Welcome to the Sound in Marketing podcast. This podcast explores and defines making sound on purpose in marketing and in branding. The goal of the podcast is to inspire you to ask and answer the question, what does my brand sound like? I'm your host, Jeanna Isham, owner and founder of Dreamr Productions and Sound in Marketing Learning. I create, consult and educate brands on the power of sound in marketing. This episode is a recap of season seven.
I've chosen snippets to catch you up and get you ready for the season to come. At the end, I'll give you a sneak peak of season eight, so be sure to listen to the very end. Sound shouldn't be something tacked on at the end of a developed campaign. Sound isn't just icing on the cake. Sound design and sound on purpose are instrumental to the future success of every brand. Why? Because customers aren't just looking at brands anymore.
They are listening. (Sound In Marketing theme alternate) Last season was packed full of fun examples and thought musings in the world of sound strategy. I repurposed a lot of my articles into episodes, created an entirely fictitious company to prove a point, and documented a few personal sound experiences of my own. The most fun episode to write was the first. We set the stage with a fake company, Left Coast Airlines.
Left Coast Airlines is a mid-size regional airline primarily known to be the business person's commuter plane. They were expanding beyond their regional West coast routes to Alaska, Canada, and Mexico. They needed to advertise the additional flights while also repositioning themselves to a new demographic. The Weekend Warrior, as they put it, a series of new commercials were launching. (beginning of commercial from clip) Hey, Fred. Did you hear that Left Coast Airlines flies to Alaska now?
Oh, great. That means my boss is going to start sending me to meetings in Anchorage. At least you'd be able to watch a whole movie on the plane. Do you know how many times I've tried to see if Jason Statham is expendable or not? Oh, yeah, and don't worry, he'll show up again in the next one. Whether your destination is exciting or not, we've got you covered. Our staff is standing by and ready to serve. Left coast Airlines
happy clouds for normal people. (end of clip) The company thought a branded podcast launching in tandem with the commercial campaign, would be just the ticket to attract a new audience. They came to Dreamr Productions to create: (beginning of podcast blurb from clip) Welcome to Short stories made ridiculous, brought to you by Left Coast Airlines. Short stories made ridiculous. Tell stories that started in truth but got way out of hand. We don't get obscene, but we do get ridiculous.
So if you're shaking your head by the end saying what? Then you're welcome. Today's story comes from a couple in bend, Oregon who wanted to go visit their son in hood River. The story starts with a plane ticket and ends with a canoe. So secure those overhead bins and buckle your seatbelts. This is a good one. Enjoy. (end of clip) As the company was known to be pretty silly and sarcastic to begin with, Dreamr Productions chose to focus on its sense of humor to tell a good story.
The stories were fun, nonsensical, and wildly shareable. (beginning of clip) When Jeanna pitched the idea of focusing on the people rather than the company, we said yes immediately. Our customers always have a good story in their back pocket. Personally, I can think of half a dozen off the top of my head. We thought, why not highlight with our sense of humor at the end? (end of clip) But what would tie together new and traditional marketing?
That's where the Sonic logo came in. (sonic logo playing) The Sonic logo would be both the theme song to the podcast and the tag at the end of every commercial. Both mediums now had a common tie. The sound. (sonic logo and theme song playing) Left Coast Airlines happy clouds for normal people. All elements of this story, from concept to commercials to logos, were created by Dreamr Productions. Next up, what is Sonic branding with examples?
(Make Sound On Purpose Mug commercial) (sounds- people, dog barking, traffic, horn honking) Sometimes sound is too much, but the right sound (Sound In Marketing theme variation playing) can be perfection. That's when I turn to a warm beverage in my go to mug. The Make Sound on Purpose mug is that perfect reminder that every strategically placed word matters and every purposely positioned sound. Is perfection.
A big thank you to Sound In Marketing, Learning and Dreamr Productions for centering my day. It's a nice reminder that taking the time to make sound on purpose matters. Get yours today. Links can be found in the show notes. Back to you, Jeanna. (end of commercial) How can a company or brand use Sonic branding effectively if they don't fully understand it? This has always been a focus of mine.
The reeducation of the miseducation of sound. (musical transition) (beginning of clip) Sonic branding is the strategic and custom built sound within a brand's identity. This sound is incorporated into the brand's many different audio touchpoints. And if you're thinking that your brand doesn't have any audio touchpoints or not enough to worry about Sonic branding, well, you'd be wrong. Every brand makes sound in one way or another.
It's about finding what that sound is and making it on purpose. (end of clip) I truly believe that misunderstanding the definition of sonic branding is why sound strategy hasn't become a standard practice yet. Sound isn't just music and jingles. (beginning of clip) It's so much bigger. Sound is everywhere. It fits into all those little cracks of digital marketing. It's different than visual marketing too, because no one has to look at your marketing. They just have to listen and bam!
Your advertising ventures have become that much more effective. Because unless the customer physically covers their ears, they will hear. And with a brand sound, they will hear you. (end of clip) And it is not just for the targets and Walmarts of the world. (beginning of clip) With smart technology, social audio apps, voice search, and the low touch economy, booming sound is 50% of the brand experience. If not more.
And with all of its low bars of entry, sound is accessible to any budget, big or small. Sound in marketing is a subject that every company should be educating themselves on now before it becomes a standard, because it will be. (end of clip) In early 2023. I got the honor of producing an episode for my favorite podcast, Twenty Thousand Hertz, called ‘Insurance Jingles ..Why?’ It was a hit and not just according to me. That episode was the third most downloaded episode for them in 2023.
Here's a clip. (musical transition) (beginning of clip) I don't even know if I would even consciously think about an insurance company if there wasn't a jingle or some sort of shtick like Geico. I've traveled all over the country talking about saving with Geico. When it comes to insurance, to me, it's very much who's top of mind. Yeah. You know, when you think about Coca-Cola, they have amazing sonic branding. They have great music, but they also have packaging and they have taste.
And there's a touch the glass. They actually trademarked the shape of it because it fits in your hand. So they have so many more ways that they can become top of mind than just an insurance company that you don't fully understand. People aren't really sure what happens to their money where it goes. It's very vague. Sonic branding needs to be solving a problem. Insurance jingles in general are very much trying to solve the problem of this is not a memorable service for anyone.
It's something that people make one decision, maybe one out of the course of 5 to 10 years and that's it. Then you forget about it. (end of clip) As many of you can agree. Jingles are super fun and super catchy, and although they're mostly pretty corny, I can still recite verbatim jingles from my very early years. There's power in that corn. (beginning of clip) Most insurance commercials go out of their way to give you a feeling of comfort and support.
Think about the slogans like a good neighbor. State farm is there. Nationwide is on your side. Are you in good hands? When you watch these ads. You're supposed to forget about copays and deductibles and premiums. Instead, you're supposed to feel like choosing this company means they're personally going to have your back. One way to do that is through a reassuring jingle. Another is through a warm, friendly mascot.
Whether it's the Geico gecko, Flo from Progressive or Jake from State Farm, because this is such a non tangible service. Personalization helps. So bringing a human or even a duck Aflac into the picture can help it become more concrete and tangible. (end of clip) I couldn't help myself on this one. Years ago I read an article about a bag design blunder. Sun chips had created a 100% compostable bag,
but there was a problem. (musical transition) (beginning of clip) Touching, opening, and basically manipulating the bag in any way was recorded as having 95dB of sound. to the regular bags 60 to 70dB. To put that in perspective. A pilot had said the bag was noisier than his cockpit. Customers started weighing in on social media and it wasn't sounding good. The now discontinued Facebook page. Sorry, but I can't hear you over this SunChips bag got more than 49,000 likes at the height of the story.
The Google search phrase Sun Chips bag too loud had 149,000 results. PepsiCo even poked fun at themselves when launching in Canada. They released ads saying if the bag is too loud for you, we'd be happy to send you earplugs. Saving the planet with eco friendly materials created a user experience problem. Noise pollution. (end of clip) This was a great example of how the company didn't experience the bag alongside the consumer.
Had they done so, they could have saved themselves a lot of time and money? (beginning of clip) Sun chips planned to create a fully biodegradable bag was a great idea. However, they missed the mark and forgot about the customer's experience. The result was a dip in revenue of 11%. Experience is everything, and although a loud bag seems silly, it matters. Sound in marketing and branding matters.
It absolutely must be made on purpose every single time. (end of clip) I wrapped up the season with a personal experience. I went to Vegas for a conference in early 2024 and had to diary the experience. The sound was deafening, further reminding me that sound strategy is highly misunderstood
and underutilized . (musical transition) (beginning of clip) I entered Mandalay Bay and was loudly greeted by the sound of about a million different slot machines playing largely different ‘cha-ching’ jingles. It felt like all volume knobs were turned to 11. There was no getting away from this not so subtle plug to dump money into a machine over and over again, with the same disappointing results. Again, not a gambler.
On top of the ‘cha-chings’, the PA systems were also adding 11, blasting random music to every corner of the huge space. If it had been playing a specific playlist or had a theme in mind, I never figured out which one. What playlist goes from Michael Jackson to Garth Brooks? Anyways? I could feel a headache starting. (end of clip) can you imagine what the experience would be like if each hotel had a signature sound? What if it had a signature soundscape?
What if the sound led you from location to location? (beginning of clip) What if Vegas used Disney's Principles of Sound to invite, rather than disorient their customers? What if Vegas separated and partitioned its casino sounds? What if they created different sections and subsections of these massive halls with sound walls to create a more cohesive experience?
For example, walkways could play filler music like Michael Jackson and Garth Brooks, while the slot machine ‘cha-chings’ enticed people at a muted level from a distance. The music in the walkways could then slowly transition from said filler music to music, more appropriate to where the walkway led. If you are walking towards a craps table in the New York New York hotel and you start to hear Frank Sinatra singing Luck, Be a Lady. Musical theater.
Kid here. Would your anticipation to play a game of craps actually grow? What would happen if you were greeted at the Paris casino with some Can-Can music? Or maybe some caravan palace? If you haven't heard of Caravan Palace, check them out. I’ll link them in the Show Notes. Would that curated music set, the environment memorialized that specific casino more than Vegas in general? Would this help, its bottom line to know guests favored that hotel over others?
As you approach the gondolas in the Venetian. What if you hear some instrumental traditional Italian music? However, as you get closer, the music starts to transition. The faint sound of. (O Solo Mio playing) Gets louder and louder as you near the canal, prompting you to take a gondola ride. (end of clip) As I mentioned, I am not Vegas's target demographic, but what if they could entice even me to place a bet? It's a stretch, but sound, good sound would most definitely get me closer.
Season seven was a lot of fun to put together. Season eight is going to be even better. My intention is to really stretch the limits to what I see as the future of marketing through real and fake examples. I'm going to do my best to show you my dream of if the world made sound on purpose as a standard practice. (dream sequence sound) (SEASON EIGHT TEASER) From the annoying (eh eh sound) of store chip readers to the perfectly chosen music in that commercial, you'll never forget.
A brand's sound strategy dictates dollars spent and customers kept. In season eight. Each episode of the Sound In Marketing podcast starts with a ‘What If’ brand case study, focusing on one of the many audio touchpoints available to brands. It concludes with a real life or fake. If necessary, corresponding case study to bring even more light and context to the narrative.
We'll explore how sound shapes customer behavior, attracts new audiences, builds loyalty, and strengthens a brand's identity for generations. In every stage of the sales funnel. In the race for brand attention, sound on purpose makes all the difference. Sound done right (friendly ping) is a brand's best friend. Sound done wrong (chip reader sound) is a brand's worst nightmare. (end of teaser) In the next few months, I'll be working hard to get the episodes written, recorded, and released.
But as some of you know, this takes a lot of time. And as the Sound In Marketing podcast has always been a passion project, meaning I'm not getting paid, it always has to wait til client work is done. So please be patient and stay tuned. Want to stay up to date? Sign up for the Sound In Marketing newsletter. Every month I send out links, updates and resources to keep you blissfully blubbering through the beautiful bouquet of broccoli. Okay too far.
Thank you to everyone who supported the podcast in me thus far. I very much appreciate you and all your feedback, so keep it coming. For those of you just joining the journey, please send me a hello. I love to connect with fellow sound lovers. All contact information can be found in the show notes. Let's make this world of sound more intriguing, more unique, and more and more on brand.