Depending on how you define it, sonic branding goes back thousands of years to vendors chanting in the streets to sell their wares. But if we’re going to limit it to mass media, we go back to 1926. At the time, Wheaties was a failing product. That is, until they decided to sing about it. Radio was still a new medium, and advertising stuck mostly to cold, hard facts. No one had ever given a product a musical and emotional hook before. That first radio jingle sent sales through the roof, making Wheaties the household name it still is today.

The first sonic logo came just a few years later with NBC. They needed a distinctive identifier to close each radio program. Due to the technical limitations of the time it had to be played live, and was done so on dinner chimes.  At the time, its parent company was the General Electric Company, so the notes became G-E-C, which they’ve been using ever since.

Over the next few decades music became a powerful driver in radio and television advertising. In the latter half of the twentieth century it seemed like every commercial had custom music. But by the turn of the millennium, brand music was starting to burn out. This was not for a lack of efficacy. It’s not like people stop liking music. It was a lack of authenticity. The jingle became a genre instead of a medium. To put it bluntly, things got a bit cheesy.

Of course the jingle never completely went away. In insurance, for example, jingle use has been basically uninterrupted since the seventies.

But today we find ourselves in the midst of a sonic renaissance. Everyone knows the McDonald’s Ba-da-bap-bap-bah. Or that cool Ta-Dum sound from Netflix. In the last fifteen to twenty years, brands have built a new relationship with sound. Not only are sonic brand assets more modern, they’re everywhere.

But what changed?

Part of it was evolving technology. In addition to more traditional media like radio and television, we have the rise of podcasts, electric vehicles, UX and UI sounds, voice interface, and even TikTok. As technology evolves, so do brand assets. So many brands have been visual-only for their entire existence. But what happens when you find yourself in an audio-first medium? Suddenly none of your visual assets carry over. When you can’t see the brand, you have to be able to hear the brand.

Today it’s not just about sonic logos or jingles, but a whole brand sound. Sonic branding uses music, voice, and sound the way visual branding uses logo, colour, and typeface.

But what’s really driving sonic branding is authenticity. Jingles burned out at the turn of the millennium because they all sounded the same. Back then a composer might take your name and slogan and make a silly song out of it. Sonic branding is no longer arbitrary. Today brand sounds are created based on the brand’s unique traits, attributes, and values, creating a sonic identity that is just as distinct and consistent as the visual.

But it goes further than that.

Quite often visuals convey information, but sounds convey emotion. With sound you often have to put the brand under the microscope and ask the harder questions. You find yourself taking business owners and brand leaders to places they’ve never been before, especially if all their brand assets are visual. You have to delve deeper into the brand to find its unique emotional signature. But it pays off in the end. The deeper you can connect with yourself, the deeper you can connect with others. That’s true in personal relationships, and it’s true in business. It goes beyond just what you do or how you serve.

How does the brand make people feel?

How do we want it to make people feel?

What makes it unique?

How does it make the world a better place?

These are the questions a brand needs to ask itself if it wants to thrive in today’s media landscape.

Everyone’s got a visual identity. If you want to future-proof your brand and build a deeper connection, it’s time to figure out how you sound.