Why do we brand businesses anyway?

It’s not to show off. It’s to build memory structures.

Let’s be frank. Few people actually care about your business. People aren’t thinking about Nike or Coke 24/7. They’ve got other things on their mind. However, when it comes time to buy, they are more likely to buy from a brand they’re familiar with.

People are exposed to hundreds, if not thousands, of ad messages every single day. To help people better connect our media with our business, we develop brand assets. In the visual branding world, we have our signature logo, colours, and typeface. Take this McDonald’s billboard for example.

We all know the McDonald’s colours and logo. Even if you’re barely paying attention, you’re going to recognize this as a McDonald’s ad. But what if we remove its distinctive assets?

Suddenly it becomes generic. This ad might give you a craving for fries, but not necessarily McDonald’s fries. Sure, the name is still there, but a name alone is not as strong as a brand asset. One name against another name is just A versus B.

But once those names are given distinctive colours, imagery, and of course, music and sound, they not only become memorable, but they’re given emotional content.

It’s amazing how many radio and streaming ads have no audio assets. If you only have visual assets, and then find yourself in an audio-first or audio-only medium, suddenly none of your existing brand assets carry over. Of course, McDonald’s is one of the most well branded businesses in the world. They’ve got this covered too.

Audio ads actually have a lot in common with billboard ads. They’re media that are often at just the periphery of our attention. This may sound like a disadvantage, but it’s not. It’s only a disadvantage if people don’t know it’s you. Lots of things are trying to get your attention, but once you hear that melody, the brand cuts through the noise.

To continue with the billboard analogy, if you’re running an audio ad without audio brand assets, your ad looks more like this.

If your message is clear enough, people will get it, but if you want to profit from it, they need to connect the message to you. If they don’t connect the ad to your brand, it’s no longer your ad. Best case scenario, it’s an ad for your industry. Worst case, it’s an ad for your competition.