Sounds Good: Sonic Branding and You

Mar 28, 2023

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These days, everyone is vying for our attention. We’re bombarded with videos, tweets, billboards, commercials–every company is trying to catch our eye. One way to break through the clutter is to focus on ears instead. It’s called “sonic branding” and it’s increasingly how businesses cut through the noise and distinguish themselves to customers. But what is sonic branding?

To get the whole story, we talked to Stephanie Hunt and Lucas Murray, two members of global sonic branding agency Made Music Studio. Made Music has been carrying the sonic branding torch for almost 25 years; they know what it takes to create sounds that resonate with customers. Stephanie and Lucas walk us through the science and psychology of audio and the process of building a successful sonic identity.

That’s a process that we at Cadence know well because we’ve gone through it ourselves. In 2021, when Cadence and BancorpSouth merged, part of our massive rebrand was the development of a sonic identity with Made Music Studio. The leader on the Cadence side was Chief Marketing Officer and friend of the podcast, Jackie Hooper. She’ll tell us about the opportunities and challenges of building a sonic brand–plus, how to successfully roll one out, which Stephanie says is half the battle.

Together we’ll dissect the elements of our own sonic identity and give you the tools to implement one for your business. So listen up! It’s time for In Good Companies to face the music.

Highlights:

Sonic brand: more than just a jingle (2:51)
Why Cadence pursued a sonic brand (6:20)
The psychology of sound (7:26)
All the places where a customer interacts with sound (8:48)
Everyone has a sonic identity (9:48)
What makes a sonic identity system successful (12:19)
Cadence sonic theme breakdown (13:55)
How rollout contributes to the success of a sonic brand (19:01)
Contextualizing your sonic identity (21:49)
The ham sandwich test (23:55)
Sonic branding for smaller companies (25:29)

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If you have questions about the show or topics you'd like discussed in future episodes, email our producers, sheena.cochran@cadencebank.com or danielle.kernell@cadencebank.com.