customers are represented from seven different countries of which two are from outside EU. One case is protected with password and is not included. The customers represent a broad selection of industries from bank, pharmaceuticals, public institutions, mobile manufacturer, transport, tourism, etc.

It looks like the sound logo is a fundamental part of the sound production and only 1 case (ING-DiBa)  does not include a sound logo in the service. This is a case of renewing the existing sound where the customer already has a sound logo.

Another case stands out because the created sound is not primarily intended to be a sound logo but however a notification sound for mobile payment (Barclaycard). None the less the sound is presented in the case in an animated version where the sound functions together with a visual side as a representation of the brand.

4 of the 11 sound logos are also presented in an animated version in synchronization with a visual logo; AG2R La Mondiale, Barclaycard, Michelin and Royal Air Maroc. Most brands have some kind of combination of sound and pictures included in the case. It seems that the Exploring Sound Logo project is highly relevant because it explicitly study the relationship between sound and picture on a range of different brand constructs.

Out of 12, 7 companies have besides the sound logo bought “brand music”. A piece of music with our without voice (song/speak) which forms a music “theme” for the brand. This can be used in different contexts e.g. on TV as background, at live events, on the website etc. I am surprised though, that only one case - UBS AG - presents the same theme in different music genres such as rock, classic, jazz.

Five of the 12 cases includes telephone systems for on-hold or welcome music/speak; AG2R LaMondiale, Airela, Sabesp, SNCF, and Vienna Touriste Board. Other five cases includes TV-commercials, where photo, music and speak represents the brand. Lastly, other products such as specific event music (intro-, on-stage-, and background music for AG2R Le Mondiale), radio spots, songs and podcast also presented in the cases. Referring to the big attention that podcast had a couple of years ago (at least in Denmark) it is interesting that only the USB AG case includes podcast sounds.

Taking a closer look at the sound bureau’s methods and procedures there is a general great acceptance of test and evaluation in the development phase. Three cases mentions that the customer besides the sound-products also receives a sound manual or/and a brief for future sound management.  

To the extend the cases describe their creation process, all cases use either the company’s core values or identified attributes to translate to - or express with – music. One case are different; Prater Service as it seems to use the existing motto / pay-off to match the sound with instead. Ramsgaard et al. did a study in 2010 of sound logos and companies’ motto / pay-off and sound significant differences in the perception of pay-off & sound logo on selected emotional parameters. It indicates that sound logos strategically can be matched with the pay-off to the extent the customer wishes.

Tools such as “audio mapping”, workshops, focus group interviews, association evaluation, surveys, cross-cultural studies, benchmark analysis and following tracking are mentioned in the processes. It gives evidence of a high standard of professionalism (not that I had to expect anything else) and well developed methods in the creative phases.

The ExploringSound logo group is also presented at this year’s Audio Branding Congress where I will present a pilot study of Free Association Profiling of Sound logo. In relation to the conference the Audio Branding Yearbook 2011 will be published. Here a paper on the exploratory study will be presented.

Who gain most from a company-musician collaboration?

Different music strategies are seen everywhere in the market space. One sound branding strategy is to build powerful brands experiences through co-branding with music artists. This is used e.g. in events of live communication or marketing communication such as campaigns and TV-advertisement (Graakjær 2010, Graakjær 2008). I call these kinds of sound branding strategy Music Entertainment Approach (in comparison with sound branding strategies under Corporate Identity Approach that focus on developing tailor-made “corporate” music in collaboration with sound designers and specialized sound bureaus. See my previous blogpost on the subject). 

Endorsment and co-branding

One strategy is an endorsement strategy where the company uses a music artist to present the brand/product (e.g. Giorgio Armani & Beyoncé and SAS & Tina Dickow). Another and very closely related is the co-branding strategy where the company to a larger extent supports a band/artist e.g. Tuborg sponsors LMFAO’s latestmusic video. Brand endorsement and co-brand are efficient tools to develop and strengthening unique and positive brand associations by associatively linking to a certain kind of music with specific associations or to the celebrity artist’s personal (or band) brand. This way the company adds new brand associations or become an association themselves to the music, artist or band. 

A trend

Interestingly a trend has emerged where bands and artists seem to have taken on a more positive attitude towards selling their music to corporate companies. Arguably it is due to a market space for musicians where illegal downloading, free sharing sites and an overload of upcoming artists makes it truly difficult to make a living. Companies have increasingly focus on strategic branding through music and are (maybe?) more than ever interested in associating the corporate brand with a specific brand or artist. AsteroidGalaxy Tour and Heineken for example had such collaboration. 

Corporate music platform

Another sound branding strategy is to sign a band and become a record label (Bacardi & Groove Amanda) or establish an entire music platform for artists to evolve and exchange and create music (Hennesy Astistry, PepsiCo’s Green Label Sound and Royal Unibrew beer) Royal Unibrew has made a portal to rock music. It smells like an ambition to be the corporate “filter” from which rock-music is assessed; No rock-music without a Royal beer. 

Brand building

Brand strategies where the music industry becomes an important player (e.g. through co-branding, endorsement, or as a platform) all have the purpose of linking associations from musicians, bands, genres and lifestyles to the corporate brand image. Music can lead to significantly different impressions of the brand without affecting general evaluation of the product, depending on musical style. Heartbeats International argues on their blog that sound branding becomes an entertainment element that turns consumers into corporate fans (link to blogpost). 

Companies collaborating with the music industry cannot afford to treat music in an ad-hoc fashion. Music is a powerful tool to affect brand image as music represents not only a specific band or artist but an entire image, fashion, lifestyle etc. Music is a complex association network to “play” with and clear brand strategies are necessary for the company to be able to make the collaboration deliver financial results.

How do associations elicited from sound logos come to mind?

At the ExSl-project in the fall we explored how associations elicited from sound logos comes to mind to the consumer. The experiment was a pilot study to verify the potential of using the method of free association (as a top-of-mind exercise).

We found that there is a significant difference in the numbers of elicited associations across different sound logos and an apparent difference in the associative space that sound logos created in the mind of the respondents. As a method the experiment showed potential as feedback mechanism in the creative processes to implementing sound logos in companies.

Our motivation was to take one step back and ask which meanings the consumer actually attribute sound logos. Do they elicit recall of the associated brand? Are they actually recognised as logos, or identified as other sounds such as ringtones or other functional interface sounds? Are they perceived as music at all?

The experiment

The experiment was a full factorial design where all sound logos were presented to all subjects. 10 logos were selected from a pool of 48 sound logos. The experiment had three steps: 1) Association elicitation 2) Valence rating of associations 3) self-categorization of associations. 

As a top-of-mind exercise the sound logos were played and the subjects noted down associations (word or sentences). Then they were asked different questions to the associations.

The treatment of data was conducted in two steps; first the data was sorted for each sound to the given associations. Associations with similar meaning or wordings were renamed and clustered and associations was clustered. It was decided to leave out the self-categorization for further analysis; in most cases it was difficult to verify whether the test subjects had understood and used the category properly.

Results

A total of 1175 associations were collected. The average number of association per sound showed significant differences across the ten sounds. Similarly the average valence values for the associations elicited by the sounds also showed significant differences. 

The difference in number of association mainly came from difference between the amounts of associations given by the subjects. The difference between the average values can mainly be explained by an actual difference in the rating of the sound logos.

Read the full Danish version at CKO's website for the specific test results and tabel.

A cautious suggestion of a conclusion

As a cautious conclusion on above results I suggest that different sound logos are perceived differently and that complexity of the logo has a meaning to the size of the associative space. This may not sound as rocket science but above results verifies, after all, some basic presumption.  That sound logos are in fact perceived differently may seem common sense but further analyses will show that the associative spaces are not dispersed as one would think.

Discussion and further analyses

When looking at the overall associative space for the sound logos, the main surprise in the test is that references to actual brands/brand names are only mentioned in very few associations. Less than 5% of the associations mentioned the correct brand name related to the sound logo. It should be noted that the test was not designed towards testing the level of recognition. However, the low percentage could be seen as an indication that direct associations to brands, either true or falsely identified, are not as common as we would like to believe.

Next question is hence if sound logos are associatively linked to the brand at all? Further analyses on the associative space, as it appears in subjects’ top-of-mind written associations, is necessary to understand their meaning creation of sound logos. Associations from various media related sound occurrences, communicative, or functional sounds seemed more common which has been suggested by Graakjaer (2008), since sound logos share many characteristics with e.g. interface sounds in computers, ring-tones etc.

We will now go further with the analyses as see if sound logos are perceived as e.g. functional sounds (ringtones, interface sounds in e.g. computers), as small pieces of music o rare actual representations of brands. 

Music for fun or for being serious ?

Sound branding comes in many forms. A company such as Intel uses only the same “static” sound logo as an auditory signature in commercials for many years. McDonalds have bought a song from Justin Timberlake and later converted into a sound logo which they have modulated and chanced other the years and have country specific variations. Others such as Giorgio Armani hire Beyoncé in a product campaign and Red Bull have an entire music academy.

Heartbeat International have given their suggestion of how to make sense of all these approaches and describes in their Music Stairway four steps to fully strategically integration of music in the brand (see the picture or visit the link to read the entire article). Step 1 is the unconscious stage with an ad-hoc play-as-we-go approach. Step two is the Conscious Music Usage stage where a sound identity is implemented with sound logos, theme songs etc. Step three is becoming Involved in Music through music oriented marketing campaigns, partnerships with artists, live events with artists etc. Last step is to own a Strategic Platform in Music such as Red Bull Music Academy. Here companies becomes a kind of record labels, managers etc. to artists in the industry.

However, to business-to-business companies – companies that have other companies as customers and not end-users – the last two steps do not necessarily make sense. The process to a fully integrated sound identity is a difficult process in itself and for many companies this is a goal alone; not a step towards something “bigger”.

I suggest that there are basically two different approaches to sound branding. One is through the usage of music artists and collaboration with the music industry, the other is the usage of sound designers and composers – the sound branding bureaus that develop “personal” corporate sound identities for companies.

Typically the approach where artists “entertain” the consumer in commercials, live events, etc. is used by consumer oriented companies (business to consumer) with “low involving” products where personal identity and feel-good-emotions are important to impulsive shopping and the personal image building.

The approach where companies use specially design corporate sounds and music to express certain corporate values and to make a corporate “red thread” through the communication touch points are most often seen in companies that operates business-to-business or sell "high-involvement" products - products which demands serious product evaluation before making a buying decision.
Here corporate music is used to create credibility and a clear corporate image instead of being an entertainment element. This is important as brand likeability is an important part of any buying decision and high involvement products has a large impact on the customer (e.g. financially, psychologically, socially, etc.) and arguably a music artist will make such companies less credible and maybe "blur" the corporate image.


In fact, I have not been able to find a single business-to-business company that use music artists in the marketing communication to other companies. UPS, Intel, Danish Crown, Q8 are all business-to-business companies that use sound branding, but the communication where it is used is directed to the end-user. Do you have a pure business-to-business sound branding example where a partnership with artists or bands has been made?

In the exploring sound logo setup we use very different companies which all have different customer groups; it is going to be very interesting to see if there are any differences in the perception of sound logo between the different types of companies.

The experiment of sound logos' influence on brand image

The questionnaire, which will make me able to analyze how six sound logos influence the brand image if the company they belong to, will be ready for the last pre-test next week. It has taken much longer than anticipated (what a surprise!) and I will not be able to collect data before start August, which gives me only 1 month to both analyze and write the thesis (harder, faster, stronger!).


The questionnaire deals with brand management questions such as likeability, (emotional) affect, recognition, meaningfulness, brand knowledge, and fit between sound and brand image. It will be possible for me to e.g. see the differences between the perceived sound and the perceived brand image with and without sound. This way I can analyze how sound influences the brand image.. and if there are no differences in the respondents data between perceived brand image with and without sound, then sound had no effect on the tested brand image.

The flow of the questionnaire is like this:

(Emotional) affect -> Likeability -> Meaningfulness -> Recognition -> Brand knowledge -> Perceived fit -> Qualified fit.

I am not going to analyze on all variables (geez, it’s not a Ph.D Im writing!!). I going to analyze only on Meaningfulness, brand knowledge and Qualified fit. The questions from meaningfulness and qualified fit I will compare with brand knowledge as a modifier.

Why do I have the rest of the questions? Because this experiment is the fundamental part of the CKO supported research project Exploring Sound Logos by Copenhagen Business School and Delta SenseLab.

The data collection is gonna be more complicated and time demanding than first expected because I am forced to split the questionnaire into two parts. It is too extensive for one respondent to finish – Im gonna bore my poor respondents to death otherwise. The good news is that it may be possible to send out the questionnaire via a browser without a “supervisor” to control the settings during the test. That will in theory speed up the process a great deal, however, it will still be super hard to get enough respondents to finish the questionnaire :-S

Dont panic! Sound logos are perfectly normal branding element

The big question about Sound Branding is how to calculate ROI on sounds? How to quantify music used in sound branding? How to define success criteria for acoustic sequences such as sound logos used in combination with other marketing tools?

In my thesis I define sound logos not as music but as a brand element. By defining sound logos as music companies and scholars is "trapped" in a discussion about music styles, (personal) music preferences, and the composition of the logo.

By looking at sound logos as a brand element on the other hand, it is possible to discuss normal branding success criteria and compare sound logos to other brand elements such as visual logos or slogans.

Same approach to other sound branding tools could be useful but let me explain my thoughts through sound logos as an example.  

Examples of sound logos
If we look at the common definition of a sound logo it is described as 1) a short and simple musical pieces 2) in three to six notes and 3) one to three seconds long, that 4) it is the sonic equivalent of a visual trademark.

Intel and Mercedes Benz exemplifies this, yet, a Danish example of a sound logo is "Oddset" which has nine notes[1]. A well-known example is McDonald’s “I’m lovin’ it” which, like Oddset, breaks the first attempted definition of a sound logo. None the less, the sound logos are defined through musical terms of numbers of notes and length.

Some companies make use of sound effects or recorded real-life sounds which cannot be defined as notes at all; e.g. Danish Crown’s slicing and sizzling steak-sound[2] or Vestas[3]. These examples show that the definition of a sound logo is not so much a standardized “form” as it is the function as an acoustic signature.

Function

The function could be described as: “An important tool in creating such corporate sounds is the sound logo, i.e. a distinctive, short melody that serves to generate an identity in a company’s various interactions with its various publics. Just like visual logos, these short sonic sequences help to distinguish the company from possible competitors in the mind of the customer” (interview with K. Kjems and S. Holme in Graakjær & Jantzen, 2009). 

In this quote, it is important to emphasize that when a sound logo is defined as "melody" it does not include above examples of using sound effects and real-life sounds. Instead, it could be benefitial to use the words "sonic sequence". 

The quote also describes that a good sound logo is an active that shapes the experience with a given presentation of a brand. This means that, in time, it may converge into a brand symbol that carries associations and references to the actual brand.

A new definition

Thus, a sound logo should be handled by companies not as music but as a brand element that happens to be acoustic. A new definition of a sound logo could be: 

A short, distinctive sonic sequence that, as an acoustical signature, helps to distinguish the company from possible competitors and helps to generate an auditory identity in a company’s various interactions with its stakeholders.

Brand elements

Brand elements are defined by Kevin Lane Keller as “… trademarkeable devices that serve to identify and differentiate the brand” (Keller et al., 2008 pp. 128). In Keller’s terms brand elements must be; Memorable, Meaningfulness, Likeable, Transferable (across product categories and geographic boundaries and cultures), Adaptable (covering flexibility and being updateable), and Protectable (legally and competitively). 

For a company to enhance brand equity, marketers must create strong, favorable, and unique brand associations or elicit positive brand judgments and feelings (Keller et al 2008). Sound logos, like other brand elements, must fulfill these criteria in order to contribute to the consumer based brand equity.

Just another tool in the branding-toolbox

This new definition of sound logos demands that sound logos should be handled in the same way as other exisiting brand elements. Companies already handle different brand elements such as visual logos, slogans/pay-offs, letter heads etc. 

 

Most companies already have ways to measure "soft" assets in general e.g. through key performance indicators, balanced score cards, green bottom lines" - you name it. Sound logos, and other sound branding elements, is just another tool in the branding-toolbox and does not demand new invented measurement tools but can easily fit into existing soft asset measurement tools.

When it comes to implementation of sound branding in general - and sound logos in particular - one way to handel the usage is e.g. to include it in companies already existing designmanual. How should it sound, when and how should it be used correctly and so on. Clear guidelines of usage will help the company to measure it as well.

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[1] Listen to it here: http://sonicminds.23video.com/video/1403956/oddest-sound-logo

[2] Listen to it here: http://www.danishcrown.dk/

[3] Listen to it here: http://www.youtube.com/user/sonicbrandingDK?blend=6&ob=5#p/u/2/MoFKFlONxUo

Old wine on new bottles - and new music in old stores

Warning! What is in this post is not new - but still interesting thoughts.

Its a well known fact that music affects people emotionally. Deloitte og Touche once conducted a research showing that 89 procent of purchases are based on feelings and desire. Thus, the reasonable equation is that music can affect purchases; it can set your mood. Companies such as Vero Moda and Jack and Jones pump up the party mood on fridays, knowing that many consumers will come their way for late-minute shopping for weekend parties.

Do consumers actually notise music in stores?
Sounds Like Branding conducted a survey for Swedish consumers which showed that many of the respondents notice what artist or track is being played. Almost 4 out of 10 16-24 year olds notice the artist or track categorically, and 13% even rate their experience of a business by the music that is played.
Near the same amount of respondents (32-41%) said they would react negatively or very negatively to silence, or more precisely the absence of music in a business such as a shop, restaurant, hairdresser or at the shopping mall. (Sound Like Branding Survey)

Music scares away consumers
The survey showed that people will leave a place if the music is played too loud and e.g. is blocking the conversation or if the music being played is noisy and irritating. Which means that music is a tool for targeting the right consumer group. The million dollar question is how to manage the use of it in the stores. What irritates mom and dad does not necessary irritate their teenage daugther - which is in the brand's target group. All business knows their target group(s) but do they know which music they like? And more importantly, which music does the staff play in the important touch point being the store?

On the spot
The Sounds Like Branding survey also showed that more than half of 16-24 year olds have discovered new music as well as new artists when they have visited a business in a public place. If a retail brand wants to position themself as edgy and having the latest fasion why not send that message through music and hire a DJ to play in the back of the store? Jack and Jones have already done it - but how about SATS fitness? On-the-spot mixed work-out music, that would make me dig out my old running-shoes again!


The famous buying button
To affect the buying desision at the point of purchse, music can be an element of surprise and make consumers spend more time with the brand. As an example, Carlsberg can set up an loud speaker that direct their music to that specific place where the beer is placed in the store. When a consumer comes close to the product he/she will hear the music - consumers standing away from the beers will not. Surprised by the music the consumer spends a couple of seconds longer in front of the beers. Carlsberg now have several seconds extra to communicate their message; that they just launched a new tasty beer that consumers HAVE to taste.

It sounds like an evil consumer-trap..  if it was that simple. We all know it is not, but its an interesting to see that it actually have some truth in it.

So... right music for the right consumer group at the right time in their desision hierarchy at the right place. Shouldnt be that difficult, right? :)

Online Banners, websites and sound

After my quick "Sound in Media" survey it is clear that people find sound on online banners annoying.
Not that I am surprised - but maybe I am surprised that it was that clear.

On a 7 point scale 84,2 % rated sound on banners 1 (annoying). None (I repeat NONE) rated sound on online banners as being nice or some lesser degree of nice (5-7).

Further, when I asked how respondents liked sound on websites only 1 respondent answered yes to the statement "I would like sound on online banners that begins automatically when I enter a page". Entire 97,9 % answered no to that statement.
However, when the statement was changed to "I would like sound on online banners that only begin with mouse-over or click" 17,9% answered yes.

Automatically vs. controlled sounds
When I asked the same questions on sound as background on websites (automatically vs. controlled start) showed the same tendency as in online banners; that the respondents want to control when the music begins on websites.
93,7% do not want background music on websites if it starts automatically, however, if it controlled when it starts (e.g. through a player) the percentage drops to 17,9 %.

One thing is that people do not want it, when they are asked for their opinions, another thing is what works when it comes to getting users' attention. This survey is made to show tendencies in user preferences, not to conclude where to use sound or not.
When that is said, companies that use sound branding (e.g. through sound logos or other specially made music that express the corporate identity), should definitely consider where they use the corporate music.

The hypothesis
The hypothesis behind this survey is that "sound is not always a good thing in media" and further, that the media itself can create negative associations. This survey explores the first hypothesis and it shows tendencies that people are e.g. getting annoyed if online banners play music.

The idea behind sound branding is to create positive associations to a brand through the (strategically) use of sounds and music. In long term, using the wrong channels could create negative associations to the sound brand.

Market survey on sound in media

Sound is a great way to create attention and as a result consumers are exposed to sound almost all the time. Do you know the feeling when some kind of sound stops and you suddenly realize how much noise there is around you? .. you instinctively relax in your body.

Some companies invest in specially made "corporate music" with the intent of creating recognition and affiliation to the brand. I have previously worked from the sound bureau's side and I sensed an unspoken precondition, from all three sides (company, advertising agency and sound bureau), that:

"sound is good".

... Is it?

I have made such a survey which is running right now. I am looking forward to see if I'm the only Dane who doesn't want sound on online banners and power point presentations, and prefers to be in control of the sounds played in consumer controlled media.

If you are Danish, please fill it out on

http://web.trictrac.com/servlet/trictrac?e=GdIDDp8zdFPDq8Ldm

If you ask me personally, I have a feeling that consumers prefer some media without sounds. And I think its important for companies to make this research of their customers before they get carried away with their sound branding.

Free associations of Sound Logos

So I did this free association test with 46 volontery respondents from CBS. The idea is to see if we can see paterns in how sound logos is associated. The result is not ready yet, let me ad quickly.

The test is in three parts:

First the respondent is listening to a sound logo and is asked to write down the associations she/he gets when listening to the sound. The respondent can listen to the sound as many times as necessary. This is repeated with 10 very different sound logos.

Then, the respondent is asked to rate the written associations one by one on a valence scale (positive/negative scale). For each written association, the related sound logo is played.

Lastly, the respondent is asked to categorize the written associations one by on in 8 different meaning categories (e.g. Genre, discription of sound, emotion, memory etc.).

By watching the respondents as they did the test I have made some observatins which I hope is reflected in the test analysis

• Short, simple sound logos produce less amount of associations than longer and more complex sound logos.
• Respondents typically write down three associations. Longer "coding" in the sound will be difficult for companies to get across as a message.
• If respondent cant remember the company behind a sound logo, they often have the business areas correct.
• Unknown sound logos produce just as many associations as known ones. I wonder if the unknown logos can reflect some kind of relation to the business area.

Im looking forward to work with the analysis and see the results. As we dont have any direct hypothesis to test, the analysis will be explorative to see if we can detect any patterns.

Stay tuned :) 

A little about flying ups I mean diving

I dont think I have made a post about diving yet which is actually a bit strange considering that this is the only thing in my life I would actually call a hobby. For many years I have been avoiding that question "what are your hobbies?" because I found it embarrasing that I didnt have a single one. At least not REAL hobbies like horse back riding or soccer or cars or anything that normally get people to spend all their pocket money on the thing - or get them to fly up under the roof if you accidently (in lack of knowledge on the subjecct) say something wrong.
Okok, I could have said music and reading books and movies but every normal teenager would add that to the list and it was not like I made the music, movies or the books myself or anything. I just enjoy it passively and wouldnt care to use all my pocket money on.

But diving... that can get me up under the roof if people says or does something wrong and I would spend all my pocket money on it. Actually I am spending all my money on it...

Oh yeah,.... and then I can look at another world I dont see in my normal life. Its another world down there one were humans are only visitors. So many weird and funny creatures to study.

Slipper lobster

Stonefish

Hermit crab with two anemones as 'shelter'

Humphead parrot fish

Mimic octopus

Decorator crap

Lions, dogs, girafs, monkeys.. they are all old news! A Slipper lobster crawling trying to look like the rock it crawls on, or the mimic octopus who will imitate the animals around it by using its arm to make new shapes or the humphead parrot fish who eats the hard corals and looks like it banged its head against it too many times, if you know what I mean.

So whats so cool about it?
You know when you were a kid and you were playing the superhero game with your friends where you create your own superhero and for one afternoon puts yourself in the shoes of your new alter ego and fly above the roofs and shoot bad guys with your laser super soaker-kill-o-zap and see through walls and thus know that your friend's mom just made a huge chocolate cake?
My superhero alterego could fly, thats was my biggest wish - to fly. Not be able to lift cars, read minds or see through walls but only to fly. And you know what? Diving is like flying.
There you have it. Thats why I love it.. I fly under water, I adjust my hight with my breath, fly up and down only by breathing (its like navigate by the power of mind), I even fly upside down without getting dizzy. And if there is a current I dont even have to move my legs to fly, I just put my mind to where i wanna go and let the current take me there. How can people not love it?!?

Between End and Beginning or just in the middle of it all

I have said goodbye to the Embassy now. I am gonna miss my good colleagues and the great work environment at the office. The outcries of  "Hai-oohh" and "Come on LAaa!!" and "Juliiie, do me a favourrrr - Juliieeeee coooome". The work is really being done in the office. Chineese/Danish efficiency and "direct-ness".

Next is setting up the structure for my thesis and get into the work - all the paperwork with CBS, all the back and forth with finding thesis counsellor, student job, moving back into my apartment. Then study, work, write study, work,write for six or seven month. Kinda looking forward to it... no, totally looking forward to it actually! Looking forward to become a audio branding expert.

But before next step; the vacation void where I am neither or. "Where did you come from, where are you going?" - the two inevitable questions of backpacking life. Always somewhere between A and B.
Instead of answering "from KL, Medan, Toba, Bukit Lawang" or " to Pulau Weh, KL, DK" I should answer "from Internship at the Embassy" and "to Master Thesis student in Audio Branding".


One must be carefull with comparisons as two situations are never alike, however, here is a small comparison I find relevant; between Thailand and Malaysia I needed a month off to find myself in my new "shoes" and to get in line (so to speak) with my choises. Even then I had a hard time adjusting to and accepting the situation. Now, on the other hand - between Malaysia and Denmark - I feel ready, hungry and a bit impatient to begin the choices I have made for the next year.

This "in between" only exist in my mind because Im already started my thesis month ago in my head and now Im only waiting to physically be at the same place. I have thought about this comparison to last year and I think the conclusion is that time is never linear. Its never A, then B, the C. Things overlap, loop or jump steps.There is no such thing as an End and a new Beginning. We only chop things into steps like that to be able to grasp the complexity of time.

- Time is invented to prevent things from happen all at once. (unknown)