Rice Krispies is a boring, boring cereal, with an equally boring name. Fortunately someone realized it made a sound, and that has sustained them for close to a hundred years now. If you have a product that makes (or can make) a distinctive sound, you need to own it. So many brands are sitting on audio assets they don’t even realize they have.

We’ve criticized certain brands for having audio assets that are arbitrary rather than meaningful. So many audio logos are just random notes or sounds that don’t have any deep connection to the brand. Musical assets are important, but they need to be part of a concept and strategy if they’re going to have congruency and meaning. Most product sounds have their congruency and meaning built-in, and they’re often inseparable from the broader brand identity.

Let’s look at some brands that turned functional and incidental sounds into distinctive brand assets.

Ferrari

Car commercials are very quiet these days. Yes, they have music and often a voiceover, but you rarely hear the sound of the vehicle. This is very deliberate. They want to give the impression that the vehicle doesn’t pollute (environmentally or aurally). Ferrari goes completely the other way. They know the people buying their product want that big, loud, sexy roar of the engine. They take that sound and weave it in and out of their brand videos with flawless precision.

Axe Body Spray

Axe worked with focus groups and engineers to actually tune the sound of their spray. They wanted to give their spray a sound that was strong, distinctive, and unique.

Here’s a regular spray.

And here’s Axe.

Snapple

They’re all about the cap. Snapple branded the snap of the cap to signify freshness. Today most bottle caps function this way, but Snapple was the brand that really owned it. They often put fun messages under the caps too. Some people even collect them.

Apple Watch

UX and UI sounds are more prevalent than ever, and it follows that they have a deeper connection to the brand or product. The folks who made the Apple watch got clever with their notification sounds. They took the metal frames and just dinged them with a small hammer. Those dings became the basis for some of their notification sounds. Click here to see how they did it. If you want to cut to the chase, go to about 17:15.

Mastercard

They developed their brand theme a few years back, and quickly adapted it to the brand’s utility. Now their theme not only reinforces their brand, it signifies a secure and successful transaction.

More and more brands are harnessing the power of sound, but there are still many that fail to stand out. Product sounds can offer a distinctiveness and three-dimensionality that tones alone cannot.