Sensory Marketing
What is sound? Is it music, is it nature, is it noise? But what if we combined all of those together and used it to market our brand or company? Sound has such a strong and profound effect on us (both good and bad), that attributing it to an object has that much more of a lasting effect.
My name is Jeanna and I’m Head of Audio at Dreamr Productions and Stage Ham Entertainment. I create sound identities for companies, brands, individuals, and events. I’ve been in the music industry since 2003 and have worked on a ton of different projects in traditional and new media.
During that time, I’ve realized something very important. The landscape of everything in this world is changing and evolving at a ridiculously fast rate. In order to thrive, we have to understand a little bit of everything and that’s how I came upon my self led marketing and advertising education. I realized that my knowledge and passion for music and sound plays a huge part in what’s happening in marketing and that what I have to offer is valuable far beyond my own small footprint.
So how can we use sound to market?
Let’s ease into this with a great example from a pro marketing company; Coca Cola.
Coca Cola
Coca Cola had a fascinating new European print campaign where the viewer experienced “evocative Coke ads”. They challenged the viewer to “hear” the picture. They highlighted images that the average viewer already had a vivid memory and recollection of and drew out the sound experience that they had had. In so doing, no sound was necessary. The viewer finished the thought within their own head.
This was an effective use of synesthesia, the blending of 2 or more senses together.
“With this campaign, we are aiming to activate that sensorial memory from our consumers, challenging them to hear an image for the first time, finishing our ad in their heads.”
How does this apply? They demonstrated how print can interpret sound and in so doing, sound interpreted print. Coca Cola sees the relevance of gaining your attention in more than just a visual way. And if the powerhouse of marketing that is Coca Cola is aware of the power of sound then we should be paying attention too.
Up until now visual was the “king of marketing”. Perhaps it’s time to focus on what the king’s court has to offer.
Smart Technology
Alexa intrigues me. From what I’ve been observing and reading about it, it will be a huge game changer for voice activated marketing. What does that mean? It means now is the time to start experimenting with that platform and how you can use it to your brands advantage.
I’ve been listening to a bunch of podcasts lately where companies are buying Alexa and all the different models just to practice saying their own products into the machine to see what happens. It’s a great exercise because with action we can think with a bigger picture of “how can I get in on this”.
People are going to speak to Alexa in all different ways; why not experiment with that and see if we discover a huge marketing potential BEFORE everyone else figures it out. I do NOT have an answer to all of this, but I find it highly fascinating.
Now is the time to experiment.
Show Your Work
Show Your Work by Austin Kleon started my journey into content marketing which started my journey into marketing and advertising. So simple but so under served. Everyone loves a good story so we should tell ours.
I can not recommend this book enough. SO much great insight in an easy and fast package to absorb. This book helped me think beyond my limited view point and see the world from a higher vantage point. I hope it can do the same for you.
Wrapping Up
I want to leave you with this. Don’t discount new and overwhelming in your advertising. With the way that things are going and how fast everything is moving, you can’t be afraid to be big and bold. Yes, there’s a lot to this if you want to create an all encompassing sound representing your company. But maybe that’s more than is necessary right now. Maybe you just need to sit down and talk things out.
That’s where my company comes in. Let’s chat about your company and brand sound sometime soon.
